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Starting to think being good doesn't work
12 years ago
General
I’m starting to get a complex about my Monday shifts, I swear…
So, these two gentlemen come into my lobby and ask if they can use the phone to see if one of the local bars is open. I tell them only guests can use the phone, and one of the guys starts getting snippy about it until I tell them they CAN use the wi-fi, which he uses his laptop to contact the bar and call a taxi, apologizing for getting angry when he leaves.
Jump ahead two hours, the both of them return obviously drunk, but stay only long enough to use the wi-fi to call a friend to pick them up. No big.
About an hour, hour and a half later it starts raining HARD. I have the lobby locked up like normal, but I hear someone go into the vending room. It turns out to be the guy with the laptop, so I do like I normally do when a drunken local comes in out of the weather, let him stay until it stops raining then go, wake him up, and politely tell him he needs to move along. He starts slurring about having “nowhere to go” to which I tell him I’m sorry, but this is a place of business and, even though I let him wait out the storm, he needs to go. He says okay, starts gathering his stuff, and I return to the office.
After a few minutes of not hearing or seeing anyone leave, I check and he’s asleep again. I tell him more sternly that he needs to go, and he yells at me that he will only go if I tell him where TO go. Standard procedure now, belligerent local drunk, call the cops. They arrive and tell him to leave, he gathers up his stuff and leaves, they leave, he returns and starts typing on his laptop in the vending room, I call the cops back. A HALF HOUR later, they finally get him to leave, this time warning him if he returns he will be arrested for trespassing…then they come and tell me that he returned to FILE A REPORT TO BEST WESTERN CENTRAL about me being a “abusive racist who threatened his life” (he was a black guy, like it matters).
On the private wi-fi connection I let him use. In the vending room I let him sit out the storm in.
I fucking give up. I try to be a decent person, especially during the stormy months, but this is still a place of business and I don’t want to lose my damn job. If one of the local drunks or homeless people come here, I let them warm up a while and have some of the leftover coffee from earlier in the day before I send them on their way…Hell, I even did that BEFORE one of them ended up freezing to death a day later when I wasn’t on shift, something I still feel like I should have done more about. I don’t let them use the phone because the last time I did, they called fucking Albuquerque and started a yelling match with their ex-girlfriend and I got written up and the long distance fees deducted from my paycheck. I don’t do this for recognition…Hell, if anyone knew, I WOULD lose my job (says the person crossposting this to his two journals...).
And this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, either.
Night like this, I really fucking wonder why I bother. What would you guys have done?
So, these two gentlemen come into my lobby and ask if they can use the phone to see if one of the local bars is open. I tell them only guests can use the phone, and one of the guys starts getting snippy about it until I tell them they CAN use the wi-fi, which he uses his laptop to contact the bar and call a taxi, apologizing for getting angry when he leaves.
Jump ahead two hours, the both of them return obviously drunk, but stay only long enough to use the wi-fi to call a friend to pick them up. No big.
About an hour, hour and a half later it starts raining HARD. I have the lobby locked up like normal, but I hear someone go into the vending room. It turns out to be the guy with the laptop, so I do like I normally do when a drunken local comes in out of the weather, let him stay until it stops raining then go, wake him up, and politely tell him he needs to move along. He starts slurring about having “nowhere to go” to which I tell him I’m sorry, but this is a place of business and, even though I let him wait out the storm, he needs to go. He says okay, starts gathering his stuff, and I return to the office.
After a few minutes of not hearing or seeing anyone leave, I check and he’s asleep again. I tell him more sternly that he needs to go, and he yells at me that he will only go if I tell him where TO go. Standard procedure now, belligerent local drunk, call the cops. They arrive and tell him to leave, he gathers up his stuff and leaves, they leave, he returns and starts typing on his laptop in the vending room, I call the cops back. A HALF HOUR later, they finally get him to leave, this time warning him if he returns he will be arrested for trespassing…then they come and tell me that he returned to FILE A REPORT TO BEST WESTERN CENTRAL about me being a “abusive racist who threatened his life” (he was a black guy, like it matters).
On the private wi-fi connection I let him use. In the vending room I let him sit out the storm in.
I fucking give up. I try to be a decent person, especially during the stormy months, but this is still a place of business and I don’t want to lose my damn job. If one of the local drunks or homeless people come here, I let them warm up a while and have some of the leftover coffee from earlier in the day before I send them on their way…Hell, I even did that BEFORE one of them ended up freezing to death a day later when I wasn’t on shift, something I still feel like I should have done more about. I don’t let them use the phone because the last time I did, they called fucking Albuquerque and started a yelling match with their ex-girlfriend and I got written up and the long distance fees deducted from my paycheck. I don’t do this for recognition…Hell, if anyone knew, I WOULD lose my job (says the person crossposting this to his two journals...).
And this isn’t the first time something like this has happened, either.
Night like this, I really fucking wonder why I bother. What would you guys have done?
I'd also make sure to keep my cool and explain things calmly, and give them no reason to believe what a drunkard would say. (I do hope the police were understanding about the situation, because such an accusation from a clearly drunk person shouldn't be taken very seriously, at least to me.)
Cue someone coming in and calling me an idiot.
We refer to the stickers on the back of our field vehicles as "Get Me Fired Stickers." It's all they're good for.
It isn't your fault that this guy was a jerk who tried to take advantage of your charity. Nobody said being good was easy, in fact it is very hard. I hope that nothing bad happens to you because of this.
You aren't good because it "works" or because you think you'll get a karmic check at the end of the month. You're good because you're a good person and you stumbled across someone in trouble. That's the funny thing about people in trouble, they tend to be troubled. They don't always say thank you, they aren't always grateful, and sometimes someone is lost because they don't want to (or don't need to) be found.
But being true to who you are is worth something. It comes with a certain amount of vulnerability, a risk you take where the reward was paid up front. Sooner or later, you're going to come across a lion who bares it's fangs, even after you've plucked the thorn. You can't put your faith in other people sharing your outlook. Sometimes they just aren't up to the task, and sometimes they've been hurt too many times to trust. So it comes down to just how important being a good person is to you. In your case, I'd say it's very important since this isn't the first time you've put yourself at risk. So, ultimately, even if this one bit you in the butt, my guess is you'll get a cushion for your work chair and keep on as you have in the past. For that, you have my respect.
But seriously, I think you did the right thing in this situation. At least you did everything I think I would have done in the same position.