I had an interesting conversation with a panhandler, at a restaurant where I was working as a balloon artist, the other night. I’ll tell you about it, but first let me ask you a question.
What does work mean to you? How do you define working?
Last Friday night, I went to the local Wal-Mart with my children. As we got out of the car, we were approached by a woman, with some roses in her hand.
She told us that she was a single mother who had just lost her job and was trying to support her family, and if we could help her. I gave her three dollars, a more than fair value for a single rose, in my mind.
I expected her to give me a rose and thank us for helping her out. But she did neither. So I extended my hand as if to accept the rose from her. Instead of giving me a rose, she said, “Oh, the rose is five dollars.” I told her that I gave her what I felt was a fair value and expected a rose in return.
Instead of giving me a rose or my money back, she clutches tighter to her roses and pulls them closer to her body, turns to my childrenand says, “Are you sure you guys don’t want to put in a dollar each?” I couldn’t believe the audacity, but I walked away in silence, leaving her with the money.
As we walked away, I could feel my children’s anger and the disapproval of my action. So I said, “Hey, at least she is trying to make a living instead of panhandling.”
My son says, “Yeah, but she is not providing any value. She wants five dollars for a rose in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart, when I can get one inside the store for two.” He had a point.
Her pretense was that she was working, but she was really panhandling, or worse, maybe even stealing by deceiving people.
What do you think?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Oh, and the conversation with the panhandler… I’ll write about it in the next post. It’s an interesting contrast.
Cathy Elaine´s last [post] ..What Do I / Don’t I Want To Know?
