Hey Mister.
You might say I have become a little lazy over the last couple of years. You might say that I'm kind of OK with this, and that I'm kind of not. But I was a little shell-shocked by something that happened today. It gave me hope that perhaps all is not lost in my fight against being so lazy.
I'm sitting in my truck finishing up a report in one of the under-construction neighborhoods I inspect. This particular neighborhood is almost done. One or two houses left to finish up, tops. Anyway, back to the truck. I'm sitting in the truck finishing up a report when I hear a slight knock on the passenger door window. I look up and there's a boy, between the ages of 10 & 12. Mind, I really have no idea how old people are until they tell me. I find it impossible to guess ages anymore so I don't. So I roll down the window and the kid says, "Hey Mister, can you do me a favor?" My interest is piqued so I ask him what favor he needs. "Can you drive up the hill to this house with me holding onto the back of your truck and wait for me there?" I'm a little dumbfounded, a little impressed. I turn my head to look at the hill he is talking about. I'll admit it, I told myself that I wouldn't want to walk up that hill either. But in this day and age, it's probably not the best counsel as a bearded mid-twenties man in a residential neighborhood to tell some kid off the street that you'll give him a lift to some house and wait for him. Really, really not a good idea. It would be even worse if I had been in the vehicle that still eludes me, the van.
"I've got to finish this thing and get outta here man," which is me trying to be cool. I didn't just want to shut him down. "How 'bout I wait in the back of your truck and when you get done and are heading out of here, you just take me to the bottom of the hill..", I had to cut in here because he was being ridiculous, "man, that hill is like 20 feet away and you want to wait so that I can drive you twenty feet?" His face actually brightened for a moment when I said this. I guess he thought that because I used the word "only" that I might just go ahead and do it since it wasn't that far. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't what I was thinking at all. "Get outta here man, you'll be up that hill before I even finish typing this thing up...and you want to wait just so you don't have to walk." He gave one of those "aww shucks"-pinch-up-the-left-side-of-your-face looks and mumbled something as he walked off.
I finished typing up the report and got out of the truck to take it into the superintendents office for the site I was inspecting and looked up the hill. He was already 3/4 of the way up. He sat there and tried to talk me into giving him a ride for almost the same length of time that it took him to walk up the hill. I'm still a little dumbfounded at how a kid that age just walks up to some stranger and asks him for a lift up the hill. There are so many reasons this is wrong that I'm not even going to try and list them. One word comes to mind though..creepy.
It did remind me that I could use a good walk or jog myself though....hmmmm...
You might say I have become a little lazy over the last couple of years. You might say that I'm kind of OK with this, and that I'm kind of not. But I was a little shell-shocked by something that happened today. It gave me hope that perhaps all is not lost in my fight against being so lazy.
I'm sitting in my truck finishing up a report in one of the under-construction neighborhoods I inspect. This particular neighborhood is almost done. One or two houses left to finish up, tops. Anyway, back to the truck. I'm sitting in the truck finishing up a report when I hear a slight knock on the passenger door window. I look up and there's a boy, between the ages of 10 & 12. Mind, I really have no idea how old people are until they tell me. I find it impossible to guess ages anymore so I don't. So I roll down the window and the kid says, "Hey Mister, can you do me a favor?" My interest is piqued so I ask him what favor he needs. "Can you drive up the hill to this house with me holding onto the back of your truck and wait for me there?" I'm a little dumbfounded, a little impressed. I turn my head to look at the hill he is talking about. I'll admit it, I told myself that I wouldn't want to walk up that hill either. But in this day and age, it's probably not the best counsel as a bearded mid-twenties man in a residential neighborhood to tell some kid off the street that you'll give him a lift to some house and wait for him. Really, really not a good idea. It would be even worse if I had been in the vehicle that still eludes me, the van.
"I've got to finish this thing and get outta here man," which is me trying to be cool. I didn't just want to shut him down. "How 'bout I wait in the back of your truck and when you get done and are heading out of here, you just take me to the bottom of the hill..", I had to cut in here because he was being ridiculous, "man, that hill is like 20 feet away and you want to wait so that I can drive you twenty feet?" His face actually brightened for a moment when I said this. I guess he thought that because I used the word "only" that I might just go ahead and do it since it wasn't that far. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't what I was thinking at all. "Get outta here man, you'll be up that hill before I even finish typing this thing up...and you want to wait just so you don't have to walk." He gave one of those "aww shucks"-pinch-up-the-left-side-of-your-face looks and mumbled something as he walked off.
I finished typing up the report and got out of the truck to take it into the superintendents office for the site I was inspecting and looked up the hill. He was already 3/4 of the way up. He sat there and tried to talk me into giving him a ride for almost the same length of time that it took him to walk up the hill. I'm still a little dumbfounded at how a kid that age just walks up to some stranger and asks him for a lift up the hill. There are so many reasons this is wrong that I'm not even going to try and list them. One word comes to mind though..creepy.
It did remind me that I could use a good walk or jog myself though....hmmmm...
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