Three Bucks

So on Saturday I was doing my daily walk around campus and found myself amidst the throngs exiting the football stadium. One guy came up to me and said, “Excuse me, sir?” I stopped and eyed him. He looked sane and wasn’t particularly dirty or unkempt. (At least, no more so than your average football fan.) He said, “I’m having a really bad day. I just realized I don’t have enough to pay for the bus home. I’m short … $2.70. Do you think you could … ?” Without thinking I said, “Sure,” and gave him three bucks. Almost instantly I realized it was probably a scam, but whatever. I think I was just relieved that he wasn’t going to try to talk to me about football.

Then today I was doing my walk, and the exact same guy came up to me and used the exact same line. I said, “I just gave you money on Saturday,” and he was like, “Oh, you did?” and slunk off. I wasn’t even really bothered that he’d suckered me, but I was really insulted that he didn’t remember me. I mean, I gave him three bucks. You’d think that would buy me at least three days of recognition. The sad thing is, if he’d come up to me today and been like, “Excuse me, sir? Aren’t you that charming young man who gave me three dollars the other day? Do you think you could help me out again? I’m having a really bad day, and I just realized I don’t have enough to pay for more crack,” I probably would have been like, “Well … okay! Hey, you remembered me!”