"Would you like to share my breakfast?": seanan

"Would you like to share my breakfast?"

It's easy to forget sometimes, given the natural impulses to focus on the negative aspects of the world around us, that people can be inherently decent. (This ties into something I've been pondering, involving Monkeyspheres and the nature of social formations, but it's also its own thing, in isolation, which is why I'm bringing it up right now.) I mean, we're all horrible human beings at some point or other, but we're also capable of being really good people. Case in point:

I don't generally carry any cash with me. It's a combination of factors, the most pressing of which is probably "I am a slightly vacant-looking blonde woman with a real fondness for the sort of trail often featured in classic horror movies." I've never been mugged, and I'd really rather not start any time soon, so I make a point of having as little money on me as possible. It's fun! This does, however, put me at a bit of a disadvantage when people looking for a cup of coffee ask me if I have any change, since "No, for sociological reasons" doesn't make much sense without the context.

Some days, I head straight to the office in the morning. Other days, I stop by the 7-11 near the Montgomery Street BART Station, where I can obtain a Double-Big Gulp of Diet Dr Pepper to get me through the morning. Despite the fact that it's June and should be, I don't know, summer, it was misting lightly, resulting in instant chilly dampness. Peh.

As I walked toward the 7-11, a man sitting on the sidewalk asked, "If you have any change when you come out, could you maybe help me get some breakfast?" He was hugging his dog. It was a good dog, brown and tan and cold-looking, but good. I like dogs.

"I'll see what I can do," I said, and went inside.

About five minutes later, I came out with my soda, a large coffee, a bunch of sugar and creamer packets (I never got the hang of fixing other people's coffees), an egg-on-croissant sandwich, and the biggest cinnamon bun they had, on the theory that he could, I don't know, give whatever he wanted to the dog. As I emerged, a little girl was petting the dog, and he was reassuring her mother that he'd never ask a kid for money just to pet his dog. The kid and her mother left. I walked over.

"I brought you breakfast," I said, and started handing him food.

He was very pleased—who doesn't like food?—and asked my name. I told him. His name was Dave (the dog was Daisy). Smiles all around...and then, as I was turning to head for work, he waved to another homeless gentleman, this one older, thinner, and sitting back against a doorway to stay out of the wet, and asked what was probably the best pair of questions I'll hear all day:

"Hey, you hungry? You want to share my breakfast?"

Sometimes the human race is fundamentally decent, even when it's hungry, damp, and sitting on a San Francisco sidewalk.

It's gonna be a pretty good day.

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

June 25 2010, 16:28:50 UTC 7 years ago

New comment

Welcome!

arielstarshadow

June 25 2010, 14:55:55 UTC 7 years ago

*hugs* Thank you. I've done the same. It's a small way of paying it forward, something I believe very strongly in.

June 25 2010, 16:29:12 UTC 7 years ago

I can't expect the universe to buy me breakfast if I never buy breakfast for anybody else.

apocalypticbob

7 years ago

ravenclawed

June 25 2010, 15:01:53 UTC 7 years ago

I rarely keep cash on me, mainly because I use plastic when I go shopping. Cash is usually only for the vending machines at work.

I totally applaud both you and Dave.

June 25 2010, 16:29:22 UTC 7 years ago

And Daisy!

June 25 2010, 16:29:41 UTC 7 years ago

See, no. I think all acts of joy are equally joyful, because we need to be nice more.

allisona

June 25 2010, 15:02:16 UTC 7 years ago

That's lovely :). Thanks for the story!

June 25 2010, 17:03:04 UTC 7 years ago

Glad to share. :)

sirriamnis

June 25 2010, 15:06:48 UTC 7 years ago

Now I'm crying at my desk.

That's a lovely story.

June 25 2010, 17:03:26 UTC 7 years ago

I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry.

amazon_syren

la_marquise_de_

June 25 2010, 15:10:06 UTC 7 years ago

Oh, that's lovely. Good for you.

June 25 2010, 17:03:34 UTC 7 years ago

dimloep_suum

mersipan

June 25 2010, 15:40:31 UTC 7 years ago

This completely cheered up my morning. Thanks for sharing the story - people being decent to one another is awesome and should happen more often.

June 25 2010, 17:03:46 UTC 7 years ago

Very welcome.

vixyish

June 25 2010, 15:47:23 UTC 7 years ago Edited: June 25 2010, 15:47:42 UTC

You are the bestest Seanan of all the Seanans.

Thanks for sharing your morning.

<3 <3 <3

June 25 2010, 17:04:02 UTC 7 years ago

I am the only Seanan you have!

a3starmom

June 25 2010, 15:49:46 UTC 7 years ago

It's such an uplifting feeling to see how a little bit of kindness can have such a ripple effect.Sorta makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.:)We used to do the same thing outside MickeyD's.It's funny to see the reaction when you order 20 burgers and there's only 2-3 people in the car.Everyone should care more and share more.

June 25 2010, 17:04:20 UTC 7 years ago

They usually assume you're stoned, in my experience.

saffronrose

June 25 2010, 15:53:25 UTC 7 years ago

You did a good thing well. Sometimes, I just drag someone in with me and get them to tell the clerk/server/barista what they want, and pay for it.

If I'm carrying leftovers, the asker gets that.

June 25 2010, 17:05:28 UTC 7 years ago

You can't always drag people inside around here; sometimes the clerks get funny about it, which makes me sad. But yay for trying.

mephron

June 25 2010, 16:02:27 UTC 7 years ago

I used to carry McD's gift certificates and give them to people who asked me for money for food.

This, though, is actually pretty darn good person work.

raphsody606

June 25 2010, 16:14:30 UTC 7 years ago

I do the same thing *high five*
Years of experience with street people made me realize that that was a far better option then money.

sleepinbeast

mskauri

June 25 2010, 16:03:25 UTC 7 years ago

What a great way to start MY day. Thanks for sharing. Here's to the "Breakfast Club of Montgomery Street!"

June 25 2010, 17:05:45 UTC 7 years ago

Hee!

inkedhistorian

June 25 2010, 16:04:23 UTC 7 years ago

You're awesome.

June 25 2010, 17:05:53 UTC 7 years ago

You, too.

June 25 2010, 17:07:39 UTC 7 years ago

Good!

blythe025

June 25 2010, 16:45:28 UTC 7 years ago

That made me all teary eyed. Thank you for sharing.

June 25 2010, 17:15:59 UTC 7 years ago

June 25 2010, 17:16:08 UTC 7 years ago

Gladly.

angel_vixen

June 25 2010, 17:03:48 UTC 7 years ago

For all the crazies out there who make you wonder why you're forced to share the planet with them, there are just as many people who quietly leave the place a little Better than they found it -- I live in a city with a bad reputation, but every day, I see at least one tiny good deed that reassures me we aren't all bad here.

Happy Friday. :)

AngelVixen :-)

June 25 2010, 17:16:59 UTC 7 years ago

Happy Friday!

themysteriousg

June 25 2010, 17:05:24 UTC 7 years ago

Yeah, there's a little pizza joint on Broadway that is ridiculously cheap and ridiculously good. I've bought a slice and a soda for a Mom and her Daugther (they didn't tell me their names, I didn't press) and I'm probably going to indulge down there today. I'll have to buy a guy a slice. I'm sure that someone will ask me for one between here and there.

Yay you and yay for Dave and Daisy. The one's with the least to give are often the biggest givers.

June 25 2010, 17:17:09 UTC 7 years ago

I find that to be very, very true.

evaleastaristev

June 25 2010, 17:17:49 UTC 7 years ago

And my faith in humanity is once again restored, this time vicariously.

June 25 2010, 18:44:39 UTC 7 years ago

Yay!

bardling

June 25 2010, 17:18:00 UTC 7 years ago

So veryvery YES! :)
You made a beginning, he built on it... wonderful! :) Thank you for sharing.

June 25 2010, 18:45:40 UTC 7 years ago

Very welcome, sweetie.

glam_k

June 25 2010, 17:21:20 UTC 7 years ago

You know the best thing about this story--aside from Dave, Daisy, and the other guy who needed some food, of course? ALL of us are now sharing in the warm fuzzies that those little, *human* gestures always give back in return... and we're all better for it. So, if that isn't a really awesome reminder to be kind and decent to each other, then I don't know what is. Good on you!! :)