Hazards of Being a Late-Nighter

I was a Boy Scout as a Kid
About three years ago, I was up past midnight on a weeknight. My neighbourhood is pretty quiet, with a church on the corner. The doorbell rang, odd for the late hour. There was a woman at the door, she had been crying. I myself am a considerate person, and will not just turn a blind eye to those in need, so I let her in to see what her problem was. She explained that she got in a fight with her boyfriend, but she did not appear to be physically harmed. A couple things about her started to illuminate her disposition beyond her story of woe. She explained that she was wandering in the night. The church on the corner has a lit-up sign that is easy to see, and she walked toward the sign as her guiding light. She said she spotted the lights on in my house when she reached the church. She looked in her late twenties and was a burnout. I sympathised with her relationship problems, and didn't mind too much that she rang my doorbell. She then started asking how to get someplace from here. It seemed that she was unfamiliar with this part of town, perhaps she visits this boyfriend but doesn't know the neighbourhood. It started to seem apparent that she had been drinking, and judging by the piercings and tattoos on her face and everywhere else, that she was not leading a responsible life.

The Pitch
She asked for some cab fare to go to a friends house. I was going to give her ten bucks. She asked for twenty, now her friend's house was in St. Paul. I was reluctant, but gave her the $20 just to get her out of my house. I have performed Good Samaritan deeds from time to time. I think it is good Karma. A few months later I was driving a few blocks down from my house and saw her walking on the sidewalk. She seemed pretty familiar about where she was. My guess she might've used the cash for drugs or booze, but at the time I was not hurting financially.

The Friend in St Paul
Maybe a year later, a guy stops me as I pull into the parking lot at work. His car broke down, he says, and he needs to get the part to fix it from a guy in St. Paul. He needs cab fare to go get the part from the guy. I think, why does everyone in need have a friend that lives in St. Paul? Low and behold he wants to borrow $20, noting that he knows where I work, and will return to pay me back. Now, being a Good Samaritan, I evaluated whether this guy really needed my money. He was not in tears, having just broke up with a girlfriend. He was not stranded in the middle of the night (a bus runs in front of the place where I work), and I didn't know this guy. Not that it mattered, but he was a bit of a rough looking biker dude who probably chose a lifestyle that wasn't financially secure. I told him I didn't think his story merited $20 (take a bus, ask your friend for a ride, theres a mechanic just down the block). He held no bad feelings and that was that.

The Beacon in the Night
Tonight at about 2am there was a knock on my front door. There was a man with puppy dog eyes asking for help. His buddy was supposed to give him a ride but ditched him. He asked to borrow money for cab fare. He started to mention the people in the neighbourhood that he knew, but I did not know him. He had a strong smell of alcohol on his breath. He wanted the cab fare to go to New Brighton, about a mile away from where we were standing. He appeared to be in good physical condition. To make is easy, I told him I didn't have any cash. He hemmed and hawed. "Can't help you, sorry", I shirked. He made an offer, he would give me an extra ten bucks if I went to a cash machine to get some cash. Of course, the failure of his logic is that:
A. I would have to leave the house, get in the car, drive to a cash machine, and drive back home.
B. If a cash machine was going to be involved at all, then this man could withdraw his own cash.

No, I told him, I was not going to leave my house at 2am in the morning so a drunk man can get cab fare instead of walking about a mile. I'm sure that he had the same plans as the tattoo lady did when she visited me in similar circumstances. I apologised and he went on his way.


Karma: Closed after Midnight.
I don't mind helping people out, as others have so graciously done for me. But I don't hit up strangers for $20 to get drunk. If I am stranded in town without money, I'll make my way to a cash machine before I'll beg for money. Mostly, I see the value of living responsibly so that I don't find myself drunk and poor and only concerned about how to get drunk again. I sincerely hope that these people can use guidance and other support that is available for them (I donate to Salvation Army and foodshelves), but don't feel it is right to support their destructive habits.