$6 - 6 days - Day 3 - Stranger

Well, day 3 and 4 have been insightful to say the least.

I have now been able to verify two facts:
1) The word “strangers” has STRANGE in it for a reason
2) The freaks actually DO come out at night

Stranger #1
Approx. 6:30pm – Port Authority Bus Terminal – NYC

For those of you not familiar with the NYC area…Port Authority (affectionately called ‘PA’ by the locals) is one of the 3 main public transportation hubs (excluding airports) that connect NYC to the world. In other words….it’s the bus station. More importantly it’s where I decided to commit my third random act of charity with my first stranger.

It was a dark and stormy night…OK it was still a little light out, but it was raining. I am on my way home on the dreaded 2 hour bus commute from PA that has come to define my existence. As my luck would usually have it I had the pleasure of having a rather full figured, or perhaps to be politically correct I should refer to her as “horizontally challenged”, older woman who chose to be my traveling partner.

I’d like to take a moment to thank God for being so good at what he does and not making me allergic to fake fur because this lady had on everything fake fur you can imagine. Fake fur coat, fake fur hat, fake fur gloves, fake fur covered boots. She looked like America’s Next Top Yeti (Bigfoot for those of you who don’t know his government name). Excuse me, I digress. SO, I decided to make the most of this unfortunate circumstance and include my furry companion in my little experiment. Once again, I opted for the short, sweet, and simple approach. “I love your outfit,” I lied. “Here’s a dollar for you.” Here’s where things got a bit uncomfortable….

She looked at the dollar…looked at me…looked at the dollar…and then in her very much outside voice said “what kind of woman do you think I am?!” “Do I look like I need your little dollar…this is fox!” (now I’m no fur expert, but her fox looked a lot like the rim of the hood of my Northface ski jacket and that ain’t fox). I now have the attention of all 54 other passengers on the bus so being the quick witted fellow that I’m not I stammered out a quick “Ok…so… give it back!” to which she replied “No...now I’m going to keep your dollar to teach you a lesson!”

And herein I think lies a lesson for us all. If you don’t want to spend two hours next to an angry Yeti and wake up from your bus nap with a mouth full of faux…excuse me…fox…fur keep your dollar in your pocket and your little experiments to yourself. I can’t wait for the next stranger…