Now, I've seen a lot in my travels. There was the old homeless man on the bus with his hair so matted around his head that I threw up a little in my mouth every time I saw him. I think a bird could've lived in that nest of hair.
On my way to work the other day, I saw this on the ground:
Shirt, pants, bra, panties, and both socks. That's right, it's an entire outfit! So many possibilities as to how these ended up here . . .
On two separate occasions I saw these guys on my way to work:
Yep, they're moving a piano by bicycle. That's gotta make you smile :)
Speaking of bikes, while I was waiting for the bus one day, I saw this guy:
Boxes stacked on the handlebars . . . That's talent!
Now, it's a pretty common occurrence to see people get on the bus with multiple sleeping bags and buckets full of all their belongings.
Just today I saw a shopping cart on the bus:
But my favorite is when they get on with an unusual item like giant garden shears, hoes, and other large metal objects that are unrecognizable. I even remember one guy getting on with an ax. The bus driver made him wrap his jacket around it. That did help it look less threatening.
Sometimes you get the real crazies, like this guy that kept snapping his fingers and yelling to someone in the back (mind you, no one was in the back):
Seeing all of these people can be pretty entertaining, but nothing compares to making new friends! Once I met a drunk Native American man on the train. He told me he could tell I was a religious woman and said, "I'll take you to church." Unfortunately, I couldn't find a dress shop close to the train route and had to decline his marriage proposal.
I also had the EXACT same conversation with the same man two days in a row on the train. Both ended with him trying to get my name, address, and phone number so we could meet up at the Chuck-A-Rama for a date. I never heard from him, though . . . He must've forgotten about our chat.
Another day, I had a kid next to me start asking me questions about who I lived with. He wanted to know all about my roommates. His mouth was covered in crusties and he was inviting me to his birthday party. I convinced him that not only had I forgotten my cell phone that day, but I couldn't remember my number either.
These days I'm working at a plasma center near downtown in a low-income neighborhood relatively close to the homeless shelter. Everyday I get to meet interesting people who wanna help save lives and earn a little extra cash while they're at it.
Now, the first time you come in to donate you have to have your veins checked. One day a man (or so I thought) was brought back to me for this purpose. As I checked his arms, he said, "I know where the veins are in this mortal body." He proceeded to tell me all about how he was from another planet and how this body was serving him pretty well. Unfortunately, his veins were too small and I had to turn him away. Before he left, though, he pulled a wad of cash out of his fanny pack and said, "It's ok. I got money!" You also have to have a permanent Utah address to donate, so I'm not sure he would've made the cut anyway.
On occasion, people get upset when we turn them away. We had a bounty hunter threaten to "cut" one of our medical supervisors. Another lady threatened to stand and stare at one of our managers just to annoy him (she left right after everyone, donors included, started laughing at her). One guy threatened to wait outside for one of my co-workers because we took one extra gram of plasma (and just to clarify, it has to be at least 6 grams to be considered an overdraw).
I'm sure there are tons more stories I could add to this post, but these are some of my favorites. I love this stuff because when I'm having a hard day I think, "If these people can make it through, so can you." I hope you got a good chuckle :)
