Let’s not talk about the weather today – though I will mention it is DAMN hot with NO rain. Really sick of that but obviously complaining doesn’t help.
Nor does thinking about the idiots that dial 911. It still boggles my mind that there are really that many dumb people in the state of Florida but I guess there are. Just as a quick example of a caller yesterday – he wanted to complain that dogs weren’t allowed on the Beach and there was a dog running around barking. First of all, the guy sounded like he was strung out on something but regardless, I asked him where on the Beach. He said “By the water”. Like no kidding moron, it wouldn’t be a beach if it weren’t by the water. I ended up hanging up on him because each time I asked him a question – like “are you close to the concession stand” – he’d get irritated and say “I’m by the water”. Those of you who don’t know this, that Beach is over a mile long so you can see my frustration.
Nope, today I want to address the whole transient thing. I am so tired of running to the store, fast food place, gas station, etc., and being bombarded by homeless at every turn wanting money. These people all look plenty healthy so they obviously could work. They don’t need food because the Salvation Army provides for every meal of the day – it would be an unfair generalization to say they all want money or drugs but I would bet that is what a high percentage wants. One person told me they can easily make $40 to $75 a day from begging so why would they get a $7 job?
This constant barrage of beggars can’t be good for the tourism industry – who wants to vacation in a place where they are constantly hounded for money? Not me. The Salvation Army swears it isn’t any of their homeless people begging…to that I say, get real. Is it a coincidence that the highest concentration of the transients are downtown just blocks from the Salvation Army?
Just went to the library to pick up a book that I had on reserve. I couldn’t get there and back to my car without 3 men and 1 woman asking me for money. Now when a vagrant looking person says “excuse me”, I automatically say “no” and keep on walking.
Ok, now that I’ve ranted let me share another 911 call I had yesterday. A person passing by noticed a man lying on the grass of a building. It wasn’t that this is a strange sight around here, you see it everywhere, but the passerby approached the man anyway. The man told the passerby that he couldn’t move. The passerby called us. He wouldn’t get close enough to give me any information on the guy such as “is he breathing normally” – but he was a good Samaritan for stopping. It turned out that the man had been trying to break into the business on whose grass he laid by climbing an antenna tower next to the building. When he tried to jump from the antenna to the building, he fell and hence his predicament. The guy had been laying there for hours moaning and groaning but every one walking by assumed he was a homeless person.
The man had to be airlifted to Tampa from the many injuries he received after falling 30+ feet. Obviously, the police accompanied him. I have to tell you, if it had been me walking by some groaning man on the ground who looked like a homeless person, I wouldn’t have stopped. That is just another result of the homeless begging and bothering people – we don’t want to talk or approach them because we know more then likely the people will just ask us for money.
