The teacher

This post isn't home related, but I need to give a big shout out to my coworkers Amanda, Diana and Laura for saving me from the teacher last night!

We'd just left the bar after a night of celebrating the success of our work's annual charity event - the Haunted Tower. Our cars were parked in different directions; mine was only about a block and a half away so I insisted I could go it alone. Well, I hadn't gone more than twenty feet when a well-spoken, bespectacled gentleman in a Carhartt jacket embroidered with the phrase, 'expect the unexpected,' wheeled his bike next to me asking me for funds with a string of sob stories.

1. He had a been a college teacher who'd lost his job.
2. He'd been working odd lawn care jobs, but those jobs had dwindled recently.
3. He has a new job starting on Monday with Remax.
4. His car had been taken away (hence the bike), but he would get it back Monday.
5. Whilst he'd been roaming around downtown with his bike, some guys had jumped him and broke his jaw.
6. He needs to go see an oral surgeon to take care of his jaw.
7. He has a cavity on one of his way back molars (which he cleverly pointed out).
8. He had been to church and asked forgiveness.
9. He hates having to ask people for charity, but he'd fallen on hard times.
10. He only has nine dollars in his pocket (again, emphasis on the need for oral surgery)
11. His dad has Parkinson's Disease

Three things to note: (1) I tend to be quite jaded, so I wasn't picking up what he was putting down, (2) I tend to be chronically nice to strangers, so I couldn't think of a good escape aside from repeatedly saying, "No, sorry," (3) I didn't know if this was the kind of guy who'd follow me to my car, causing even more trouble, so while he rambled I brainstormed different ways to protect myself (e.g., head back inside, channel the skills of late, great martial arts masters)

Luckily for me, I didn't have to worry about item number 3 above, because just as the teacher was spinning his yarn about his ill father, my coworkers appeared as if out of nowhere and yelled at me to get in the car. I quickly obliged.

I have never been so relieved in my life. Thank you, ladies!