I was driving home from Patrick's Friday morning and was literally a block away from my house when some old lady ran out into the middle of the street to flag me down. On the verge of tears, she explained to me that her friends up in the apartments across the street had been "very, very rude" and about how she "simply wouldn't take such treatment" so she had left. She began asking for directions to Quioccasin and Three Chopt, but when she told me she didn't have a car I told her to hop in. For the next fifteen minutes, this woman related to me her entire history with these two friends of hers; twins from Texas, 68, still living together. Both of them were hard of hearing so they tended to listen to things rather loudly, and when Ms. Jett, as I learned her name to be, asked them to turn "their soap operas" down a little, they became "most loud and defensive". After a heated argument, Ms. Jett had simply walked out into an unfamiliar neighborhood (she'd never visited their new apartment before) in hopes that she could somehow find a way home. For a 75 year old lady, that's pretty ballsy. When we finally reached her condo, she began to look into her pocketbook for some "gas money for me". I told her I really couldn't accept it and was happy to have given her a lift, but she refused. "I know I'm living on borrowed time young man, money isn't something I need to be happy anymore". She put $5 in my hand and that was that. After walking her inside, I figured I may as well get some socks across the street at Regency Mall since I was so close. Turns out, Finishline was having a donation sale where if you donated $5 with your purchase it would go straight to a charity (I think mine was St. Jude Children's Research Hospital) and you would get a free coupon book. I helped an old lady, donated to medical research, and got some great new socks. I felt pretty good about myself.
11/22/09
I feel like a good person
I was driving home from Patrick's Friday morning and was literally a block away from my house when some old lady ran out into the middle of the street to flag me down. On the verge of tears, she explained to me that her friends up in the apartments across the street had been "very, very rude" and about how she "simply wouldn't take such treatment" so she had left. She began asking for directions to Quioccasin and Three Chopt, but when she told me she didn't have a car I told her to hop in. For the next fifteen minutes, this woman related to me her entire history with these two friends of hers; twins from Texas, 68, still living together. Both of them were hard of hearing so they tended to listen to things rather loudly, and when Ms. Jett, as I learned her name to be, asked them to turn "their soap operas" down a little, they became "most loud and defensive". After a heated argument, Ms. Jett had simply walked out into an unfamiliar neighborhood (she'd never visited their new apartment before) in hopes that she could somehow find a way home. For a 75 year old lady, that's pretty ballsy. When we finally reached her condo, she began to look into her pocketbook for some "gas money for me". I told her I really couldn't accept it and was happy to have given her a lift, but she refused. "I know I'm living on borrowed time young man, money isn't something I need to be happy anymore". She put $5 in my hand and that was that. After walking her inside, I figured I may as well get some socks across the street at Regency Mall since I was so close. Turns out, Finishline was having a donation sale where if you donated $5 with your purchase it would go straight to a charity (I think mine was St. Jude Children's Research Hospital) and you would get a free coupon book. I helped an old lady, donated to medical research, and got some great new socks. I felt pretty good about myself.
