gone~away
01-28-2001, 05:42 AM
I work at a twenty four hour convienance store/grocery store.... its fairly busy, and as such it attracts some panhandlers... normally this is not a problem, few customers complain and they cause little trouble... wandering in occasionally to transform their change into bills and get a breath of warm air...
today however was an exception.
at one point we hear shouting, fighting between two homelesss people..
one named simone, is a women with considerable mental defects... her worst being the fact that she is a junkie (or so i have presumed from the constant rubbing of her gums).. she is one of the more pitiful specimens... but also crafty, often coming into the store under some guise or another and hassling customers, she is disturbed, but not violent.
tonight she came into the store during the shouting and asked me to convert some money into bills... another regular panhandler followed her, screaming at her and complaining that he was there first and that some woman had just given her ten dollars in change... obviously jealous.
they fight back and forth, swearing and i try to maintain some order, the other cashier is being very quiet... finally they both leave.. simone heading off somewhere to do womething and him standing outside.. obviously still steaming from what he believes is ten dollars that should be his lining her pockets...
he becomes more aggressive now in his 'panning' and swears at a few exiting customers who decline to give him change... i go out to talk to him. now you have to understand, you all know me fairly well, i have been led to believe that i can be both well spoken, empathetic, and tactful... i used all of my abilities to politely ask him to leave for the day.. not placing blame or anything... he refused.. my manager told me to call the police.. and so i did.
he was gone when they came, and i gave a description.. they not only knew who he was but looked eager to put a fright into him.. threatening to 'take him for a ride' and saying something to the effect of 'if we find him, you'll be a year older before you see him around here again.'
now i feel bad.. i have fed this man to the wolves, i know he did wrong, but i sicced the cops on him, who knows what they'll do...
im curious how you would feel about this situation.. do you think i should feel bad? did i do the right thing? should i have tried to dissuade my manager from including the police, should i have handed him my last ten bucks if he promised to leave.. what should i have done....
this really bothered me
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today however was an exception.
at one point we hear shouting, fighting between two homelesss people..
one named simone, is a women with considerable mental defects... her worst being the fact that she is a junkie (or so i have presumed from the constant rubbing of her gums).. she is one of the more pitiful specimens... but also crafty, often coming into the store under some guise or another and hassling customers, she is disturbed, but not violent.
tonight she came into the store during the shouting and asked me to convert some money into bills... another regular panhandler followed her, screaming at her and complaining that he was there first and that some woman had just given her ten dollars in change... obviously jealous.
they fight back and forth, swearing and i try to maintain some order, the other cashier is being very quiet... finally they both leave.. simone heading off somewhere to do womething and him standing outside.. obviously still steaming from what he believes is ten dollars that should be his lining her pockets...
he becomes more aggressive now in his 'panning' and swears at a few exiting customers who decline to give him change... i go out to talk to him. now you have to understand, you all know me fairly well, i have been led to believe that i can be both well spoken, empathetic, and tactful... i used all of my abilities to politely ask him to leave for the day.. not placing blame or anything... he refused.. my manager told me to call the police.. and so i did.
he was gone when they came, and i gave a description.. they not only knew who he was but looked eager to put a fright into him.. threatening to 'take him for a ride' and saying something to the effect of 'if we find him, you'll be a year older before you see him around here again.'
now i feel bad.. i have fed this man to the wolves, i know he did wrong, but i sicced the cops on him, who knows what they'll do...
im curious how you would feel about this situation.. do you think i should feel bad? did i do the right thing? should i have tried to dissuade my manager from including the police, should i have handed him my last ten bucks if he promised to leave.. what should i have done....
this really bothered me
------------------
GO HERE NOW! (http://www.thehypertribe.net/irc/)
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