Tuesday, March 27, 2007

US experience...

This happened to me a few days ago. Most of you probably already know that I am working on a gas station here in US. In this store, we accept food stamps. For those of you who don't already know food stamps are provided by government to the people with very little or no income at all so that they don't die of starvation. This means that lot of homeless people come to this store. They are sometimes quite a nuisance as they try to steal things.

Well on this day that I am talking about, there were two of us working on the counter. I was attending to the customer and the other guy was doing something else. As I am taking customers (there was a line of three or four people at that time), I see a person in wheelchair come in to the store. He looked old and sick. Someone held the door opened for him so that he could enter. I casually looked at him and continued to work.

As I took care of all the customers in the line, I looked for the guy in the wheelchair. I was thinking that may be he needed help with something. I couldn't find him in store. Then I saw him going out of the store. I looked at him and thought about how hard life must be for him. A old guy...in the wheelchair...homeless.

Then suddenly I realized that he had something in is lap. He didn't have nothing when he came in to the store. I asked my friend working with me if the guy in the wheelchair has bought anything. But before he could reply I ran out of the store and saw what the old guy had in his lap. It was a 18 pack cans of beer!!!. The old sick guy in the wheelchair had stolen a 18 pack cans of beer! from under my nose.

I stood there looking at him, not sure what to do. When the other guy asked me why I had run out, I told him that I think that guy in wheelchair has stolen the beers. I came to my senses, when he shouted, "Well what are you looking for then? go catch him." I shouted, "SIRRRR, did you pay for that beer?" He didn't reply. he kept rolling this wheelchair. So I ran after him. But running after a old guy in the wheelchair is really embarrassing. I ran half heartedly, hoping he would stop and stop me and himself from the embarrassment, but he didn't stop. He sped up his wheelchair and ran(?) even faster. He crossed the four lane road and kept going. I was a little shocked and little embarrased that I was chasing a old guy in the wheelchair. It must have looked so funny...

Anyways, I finally caught him, I found out that he was drunk too. He was not a sick old guy, but a drunk old guy. Now the problem for me was, i didn't knew how to handle him. and remember, this is US, so I have to be politically correct even with the low life thief. I think i said something like, "Sir! what the hell are you doing? trying to steal beer...you are in a f%*&ing wheelchair!!!" He asked me in his drunken innocent tone, "I don't know what are you talking about. I paid for this."

"Paid? paid to whom?"
"To the guy on the other counter." He replied. Now i was in a real dilemma. Since I hadn't really heard my friend's response, for a split second, I thought may be he had already paid for the beer to the other guy. Now THAT would be really embarrassing.

But why didn't he stop when I told him to do so? "There is no other guy working there. I am the only one." I bluffed. He kept saying that he had already paid for the beer and didn't knew what I was talking about, but handed me the beer. I came back to store with the beer and he went his way. I was so very relieved when my friend said that he hadn't sold anything to that guy in wheelchair.

3 comments:

Agyaat said...

Hmm...

US ma gayera, chor samatyau, padhai chahi khoi?

Ramrari padhnu, ma aaula arko chor samatna...(ha ha)

Samyak said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Samyak said...

यहाँ मेरो पढाई चाहिँ part time जस्तो भा'को छ। पढ्न भनेर आएको अमेरिका...यहाँ पढ्नलाई टाईम निकाल्न नै गार्हो हुन्छ...यस्तै रहेछ अमेरिका।