While meandering rather aimlessly down Grafton Street one day a middle-aged man stepped into my path, his eyes and body language pleading wordlessly for a moment of my time. He appeard at first glance a respectable kind of fellow although in truth the absence of a blue bib, uniform of the clipboard wielding chugger, was enough to convince me to stop for a few seconds.
"I'm awfully sorry to disturb you" he said in a mild Scottish accent. "I've just got here from Glasgow, and I've been mugged. Some welcome eh? No wallet, no passport, no credit cards. Nothing. I wonder could you spare a few pence so I can find somewhere to stay until I can get to the Embassy tomorrow morning".
Although I will make some exceptions (particularly for the Asthma and Cancer societies), I generally adopt a policy of not contributing to charitable collections on the streets preferring instead to contribute to the charities directly. Taking pity on the plight of this affable gentleman I handed him a few quid, wished him luck and went on my way.
I've since met him on a number of different occasions and he has been in the same predicament each and every time. Wonder why he keeps coming back here - we clearly don't like him?
(Don't Go Back to Rockville - REM)
Tuesday 19 February 2008
Don't Go Back To Rockville
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6 comments:
Maybe he Cant find the Scottish Embassy?
.. or he may be a masochist of some description?
Ah that w**ker - yeah he has tried to get cash out of me loads of times, until one day he approached me durin "work hours", and I told him to go to the British Embassy, since the Scottish Embassy bloody well doesnt exist!
Likewise, stay away from the "deaf" guy begging around Grafton Street
He's been at that game for years, if its the same guy. Next time tell him you work at the Embassy and offer to personally accompany him there and see how fast he legs it.
Haha.
He must be super angry by this point being the most unlucky fellow in Dublin.
Medbh: In a news report detailing the rising level of crime in New York (early 90s probably), a commentator rolled out a statistic that "In New York, a man is mugged every 20 minutues".
I remember thinking "He must be getting pretty pissed off with that at this stage".
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