Homeless to Hell in One Date or Less

Submitted by Tony:

I work with homeless people in soup kitchens directly, for a large foundation that puts together programs, and for another foundation that helps fund shelters in Los Angeles.

When I met Sarah (not through any of my homeless work), she was absolutely stunning and classically beautiful. She and I seemed to get along well when we were around our mutual group of friends, and we both agree to go out for drinks after work (since we both work in the same area of town). After dinner and a few drinks, the casual flirting has turned into hand touching and arm stroking and I have to admit that it was really nice.

But in the midst of our conversation about living in different places, family, our funny mutual friends and some deeper issues about existence, she asked me with a smile, “what do you do anyway?”

I said, “I love my job, I try to help the homeless transition to the working world… or else get the help they need.”

“What help? They made themselves homeless.”

I’m come in contact with people before who don’t understand that there are lots of reasons people are homeless, including psychological issues they have no control over, so I came into this casually with something like “Well, it’s not about that exactly… it’s about helping people who are down on their luck to find real jobs and places to live.”

“Do you touch them?”

“Yes. That’s part of my job, Sarah. I don’t mind it.”

The rest of the date became increasingly more hostile. The more I tried to convince her that I was trying to help homeless people, the more intensely she seemed to believe that I was making the problem worse. Over the course of the conversation she ended up directly insulting both my job and my belief system. All of my good points were met either with the answer, "Whatever" or "That doesn't make any sense."

The worst part was that she'd constantly interrupted me any time I'd try to make a point, but would get incredibly offended if I dared to interrupt her callous ranting about how I "clearly didn't understand how the real world works."

Honestly, it was amazing how quickly the date became a massive argument. In retrospect, she can believe whatever she wants… but getting that in-my-face about it that soon is not a good sign.