So I’m walking out of the wine store as a scuzzy, thuggish looking dude walks in. He sees that I have a hand full of coins that the cashier has just given me for change. Then the scuzzy, thuggish looking dude says, “Do you have fifteen cents?” ….and then goes on to say, “I need it to buy some whiskey–I’m fifteen cents short–and I am not going to drink the whiskey to get drunk–I need it to clear my congestion–I’m sick…”

So I stupidly give him the the fifteen cents and look and feel disgusted with him—not because he asked me for money–but because he told the accompanying ridiculous story.

My feeling was, If you want money to buy booze just ask for the money and then just shut up. Spare me the idiotic story about how you need it to buy a bus ticket to see your sick mother in the hospital, or that you just need a a few dollars for the subway because you lost your wallet, or that you need fifteen cents to “clear your congestion”