There is Hope

That has to be almost unheard of but, yes, amongst all the angst of living here there sometimes is that joyous ray of light to renew one's faith in human nature.

My little contribution to some lightness and brightness? I was off for some sun the other day and after leaving the bank in Tutu Park Mall I went to Subway as a lunch sandwich seemed like a good idea, The girls behind the counter looked as dour as usual and the young locals in front of me looked likewise. They (the young locals) were walking through the line with nary a "Good Morning" to the servers, just barking out what they wanted and it was all quite depressing as usual.

When my turn came, the gal behind the counter barely looked at me but said, "NEXT!" in a grumpy tone.

"Good Morning!" I cheerily said. She looked at me and, with a great big smile, said, "Good morning! Can I help?"

I guess we might have helped make each other's day at least for a short while.

I know this ongoing discussion about "rudeness" has been churned over time and time again on this forum and the visitor's forum by both visitors and newbies and residents. Innumerable incidents and "theories" on the subject have been presented time and time again by posters. But even if the traditonal greeting is snubbed/ignored by the recipient, why on earth would the person who gives the greeting in so many cases feel chagrined or dissed enough to make a meal out of it? If you give the traditional greeting and it's ignored, say it again (the recipient may not have heard it, after all!) If it's ignored again, just ignore it in turn knowing that YOU were polite and did the right thing.

Of course if you're as old as me you're quite justified in saying (of course with a nice smile) "Excuse me? I said "Good Morning" and didn't you hear me?" I do that RARELY (maybe less than once a year) and only when some young cashier or whatever has a really crappy attitude which has resulted in people ahead of me in line being treated with awful disrespect, Some people shouldn't be in any sort of a customer rep position period until they learn their basic manners.

Jen, you might want to call the VIPD records division before going there on Monday to pick up the police report because reports aren't always filed in timely fashion. Just give them the number and they'll be able to let you know if it's been filed. In case you don't know, the place where you pick up the report is in the Farrelly Criminal Justice Center. You park in the Ft Christian parking lot and then walk across the street, go up the steps and the record center is on the left, Best to get there early AM because the parking lot can be a bitch to get into if there are some big trials going on and then you'll end up going around the block a million times searching for a space.

Thanks for the good tale and hope it all works out well for you!

My story dated to a year ago at the St Paddy Day Parade on STX.

I walked accross the street to buy a Johnny Cake from a lady. Got my JC and wlked back to where I was watching and ate it. A little while later I noticed that my wallet was gone. The first thought was the I was a target of a pick pocket. I was frantic. I even told a police officer that was standing near by.

I finally thought about retracing my steps, and went back to the JC stand. I looked on the table and saw nothing. The lady that had waited on me saw me looking and asked if I was looking for something. I replied that I had lost my wallet. With that, she reached under the counter and pulled out my wallet and said that she was hoping the owner would return for it.

She refused a finders fee, but let me give her a big hug instead.

Of course everything was in there.

Being a person who leaves a trail of possessions in her wake, on several occasions I have retraced my steps and found/reclaimed what was mine, in tact.

In the movie"Family Guy"there is a seen where the character receives the wrong change back ,short of coarse.The character keeps looking at the cashier who realized the mistake but Say's nothing.The amount of money was not much the character leaves upset and says something like"wow ten dollars and twenty two cents" she sold her integrity for $10.22 What is your integrity worth?Apparently the person who hit you thought their integrity was worth more than the cost of the accident.Good for them,my integrity isn't for sale either.

Dave..

yay! Now this is what we should be speaking more about. I'm glad everyone has contributed a nice tale and I encourage everyone to keep adding.

Here's one from Robert who is leaving island today 🙁 so I'll post it for him:

We were driving out of Office Max the other day from loading boxes for his move into my car and on our way to the movies.
A car pulled up next to us and a guy was trying to get our attention. Robert rolled his window down and the guy told us that there was a wallet on top of my car! Robert had left it up there! We had gone over a speed bump, through the Office Max parking lot and were in line at the light. Thank goodness for that guy letting us know. Robert had just gone to the ATM too.
But, maybe he wouldn't be leaving today if he had lost his wallet....hmmmm

I have two great additions to this.

One rainy afternoon on STX my fiance and I were driving home and I somehow made a wrong turn in the "wrong neighborhood". Once I realized it - i went to turn around into a driveway...well, this "dip" in the driveway was actually a gutted hole that the running water was having a hay day with. We get stuck quite nicely. My fiance tries to pack mud under front right tire with no luck. People in the housing units around us came out on their porches staring. In my own irrational judgements I asked him how much cash he has on him... "$500, what? Why?" "For the weekend!" And I too, had gotten out $200 for errands. So I suggest we put our wallets in the locked trunk, as we look like nice, white, middle-class tourists. It's pouring and 2 guys come to help push the car. NOTHING. They leave and walk off toward the shore/WAPA and we call some buddies with a truck for help. A few mintues later,our friends still haven't arrived, and around the corner from where several reported muggings had recently happened along the shoreline, a group a guys come walking back. As they get closer I notice one has a knight extended. I am panicing. Fiance, thankfully, stays calm and greets them all. I keep my eye on the knife and notice the guy then discreetly hides it inwardly against his wrist?? They all get in front of the car, push like crazy, the car jerks out, water SPRAYS ALL OVER THE GUYS, and they say "There you go!"

I am so overwhelmed, and soaking wet, and happy, and scared, and ????

We thank them and I wanted, at that point, to give them the $500 for helping and not hurting or mugging us...

We head out on your merry way and I spent several weeks replaying the event in my mind, talking to some of my native coworkers about both my fear, projected discrimination, yet rightful fear with the sight of the knife and recent events that had occured in that area. It was a great opener to discuss touchy topics that cover race, class, etc.

My other incident is another wallet story. Left wallet at a convenience store and 1 1/2 days later traced steps back to there. Went to inquire...with no luck, guy was not very helpful. Went back next day hoping to talk to original female employee and she saw me and sprung up with my wallet. All was there. She held on to it rather than trusting all the other employees to do the right thing.

Its times like these that I am humbled and remember that we are all human, all here on a journey seeking happiness and that we can't do it alone. We, as people, are not islands... we need each other. And that's not a money, color, race, or religion thing... that's a human thing!!

This is a little thing, but it made my day. I was at PLaza yesterday and among my items, were a case of Presidente, and a huge crate of kitty litter, both extremely heavy and on the bottom of the cart. I was sorting the stuff that was already on the conveyor belt, and when I turned back around, the kitty litter was already lifted onto the belt and the man behind me in line was putting my beer up for me. I thanked him profusely, but he just smiled and waved me off.

Awhile back I took a couple of framed mirrors I no longer needed to the dumpster. By the time I arrived at the dumpster I'd decided I had a use for the mirrored glass in one of the frames. I leaned one framed mirror against the dumpster, in case someone wanted it, and began looking in the car for something to remove the mirrored glass from the other. I thought I was alone with the chickens and roosters until a scraggly Rasta with a huge machete lurched out of the bushes. He asked what I was doing and I explained. He said the framed mirror I had no need for would "dress up his shack" and he used his machete to remove the nails from the back of the other frame so the mirrored glass would pop out. As he was doing so he cautioned me that I too should always carry a machete because not everyone on island was "peaceful."

Unfortunately, the Ft. Christian lot is closed for Carnival but there are no ships tomorrow (and maybe no ships Monday) so it should be easier to find a parking place, Jen.

These are great stories! Last week a local guy had his Jeep parked catty-corner across the road to block traffic. As I pulled up I saw he was chasing a small dog that was running around on the road. He finally caught it & came to my car & asked if I knew whose dog it was. I checked the collar that had a tag & he called the phone number on it with his cell phone (he had a Bluetooth.) I heard him tell whoever answered he had their dog & got in his car & pulled off to the side of the road & parked with the dog. I assume to wait for the owner. The dog thought it was great fun to be chased. 🙂

Another story.

On our second trip, when we were looking to buy and had a car, we were not sure where we were at. We pulled off of the road next to the dealers on 75 and were looking at the map. We saw a guy in a truck pull up accross the road, he saw us and drove accross, my wife was nervous, but the guy said that we looked lost and could he help.
He showed us where we were on the map, and how to get to where we wanted to go.

Nice people on the island.