Don't Be a Begger

When we were in the process of our move from our crap apartment in Bridgewater to our nice duplex home in Harrisonburg, I had to make a trip to the laundry mat.  I have always despised the places.  People sitting around eating snacks, watching the television, speaking other languages, and staring at you.  I felt completely out of place. I walked in there with my black trash bags full of dirty clothing and then realized I forgot the detergent in the car.  I looked around at all the creepy people and wasn't sure if leaving my laundry was safe.  I had to suck it up and go get the detergent and luckily when I came back my laundry was where I left it.

After waiting around the 25-32 minutes for my loads of laundry to finish in the washer, I walked over to the coin machine to get some more quarters.  I was on a severe budget!  We had to pay double rent for that month along with closing off bills and starting new ones.  I had only a few dollars and had no idea what a laundry mat would cost.  A child bumped into me and nearly knocked the machine over.  The little girl's clothing was way to small for her and she had junk food all over her face.  She was running around playing with another girl and they were speaking different languages.

I moved my laundry to the dryer and after I put it in I just stood there watching it go round and round.  Then, this woman comes up to me and she is wearing faded pink sweatpants, dirty white shoes, and this tank top that I have no idea the color because it was filled with dirt.  I looked at her as she kept her eyes on my feet and said something very softly to me.  It was jumbled and so quiet that I had no idea what she said.  I replied, "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you."  She repeated back to me just in a whisper this time, "Do you have any spare change?"

Oh my gosh, I was so frustrated.  Seriously, coming to the laundry mat to hit people up for an extra quarter.  I blatantly said, "No, I can't help you."  I believe that people should help themselves through situations, there is always someone they can go to or something they can do to fix their situation.  I then went to getting my laundry out of the dryer and folding it.  When I walked out of the building I saw the same ragged woman sitting on the sidewalk with a scroungy man walking towards her.  They then pulled out their zip-lock bags with coins and talked for a few minutes.  McDonald's was directly across the street and that was the direction they headed as I started up my car.

I was completely frustrated with these people.  I was pretty positive it was all an act just so that they can scam people into giving them money.  I think it is wrong and people should work for their money or make friends who can offer a hand or have family help from time to time if absolutely necessary...