Lost in translation?August 28th, 2006 @ 6:57 am
Story told to us last night by my friend May’s husband:
“I was getting off the bus the other night and some dude asked me to buy him some beer. Apparently he was so drunk that the convenient store had cut him off. I shook my head and just kept walking. The guy said he’d give me the money for the beer. I just kept walking. Then the guy said he’d perform a sexual act on me if I would just buy him the beer. Yeah, I kept walking.”
This story frightens me on so many levels.
First, who would agree to this? I mean, what has to happen in your life for you to hear this request, stop to think about it, and then agree?
Second, what has to happen in your life to offer your services in this manner?
Third, if you were to get this request, would you share it with your friends? Becuase I’m pretty sure I’ll never be able to look at our friend the same again. I guess a part of me will always wonder if he did buy the guy his beer.*
Has anything like this ever happened to you? I swear, I never get good stories like this. Never.
*of course, I know he didn’t. But it’s an awesome story.
They're just my friends
Durga
said,
August 28, 2006 at 5:11 pm
When you are enslaved to alcohol or drugs or even money u forget any decency, values, common general courtesy…it becomes a disease. I don’t feel anything bad for the people as such but for the act that they have so willingly (in most cases) put themselves through.
I’ve had a lot of homeless drunk people ask me to buy them food…that’s always made me slightly more at ease to help with than those who ask you for a spare cigarette or to buy them a beer (it’s happened quite a few times). Do I look that kind or do I smell like cigarettes? Then again u wouldn’t know what would you? LOL
Audrey
said,
August 28, 2006 at 5:20 pm
Thank you for the comment on my new blog! I am so excited that my first comment is from someone as cool as you!
Nothing like that creepy story has ever happened to me. But it does remind me of one night when my husband (then fiance) and I were in Vegas and enjoying being able to legally drink beer out on the strip. We were both walking around with our bottles of Corona when we heard this guy trying to get our attention. We turned to see where the voice was coming from, and the guy was practically hiding in the bushes! We were understandably wary, but all the guy wanted to know was if he was going to get in trouble for drinking on the street - I guess he was hiding in the bushes so no cops would see him drinking his beer, and since we were walking around with our beers he decided to ask us about it. He turned out to be a really nice guy and we chatted for a few minutes because we were all from Colorado where there’s no public drinking allowed outside of bars and restaunts, so we were all enjoying the novelty of walking down the street with a beer. Tim and I still look back and laugh about how weird it was to have a guy in the bushes trying to get our attention.
Hilary
said,
August 28, 2006 at 5:53 pm
All I can think of is how sad it would be to want beer THAT much.
Kelly
said,
August 28, 2006 at 6:03 pm
That is so gross. But no, I can’t really recall anything like that happening to me. THANK GOD.
Jennifer
said,
August 28, 2006 at 6:07 pm
Around here, the homeless are pretty tame about asking for money, but there is also this whole class of beggars who look like they’re not bad off (they’ve clearly had a shower recently and look fairly normal) who have these amazingly elaborate stories aimed at sucking you in and getting money — usually a specific amount. One guy gave my mom (my poor mother, who has lived her whole live in a rural area and was in town for a wedding and totally not prepared for this) and I a story about how he’s been robbed on the Greyhound and needed $37 to get a bus home to Buffalo, and he’d been stuck here in Baltimore all night and just wanted to get home to his wife. Another time, a chick who was by all measures looking quite trendy stopped me on my way to the gym to give me a story about how she’d been in the emergency room of the hospital I work at all night with her sister and nephew, and now they needed $7.50 to get the bus home, and if I didn’t have any money could I at least give them a ride (to their house 40 min away)?? I felt terrible for not helping her (but luckily, common sense won out and told me not to get into my car with a bunch of complete strangers)… UNTIL a week later, I ran into the same woman while I was walking in a different area, and she gave me and my boyfriend a different, yet similarly heartwrenching story.
Another time, I was stopped at a long light when a guy with a plastic rosary around his neck knocked on the window and asked me for cab money because his car had broken down. when I didn’t give him any, he kicked my car and spit on it.
Thankfully, I have yet to be offered a sexual act. Ew. That guy must have been really drunk… and really desperate.
Frema
said,
August 28, 2006 at 6:58 pm
I used to ask my friend’s older brother to buy Boonesfarm wine for me in college. But I never offered sexual favors, and he never asked. Just as it should be.
Jessie
said,
August 28, 2006 at 7:13 pm
Nothing like htat has ever happened to me. That is just plain odd! Especially the sexual favors part. I’ve never known anyone that desperate for beer.
Britt
said,
August 28, 2006 at 8:31 pm
Ewwwww!
That’s all.
haggalicious
said,
August 28, 2006 at 8:53 pm
Sad. People can sink pretty low… Reminds me of that show Intervention. I can’t even watch that show it makes me so sad…and scared of what exists out there in our society.
Ian
said,
August 28, 2006 at 10:33 pm
Thankfully, nothing like this has ever happened to me… I thought about the scene in Menace II Society where a crackhead was offering a “sexual favor” for crack (he ended up getting shot instead).
I’m still trying to figure out why the post is called “Lost in Translation”… does something like this happen in that movie??
Julie
said,
August 29, 2006 at 2:50 am
Eww!! I don’t want to even think about being approached like that. I am just a small town girl that hasn’t been around homeless people or people that want you to think they are homeless. I have seen people with signs saying “Will work for food.” But when one of our friends offered him work he said No. Go figure.
Lisa B
said,
August 30, 2006 at 8:55 pm
YIKES! That IS scarey.
Heather
said,
September 2, 2006 at 1:00 am
The strangest thing that’s happened to me lately is being told that since I’m from Iowa and my husband is from Iowa he must beat me. It was a very strange conversation that came out of no where. If you are interested you can read about it here…
http://hamiltonfamilycircus.blogspot.com/2006/08/skywalk-ramblings.html