Transients and leftovers

22Feb08

So I am employed in Pioneer Square here in Seattle.  It is one of (in my opinion) the coolest areas in Seattle.  Lots of old-timey brick buildings all constructed in the 1890s and many edifices that are registered in the National Historical Places (or whatever you wanna call it).  Pioneer Square was the original downtown Seattle.  This area was reconstructed in the 1890s after a fire wiped out most of all of the builidings in the area.  New codes mandated that each building must be constructed using brick and mortar to prevent future fires from repeating the destruction of the 1880s.  After the fire, the area was literally raised one (1) story above the previous street level to help with some of the sewage and sanitation problems that plagued the area in the late 1800s.  So now the new area has created an underground world where tourists can pay some cash, hop in a line, and walk underground and see the old storefronts and sidewalks of the 1800s.  Pretty cool, but that means there is a litany of tourists every day parading around Pioneer Square.  Sometimes I will literally see one hundred (100) or more (100+) people all in an enormous mass walking from corner to corner in Pioneer Square.  I don’t mind this, seeing as I’m pretty much a tourist myself.  The side effect is the hordes of transients who inhabit the Square asking for change and cigarettes from the tourists.  There are many more streetwalkers here than in any part of the city (that I know of) because the out-of-town tourists with big pockets are much more sucseptible to handing out change than the seasoned locals who deal with the transients on a day-to-day basis.  I can’t step outside of work without being hounded for change by a homeless person.  Walking to the bus stop, I will literally be asked three or four (3 or 4) times if a can spare some change or a cigarette.  It is becoming quite the nuisance to me.  I don’t have a whole lot of money in the first place and any change that I do have, I usually have to use for bus fare, so I rarely give out any change.  I am quickly becoming a hardened Seattleite.  But that is not to say I am comepletely devoid of empathy.  I honestly feel bad for most of these people and if I had infinite resources, I would give money to them all.  The thing that bothers me is that many of these people need some sort of help with either physical addictions or mental disorders and just giving them money isn’t going to help them.  Conversely, giving them money will only fuel their addictions and aid them in their lifestyles.  What concerns me is that these people are starving while I work in a restaurant and can eat whatever I want when I’m there.  So now, I’ve started a habit of preparing a little something extra [usually a pretty big slice of pizza or two (2)] while at work and keeping it handy for the first bum who asks me for money to buy food.  I usually respond to them by saying “Sorry [sir, maam], I don’t have any change.”  They give the standard despondent look and I proceed to walk away.  Then at usually about five (5) paces I will turn around and say “I do have some pizza [or a sandwich or some chicken wings or whatever] here if you’d like it.”  Their reactions are priceless.  It makes me feel really good inside to know that I’m helping someone with a basic need, and not fueling an addiction or supporting an unhealthy lifestyle.  I just hope I don’t gain a reputation of being the food guy and then all the transients start hanging out front of my store waiting for a handout.  That could get hairy. 

 In other news, I totally called Aaron as one of the Oceanic Six.  My dark horse candidate paid off.  My other two (2)(…why do I keep doing this?) predictions are Sun and Sawyer, so if either of them makes it off the island, I will be 2-0f-3.  And if Meatloaf ['his name is Robert Paulson'] were here, he’d reassure me that 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

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