First 2 buses were uneventful. New drivers, though. I boarded the third bus and gave the driver his candy. A homeless woman was sitting near my favorite seat.
"Where are MY bags of candy?". She demanded. "Here's one!" I replied and handed it over as I sat down.
Over the next 20 minutes she muttered with RAGE over the cherry cordial candy, unwrapped all the lollipops, threw unwrapped other candy on the floor.
A nice clean cut man got on the bus and she took out 3 unwrapped lollipops, licked them, and then offered them to him while telling him she wanted his gloves.
I had a really bad feeling about this and the Holy Spirit was begging me to get off, which I did when she leaned towards the man and started muttering nonsense about me, complete with finger pointing. It was obvious it was about to go Bad
So I got off at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. The clerk noticed I was shook up and asked me about it.
I told him. He said I did the right thing. So did the nice young man in the letterman jacket at the bus stop. And I didn't wait long.
So yes, you told me so. I will rethink HOW I do candy for the homeless or even if. But I'm still doing the candy.
Boss walked by the break room while I was typing and seems to be OK.
10 comments:
Do the busses have a rule about no food? I wouldn't want to be the one picking up the mess.
I (and others) have warned you over and over again that you are endangering yourself. What happened today is the tip of the iceberg of what could happen. I have explained it repeatedly.
If you don't care to protect yourself, you could at least have some consideration for the other people who take those buses. Everyone on that bus was put in a bad situation because you gave her candy. Her issues are irrelevant in this instance because the candy started the problem.
She was already agitated. I figured the candy would calm her down. She was filthy wearing a matted wig and very restless when I got on. That is not uncommon on this route. It is also common for homeless mentally ill to ask for candy and eat it on the way to their destination. But I am pretty sure I am stopping that now. I will still give it to drivers.
Oh come on. It's just candy.
Every time you give candy to a driver, you are risking a confrontation with someone who wants candy. It won't happen every time obviously, but it will happen.
She was hassling a man on the bus about his gloves, saying she wanted them. Should I not wear gloves now? A coat? After all she might want that too.
I think there's more to the "warnings", most likely what you pass out in the candy bag.
"She was hassling a man on the bus about his gloves, saying she wanted them. Should I not wear gloves now? A coat? After all she might want that too. "
You're going to do what you want even though you have been advised about what is the right thing to do here to keep yourself safe. Obviously you should stop handing out candy to the drivers too but you won't do that. A bag of candy and a bible tract will not save anyone. It is hubris of you to think that it would.
You are ignoring what I said. It is a fact that you openly give candy to bus drivers. Bus drivers who drive some unpredictable people. Giving away candy in front of everyone on the bus leads to people asking for candy as proven by your own stories. When denied, some of these people will get mad and possibly confrontational. That's my point. Nothing more. You are taking a chance. I guess you should consider how you will handle this going forward.
To the person who said it is only candy, that's true. When people are desperate or truly hungry or not properly medicated, "only candy" can be a really big deal that can escalate. Unfortunate but true.
The cat is out of the bag and the majority of the "ill" don't bother me. The ones who do would find a reason anyway - I am white with long hair, I wear glasses, etc. There are very few white women on the bus I only know of one other. If they have a demon in their head telling them I am a racist oppressor the candy is inconsequential.
The way I see it the worst case scenario a mentally ill person wants candy, I say no, they take it anyway. I don't carry anything valuable in that bag.
I don't "save" anyone, I hand out tickets and people make their own decision if they want salvation or not. I do very, very, little I have always been very clear on that. Thousands of items handed out and I don't know if anyone has gotten saved at all. That's how I want it.
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