Everywhere I go someone asks me for money, the reason I don’t carry it, because by the end of the day, my pocket’s empty.
Now there are certain instances when giving is appropriate like now, at Christmas, since the Salvation Army Santas have been out, freezing their beards off since Thanksgiving.
But how often are you expected to give?
I pass a guy four times a day. He howls on the corner by the subway near where I live, and I mean howl. 
He doesn’t sweetly ring his bell or even smile. He screams…
HOW WOULD YOU FEEL TO BE HOMELESS AND HUNGRY WRAPPED IN NEWSPAPER AND PAPER BAGS?
He must have a degree in guilt because when I see him, my demeanor dips like a naughty beagle.
Well yesterday, Old Saint Dick, I mean Nick, went a little too far. I was en route to the post office inquiring about a package seemingly lost at sea, a major bummer for a mailer like me, when I hear, “Here she comes, the girl with all the fancy footwear.”
At first I looked around to see who he was referring to turning into De Niro in Taxi Driver. “You talkin to me…are you talkin to me?” When he said, how would you like it if you didn’t have shoes, I went off like a faulty Xmas bulb.
“Listen you big bully in a costume.
SHUT THE HELL UP!
I’ve really had it with you, and if you say one more thing to me, EVER…you’ll be sorry. Your Santa days will be over.”
Yes I did, I told off Santa.
A guy in droopy jeans and an earring bigger than his ear said,”Mama, I’ve been meanin to do that for a week. He deserves a good pop in his head.”
“Yes he does, that Santa…yes he does.”
Love, Mama
Good for you !
Sent from my iPhone
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You have been naughty. No presents for you! 🙂
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I’ve gotten coal before. 🙂
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It’s so easy to judge people without knowing about their circumstances. Hopefully he’ll back off a bit, at least to you. 🙂 I guess every beggar needs an approach and his is straight up guilt. I’ve mostly lived in small towns so I’m not used to people asking me for money and it’s always unnerving.
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He’s not a beggar. He’s a Salvation Army hired Santa with a guilty Schtick. A beggar wouldn’t have fazed me. Santa was getting paid. Aye.
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Yep… I have been worse than many of them here and it is not a competition… yet I love it when they profile me based on visual and assume that I have a fistful of dollars when I am most likely on the same pension that they are. Only difference is that I pulled myself up by the bootstraps one day and decided to walk. Not everyone can do that and with the meagre money I do get I help out many people. I find it amazing when they are more prejudiced and bigger snobs sometimes than the elite. In my experience on the ground, under it, and in some pretty nice places, the problem is often those who are so brilliant yet live in a spiritual condom of some sort of apathetic politics. Usually idealists. You have grown up in a household with alcoholism so you have every right to have your views and feelings without some ‘do gooder’ telling you what they have not experienced. Politicians and their PR people seem to wash over onto the average money slave who get all their intel from the daily paper or equivalent. Spending their lives chasing ownership of a piece of land that they can’t even be buried in. LOL At least a Santa like that owns his resentment and misery which is much more than the cowards can say who wouldn’t have the guts to say Back off as you did. The only reason I have helped people on the street and have so much respect is because I will punch on with them over the right reasons. They respect that. They do not respect the Salvation Army, money grubbers, or the clever and powerful people who hide behind social niceties that keep them from telling their tales as to how they got there
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Whoa! This was a thesis in telling off Santa. I think I may have popped a file. Nice to know actually.
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Yep…. am sleeping it off 😉
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Nighty night. 🙂
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Woken to the sound of rain outside. Hope it’s a great day for you coming up
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It’s freezing here.
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Very warm here. Hope you are well. We have an abusive street vendor here who sells a magazine for the homeless. Would you believe he’s from New York… or so he says. He mainly takes it out on women too. Do you guys have a franchise or a training program or something? 😆 maybe it is some kind of dark tourism. If you came here and abused people not only is it warm but our government might even throw money at you. Australia is great in summer and on welfare we can have an endless summer. Only reason we went to Galipolli in 1914 is because the boys heard the surf was going off over there. No women and plenty of fighting probably helped too 🤔😂
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Funny though I know it wasn’t meant to be.
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It was. I think it was. Now I am confused 😆
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Being confused makes like interesting 🙂
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Rain stopped. Hope it’s a good Christmas over there
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We’ll see. The drumroll begins.
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Raining again. Still early morning. Cold weather means eat well… unless the angry town crier is putting people off their food… and restricting local merchants. Maybe he’s Australian.. we could have an exchange program
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🙂
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Good on you for keeping it real. To allow something inappropriate to become normal because people are afraid of their own shadows is not cool. It would be like being made to watch a pedophile cover several Jimi Hendrix songs badly and then charge people with discrimination when they do not bang on about how amazing and artistic he is. I might have been in the gutter when Rolfe Harris released his version of Stairway to Heaven but by the gods I was on the money about it and him.
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I’m always amazed how young Jimi Hendrix was when he died. Electric Lady, his music studio, is still there in the East Village he opened and only graced once before he passed. I always liked Stairway to Heaven. It reminds me of high school. Thanks for writing.
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Good for you, Susannah. A red outfit and fluffy beard does not come with a license to intimidate and be obnoxious.
After dropping bills into five or six kettles in one day, I too feel the need to apologize to the ringer whose kettle I don’t contribute to. They should give us boutonnieres, like those crepe-paper red roses that show you’ve already given. I think it is the American Legion that does that. Little snowball boutonnieres would be easy.
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I like those. You’re right. We look so cheap not giving when you’ve already reached in your pockets many times. There is no future in guilt Skinny. None whatsoever.
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The best is you had back-up ready to “pop” Santa a week before Christmas without batting an eye. The dynamic duo!
Coyote is right about people being clams because their afraid to use their voices. I went OFF over the weekend at a kid on a 4 wheeler who was destroying this beautiful piece of open land. I came back in the house and my neighbor said “I hope he doesn’t retaliate.” So, I got to go OFF again. Hahaha! It was a little extreme, but sometimes it’s necessary.
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I hope he doesn’t retaliate. You weren’t exactly below the Mason Dixie Line. Sadly, no one seems to care about much these days. Whether it be an abusive Santa or an asshole on wheels. Dog eat dog, no offense to Peanut and his sibling.
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Amen to that sista!
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I think a lot of us can relate to this.
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There are ways to appeal to people and then there are ways..
Glad you stood up for yourself. I have had a stroke and my response? Well, we won’t write what I might have said out of anger and loss of filters…
Scott
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