Fire Post

[garran]

Waiting for the bus on the way home from rehearsal today, I met a man who said that his apartment building was in the process of burning down, and gave him twenty dollars to get into a hostel for the night. (It's possible that it was a con*, but I'm comfortable about the degree to which I was convinced. He was clearly very shaken - he kept crying, just a little - but proud, and struggling to stay together.) He made arrangements to come to Langara and pay me back tomorrow - apparently he is one of those who is very uncomfortable about accepting charity, and hates to feel that something is owed. I might call this 'conscientious capitalism', and it's a little like vegetarianism, in that I don't share it, but I respect the idiosyncracies of those who do.

I feel like I ought to have more paragraphs, but nothing else that happened to me today was so striking as that was.

(*: A confidence game, not a convention.)

Comments

[vorkon.livejournal.com]

Well, even if it was a con, you'd willingly pay an actor to see him perform so well, right?

[cola]

[(Anonymous)]

Sure, but maybe not twenty dollars! In fact, it probably was a con; most people would have a friend somewhere that could help them out. His offer to pay you back tomorrow makes this even more likely. But I would only bet a small amount.

Twenty dollars is not so much, though.

I've been noticing fires in this city; the day before yesterday I saw a note that said, "Sorry! We weren't open today because of the fire in the market next door."

Re: [cola]

[garran.livejournal.com]

I wondered, later, too, why he didn't have his own bank card. He said that he had come home from work to find the flaming pandemonium; doesn't he take his wallet to work?

And he didn't show up today. I still don't feel like it was definitely a con, although it does seem quite likely - he was very convincing.

His offer to pay you back tomorrow makes this even more likely.

Really? It seems a little extraneous, if it isn't genuine - I made it pretty clear that I wasn't expecting to be repayed. His taking such pains to learn how to contact me at Langara is odd to me.


-Garran

[garran.livejournal.com]

I used to justify myself to myself that way some times, but I've grown less satisfied with it. I gave him the money because I decided that I trusted him; I pretty consciously wasn't going, "Even if you're not for real, your performance has earned it," because, in fact, I wouldn't want to reward that. I don't want to foster, any more than I can help it, an environment in which it's particularly useful to be dishonest (but I do want to foster one in which mutual charity is the norm). At any rate, even if I was mistaken, I don't regret the choice I made.


-Garran

Greetings!

[armedwithanoboe.livejournal.com]

So apparently I am supposed to either make my post with pics of Rachel public, or just friend you so that you can see it. I have obviously chosen the latter. I hope this is an acceptable choice. ;) I still find it weird that I have yet to meet you, in spite of having heard about you for years.

Re: Greetings!

[garran.livejournal.com]

Hallo! ^^ Thank you!

I rather feel as if I ought to have met you, as well, although, since our common factor is Rachel, and each of us live so far away from her, it isn't logistically so surprising. Perhaps we could contrive one day to visit at the same time - or would she explode...?

(Actually, even more sensible-yet-daring might be for Rachel and I to someday converge on you, your being in the middle and all. Hmmm!)


-Andy H.

Belatedly noticed

[masamage.livejournal.com]

I didn't even realize 'con' stood for anything! That's a cool thing to have learned. ^_^