Umm…so are you just too lazy to work?
Matt spent the last few days attending a conference in Portland, Oregon. After his sessions ended Saturday evening he took the MAX (light-rail public transportation) to the other side of the river to wander around in a shopping area downtown.
As he walked up the street he was approached by a man asking for a quarter or fifty cents. Matt told the man he was sorry, but he didn’t have any change and continued walking along the street. Several minutes later, Matt was walking on another street and was approached by the same man asking for a quarter or fifty cents. Thinking it was odd that a panhandler was asking for such a small amount, Matt asked what he was planning to do with the quarter. The man replied that many times when he asked for a small amount someone would give him more than that. He told Matt that just the week before he had asked someone for a quarter and they gave him a twenty dollar bill. He went on to detail the number of various kinds of currency he has received over the last couple of years – probably 15 twenties, 7 or 8 fives, and lots of ones.
At this point Matt asked if he just walked around downtown asking for money. The man replied, “No, I’ve got a studio apartment.”
I laughed out loud when Matt repeated the last sentence of the conversation. He went on to tell Matt that he had applied for public housing at some point but was turned down. Could it be that all those quarters added up to too much income?
Ha! Ha! Get another job!
The funniest thing was that he was dead serious when he was telling me about the totals of various denominations he’d gotten. I think he’d been smoking something.
Ha! Ha! At least he could add!