Dunkin Doughnuts

It was a rainy afternoon coming home from school. It was cold out, especially in the trains and I was not feeling up to walking back twenty blocks in the rain back home. So, I called my mom to ask her to pick me up on her way back from work. I knew I could have waited for the bus to come, but it was basically the same wait time and the buses were going to be packed. I thought to myself, why wait? I could go and grab myself a late lunch in Dunkin Doughnuts with a hot coffee or chocolate.

I was there in a cozy corner of the shop when it happened. A seemingly homeless man came into the store wearing rags and a shriveled beard. He looked around and decided to sit next to me. It was apparent to me from the beginning that he wanted something from me. I was not about to give it to him though because I wasn’t in a charitable mood. While he made friendly conversation with me, his smell permeated the store and affected my judgment of his character. The rest of the customers noticed it as well. I still to this day do not know why I didn’t just send him on his way and avoided a whole rigmarole. If I had just the courage to stand up to this person and tell him that instead of talking to a teenager still in high-school, he should collect his marbles all in one pile and direct his best efforts on his appearance and hygiene. That way, I wouldn’t have to force a smile on my face when communicating with you.

Of course I just sat there like a blithering eejit until the cashier stepped out to save my hiney. And it wasn’t all black and white either. A woman also made this man her problem and started saying rude things to the hobo in an effort to get him to leave. All that did was make the man more agitated and he started firing back. Things got out of hand and the clerks along with the woman shouted him out of the store and into the rain. It didn’t stop there though, the man exposed himself while harassing the woman who took offence to his state of being an the police were called.

Back then, I made conversation because I was afraid ignoring him would cause a scene since his apparent lack of choice in attire was perturbing to me. Apparently engaging him way too much would also not the way to go. With what I know now, I know I should have asked the man what he wanted and if what he looked like then was appealing to him as it was to me. That would have given me enough time to ask one of the clerks or managers to help me sort out his business and prevent a scene from happening. It would have prevented the man from digging himself a deeper hole as well. I regret not being mature enough at the time to realize this.