I'm trying out this new experiment at work. It began about a month ago. Not intentionally mind you. A woman came in whom I'd met maybe once or twice. There was something unusual about her but I couldn't put my finger on it. One day she comes in and she looks at me and she says, I need to take a taxi because it's raining. Can you lend me $10? I looked at her. I looked right into her eyes. I thought about how I was going to answer that. My co-worker asked her why she couldn't take a bus. I hadn't thought of that but by then it was too late. I thought, if you're so desperate that you're going to ask a stranger who happens to work in an employment center for money, then you must really, really need it. So, I got out my wallet and all I had was $20 of course.
I just felt intuitively that she would give it back to me when she could. And, if not; if I was wrong, well, it was only $20 not that I can't use $20 because ya, like I'm independently wealthy. So, I gave it to her. I just felt inside that she would give it back to me when she could.
My co-worker said She's homeless I think. I don't think she's homeless I said. I think she just carries a lot of stuff around and when I said that I laughed out loud because I realized how stupid that sounded. Like duh, that's what homeless people do. They carry all sorts of shit around - which always seemed kind of weird to me. I mean, if you're homeless, you might as well travel light. But, I guess, those that are carrying around the 20 story tower in their shopping carts are just trying to hang on, literally, just hang on to the belief that it's only a matter of time and then they'll have a place and they won't have given up all their stuff. I don't know.
Anyway, she came in a few times after she borrowed the money and I thought, that money's gone. But, one day she came in, she pulled out a $20 bill and handed it over. I thanked her and said I really appreciated her giving it back to me because I didn't actually have a lot of money (but it's all relative now isn't it?)
Today, a guy came in. Desperate story. I've met him a few times. He's completely different than I thought when I just looked at him hitchhiking. At some point, I'm alone with him today and he is telling me a version of the story I'd heard before He's a nice guy. His life seems so hard. He then says to me, you wouldn't be able to loan me $20 would you. Do you know how insignificant $20 is in comparison to some of the stories I hear from these people?
So, I pulled out my wallet and I handed over a $20. I didn't say anything. He said he'd pay me back. So, now this is my experiment. My experiment has nothing to do with these people. It's a test of my own intuition and how well I can read people. And believe me, most people I would say no to but I believe very much that, like that woman, this guy will give me back the money when he can.
As long as I keep getting the $20 back because I'm accurately judging the person, then I will continue, if it feels right, to hand over $20 to very rare individuals who are so desperate that they feel compelled to ask.
As soon as I don't get it back, the experiment stops.