DM Blog

As I was getting off the C-Train at Sunnyside at around 6:30pm tonight, I noticed this young guy standing alone on the corner. He was standing next to the pay phone, asking passers-by for a quarter so he could make a call. No one stopped, and most people ignored his question, walking past him like he was invisible.

As I walked in his direction, I couldn’t help but to remember that I actually had some change in my pocket, (which is very uncommon for me), so when he asked me for a quarter, I told him "Let me check…" He seemed appreciative that I actually "gave him the time of day" and didn’t treat him like everyone else. However, as I reached into my pocket to search for a quarter, I only found a loonie and a toonie, so I had to tell him "Sorry, I don’t have any quarters." I was shocked when he then asked me, "Well, can I have the loonie then?" but I responded as politely as possible, "Sorry…"

As I continued on my way, he muttered "Fuckin’ prick!" and I couldn’t believe my ears! I was tempted to walk back and ask him why he felt it necessary to insult the only person who actually stopped to at least try to help him out, meanwhile, the other people who ignored him completely, or who even gave him dirty looks weren’t worthy of being called anything similar… Hm…

It made me start to wonder if maybe my good intentions should be avoided in the future. What do you think?