The homeless man at the Seven Eleven
 

Post by Pags from Homeless people with dogs
[url]http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17298[/url]

There was a particular homeless man who I had encountered regularly on my trips to New Orleans who had a dog. He spent most evenings out in front of a 7-eleven and would ask people for money in exchange for putting air in their tires or cleaning their windows, etc. My friends and I always gave him something -- money or food. Some of my friends would only give him food (which he immediately shared with his dog -- and the dog got the lion's share too) because they noticed that whenever they gave him cash he would just stand there until they left. They all said he must be waiting to buy booze or some such. Being a college student I rarely had a whole lot of money in my pocket -- but on one particularly cold night (cold for New Orleans..) I had just received a cash gift.. and I knew what I should do with it when I saw that 7-eleven. So I brought him the money and I asked him if I could use it to get him a hotel room for the night. He seemed really really uncomfortable with this and immediately my more cynical friends started saying they were right -- he wanted to buy booze. He finally said with tears in his eyes that it wouldn't be right to take the money for a hotel -- but asked if I could find a dog kennel still open so his friend could spend the night somewhere warm. We were dumbfounded of course. So he explained it to us this way -- He said that he was homeless through his own neglect and stupidity -- but his friend was homeless through someone else's alone...

Oh and by the way -- all those times he would stand and wait for his benefactors to leave? He wasn't waiting to buy booze.. he didn't want them to see him buying dog food as he was afraid they wouldn't help again.

I read these in the other forums but are truly worth BUMPING!!!!