Yesterday I was in line at the Aramark employee restaurant, on the 16th floor. The guy in front of me was about $2 short for his lunch. Having been in this situation, I know that you have to take the elevator (which is always a pain, there're only 6 elevators for 20 floors, and are always full and/or a 5 minute or so wait to get one going in your direction.) to the first floor, and wait in line for the ATM, then take the elevator back up to the 16th floor, get back in line, and pay.
So I broke out my wallet, and offered the guy $2 so he can get his lunch. He looked at me like I was from another planet. (Is the city really so hostile that a friendly gesture is such a surprise?) He recovered quickly accepted the money with a string of thank you's, and asked what he could do for it. I said since he wasn't a woman, I couldn't get a lunch date out of it, so don't worry about it. (cue laughter from the rest of the line behind me). I then left the restaurant, quickly forgetting about the encounter(I'm very free with money, just ask my spoiled friends
).So this morning I park at the train station, and hopped aboard the next train. I sat down, and pulled out my wallet, and find that I only have $3 in there. The ticket is $4.50. Uhh...The ticketwoman comes up, and I show her an empty wallet and $3 in my hand. I ask about an IOU slip of some sort, of which she didn't have, so a standoff is forthcoming. I was not about to get off the train, be late for work, etc.
Suddenly, the woman across the isle offers up $2 to pay for my ticket! I was going to decline, but, uhh..I couldn't. Any other circumstance, I would have gone home and got my own money. So it was my turn to profusely thank her for an act of kindness I certainly did not expect.
Unfortunately, she exited the train when I wasn't looking, but tomorrow I'm gonna go look for her and offer her lunch for her deed.
(Or should I?)
