There is a delightful gentleman who stands at a local freeway off ramp, selling cold water from his cooler. Dressed nicely - out of work and trying to pay his rent. Always a smile and a nice word for everyone.
This gent has been selling drinks on these same few corners for at least 4-5 years. He was arrested for selling without a permit when he first started, but rather than being discouraged he came out of jail, got his permit and came back to the same corners legally. I used to work in the plaza behind where the photo was taken, and would buy a drink from him almost every work day. Saw him today after visiting Sam ash funny enough. He won’t take your money for nothing, has turned this into a business, always reading a book and minding his own unless you call him over to buy a drink. He also collects trash from his areas religiously, and will take your empty drink containers if you buy from him. I’m not OP but this is my city and this guy gets my stamp of approval for whatever it’s worth.
This can happen so fast, to anyone. People like to snub their noses and scoff at people like this man for being a lazy bum who "should've worked harder" and "did this to himself".
Ten year ago my husband and I both worked at the same company. We were doing alright, had just bought our first house, and I found out I was pregnant. Two weeks before Thanksgiving we both got laid off.
The existential dread and very real fear of losing everything, was unbearable. Luckily we had family to help us out with everything so we managed to barely scrape by on food stamps and unemployment until we found new jobs.
I seriously considered an abortion even though we tried for that baby for over a year. But I was afraid the cost of raising a child would definitely send us out on the street.
All this because the company scaled down. It has nothing to do with us not working hard enough, or doing drugs , or whatever else stigma people wanna use.
America simply has an absolutely useless joke of a social "safety net", and you're gonna be SOL when things go sideways.
![image showing [OC] Seeing this guy every day after work reminds me that good people can also fall into bad times.](e475e726-285f-5b1e-8548-833e7c7aa80b.jpg)
Jizzapherina on May 5th, 2022 at 21:53 UTC »
Thanks for sharing this.
There is a delightful gentleman who stands at a local freeway off ramp, selling cold water from his cooler. Dressed nicely - out of work and trying to pay his rent. Always a smile and a nice word for everyone.
Kartarailed on May 5th, 2022 at 23:55 UTC »
This gent has been selling drinks on these same few corners for at least 4-5 years. He was arrested for selling without a permit when he first started, but rather than being discouraged he came out of jail, got his permit and came back to the same corners legally. I used to work in the plaza behind where the photo was taken, and would buy a drink from him almost every work day. Saw him today after visiting Sam ash funny enough. He won’t take your money for nothing, has turned this into a business, always reading a book and minding his own unless you call him over to buy a drink. He also collects trash from his areas religiously, and will take your empty drink containers if you buy from him. I’m not OP but this is my city and this guy gets my stamp of approval for whatever it’s worth.
MangoSchnitzel on May 6th, 2022 at 00:40 UTC »
This can happen so fast, to anyone. People like to snub their noses and scoff at people like this man for being a lazy bum who "should've worked harder" and "did this to himself".
Ten year ago my husband and I both worked at the same company. We were doing alright, had just bought our first house, and I found out I was pregnant. Two weeks before Thanksgiving we both got laid off.
The existential dread and very real fear of losing everything, was unbearable. Luckily we had family to help us out with everything so we managed to barely scrape by on food stamps and unemployment until we found new jobs.
I seriously considered an abortion even though we tried for that baby for over a year. But I was afraid the cost of raising a child would definitely send us out on the street.
All this because the company scaled down. It has nothing to do with us not working hard enough, or doing drugs , or whatever else stigma people wanna use.
America simply has an absolutely useless joke of a social "safety net", and you're gonna be SOL when things go sideways.