Earlier, I went food shopping at Wegmans. There's a bench like the one in the picture above at the edge of the Wegmans store and the gym next door. I decided I need to sit down, in fact my back was begging me. Unfortunately, there was a woman seated in the middle of the bench smoking a cigarette. The best that I could tell she was most likely in her late 30's. She wore one of those nylon night bonnets, a black parka, and she had a tattered small rolling suitcase. She also had a black tote bag sitting on top of the luggage. I assumed that the woman was homeless.
She was friendly. She said "hello,"and tried to make small talk. She said that she was going to get a shower and find someplace nice to eat. I'm not really a restaurant person so, I had no suggestions for her. She thought that Cracker Barrel might make a good choice. She said that she had heard that they had good food. I agreed not knowing if she was correct or not.
A woman of maybe 50 walked up to the seated woman. Propped against the wall, I glanced over while eating an unexpectedly nice Keto Wise™ crispy caramel snack. The woman was wearing a pink Wegmans polo shirt and name tag. She asked the seated woman, "Are you the same woman that was out here this morning," (It was now a quarter to two)? She added that she wanted to give her the food in the picture above because she thought that she might be hungry. "Oh, no thanks, I'm good. I can buy my own food. I got a job." The store woman added, "They give it to us every morning and I just thought that you might like it. It doesn't cost anything,". The woman seated repeated that she was okay and could buy her own food. The Wegmans' employee seemed very uncomfortable, she didn't know what to say. She awkwardly apologized to the woman a couple times, and then decided to just leave the food there because "Someone might come by who wants it, who is hungry." The employee seemed embarrassed as she turned and quickly walked back to the store. I imagine it was the first time anyone had turned down her kind gesture?
After the employee was out of sight, the woman turned to me and asked if I would have taken the food. "You just don't know about people these days. Do you think it was safe,' she asked? I told her that she should have accepted the food, put it in her bag for later. It was hard to imagine that it would not be safe coming from an employee of the store who had just come out to help. She seemed a little surprised by my answer and seemed to be reconsidering. "I'll just leave it here for somebody else like she said," she offered. I told her that was a good idea. She added that she had a job and couldn't wait to get back there on Tuesday.
In a very sad way holidays are a great inconvenience to the homeless who have a daily routine of survival. I imagine this woman worked full time as many homeless people do, and in addition to the money, the workplace provided shelter from the elements, safety, and relief from the boredom of being on the streets.
"Well, it's time for my shower and to go get a good dinner," she shared. I wished her luck and a great dinner. She smiled broadly and then stopped in front of the gym whose door was ajar. I could hear her cheerfully ask the desk attendant if she could use the shower. He told her "Yes.'
She thanked him.
