guerrilla-beggin' - a rant

so i stopped at my local gas station to get my morning fuel (for those of you who don't know, Quicktrip's vanilla cappucino tastes better than Starbuck's vanilla latte, for only $.99). now i live in an area suffering from gentrification. poor folks getting booted out by real estate developers to allow overpaid creative types to move in at 3/4X the prices the poor folks paid, for 'loft space' (which is really an inexpensively built 'project' that resembles NY brownstones..y'all know the drill). so there's a whole sector of the homeless in the area, and the gas station's a hangout for them.

a man approaches as I enter the store "hey sista...hey sis, can you spare some change when u come out?" I answer no, and go in the store. this brother walks toward me again as I leave, cappucino in hand. " hey sista..." i ignore him..."hey miss"...still i ignore him...him, running up on me "hey man!" WTF?...Hey Man?!

i don't owe these kids #$@% - WTF? i've heard every fake sob story...the transplant that lost it all, the visitor who's run outta gas, or who's car broke down and just needs $2, the unemployed worker who needs $.10 from every person they see so they can get a new pair of shoes for their job interview tomorrow, the vietnam/korean war/desert storm vet who's having a hard time, the pregnant mom w/kids who needs $5 to find the kids a shelter to stay in tonight...I even watched her get into a car with some brother to share the $3 I gave her...

but this kid took the cake...what, you're gonna try & punk me into giving you my loot? ok gator...you'll do it, you'll do it, you'll do it, I know....take my tv and sell it for a $20 spot that won't even last an hour, hunh? i didn't have time to go off on him like i wanted to, just gave him the 30 sec piece of my mind i could spare, and headed to work.

guerilla-beggin', kinda like guerrilla-pimpin.