A few nights ago (Thursday night to be exact), my friend Mela and I were quietly having dinner at the Burger King joint along E. Rodriguez when suddenly an orange T-shirt-clad homeless man appeared from nowhere beside me and asked for my burger. Uncannily, he was asking for MY burger from Mela who was seated almost across mine. All through that time, he didn’t look at me despite the fact that the unopened burger was right in front of me. He was talking to Mela – pleading for the burger and Mela was telling him he can’t have it for two reasons: 1) it wasn’t hers; and 2) I haven’t eaten anything myself. It was about a minute or so when the man suddenly picked up the burger from my tray despite Mela telling him not to. Now there are two issues here: restaurant security and hunger.
Perhaps he was very hungry for him to do such a thing. I pity him for that. But if he had just waited for me to speak (which he didn’t), I would have gladly given him my burger instead of him getting it from my tray without regard. I firmly believe that poverty is never, ever an excuse not to act like a normal human being would.
And for the fast food chain’s security? WHERE THE HELL WAS IT WHEN WE NEEDED IT???? He could have been a goon pretending to be a hungry, homeless man. He could have gotten our laptops, wallets, apple iphone or other valuables. We would have been helpless if he had any weapons with him. How could have he gotten past the security? Oh. I remember. That time, there was NO SECURITY GUARD, NO MANAGER AND NO FAST FOOD PERSONNEL IN SIGHT. Where were they? Mela found them huddling together at the counter, busily talking amongst themselves. It took Mela’s angry complaints about the stranger getting our food from our table before they even realized what happened. And their reaction? Good heavens. The manager went up to the homeless man to accost him. What a sensible thing to do! What if he was armed or what if he was with armed company? They could have attacked the poor, helpless manager.
I couldn’t also commend them for their reaction to what happened. After blurting a unempathic “sorry” from one of their staff, they delivered a new burger for my consumption. I guess, it would have been appropriate if one of the managers approached us to ask what happened and apologize appropriately. Talk about good customer service right?
We’ve long put behind us what happened the other night in high hopes that it would never happen again to us or to another customer in the future. I sure wish there wouldn’t be any lapses in their part ever again. Imagine if it were a bunch of crooks who entered that joint that night and announced a hold up? Oh geez. I wouldn’t want to live one of my worst nightmares.
As of 5 pm of August 19, 2009, I’m tipping the scales at 96 lbs. Yep. 4 lbs shy of being within the normal BMI limit. My friends envy me because I don’t need weight loss supplements or the 

