i just need gas i just need food for my kids...

There were two mexicans holding up signs trying to get some money at an off ramp one day. At the end of the day one looked in his bucket and he only had about $10. He was looking at the other guy across the street counting up $100 bills. He walks over to him and asks him his secret. The man looks at him and says "it's all about your sign". Your's says "will work for food", Mine says " I only need $10 to get back to Mexico.

Ron

 

Thank you Nana! this world desperatly needs more people like you! If I could afford it, I would probably be the same way. Now all I can afford is to pay someone a complliment. I try to compliment someone each and every day for something they have done. It could be a good meal, courteous service, a CLEAN shower, anything. It's always fun to make someone's day by paying them a compliment! it's even better if you can find that person's supervisor and tell them too!

 

I'm nothing special.

However, you're absolutely right about compliments. It's so great to do that. You can change someone's day, even their life.

You never know when someone's at the end of their rope and a kind word from us might be the only knot they have to hold onto.

 

When I was in school two of my part-time jobs was as a cashier in a convenience store and in a liquor store. The panhandlers would come in to buy beer and exchange coins for folding money. They are laughing their ##### off at the suckers. Giving money to them is like buying dope for an addict. You aren't helping anyone but you make yourself feel better while they ruin their life.

 

I have driven all over this country and Canada many times. I have been around the block a time or two. I have also seen many many cases of fraudulent need.
I have also seen cases of real need. If I see someone in need, that I perceive is real, I will not ever make the case that because one person is a fraud all people are.
A long story short;
My wife and I was laid over in Ontario, Ca. We were hauling expedite and our load had cancelled.
We were out side at a table just BS'ing and griping about the fact that we were stranded until Monday and being recently hired this sucked.
--A man we had seen the evening before told us he was robbed and his car was stolen. He was getting some money sent to him but was having some problems. He did not ask for anything but we invited him to eat with us and he accepted. His phone had died so I loaned him mine. We both had razors so I put his on my charger. I gave him a shirt, a pair of pants, and a shower ticket.
Later we were back out side for a smoke and he received a phone call that money was wired to him. He was trying to figure out how to get to the Western Union so we decided we would take him.
--Later we were back at the truck stop and he came in. He had rented a car and had gotten a hotel. He wanted to pay us for our troubles. I assured him that we would be ok and was glad we could help. He told my wife and I that one good deed deserves another and that he hoped we would let him return the kindness. He rented us a hotel, pretty much would not let us spend any money, and later, we found he had slipped $230.00 in our shower bag.
Here is the way I figure. We spent like $20.00 on the meal and drink, a few cigarettes, and a couple of dollars in fuel. The shower was free and the clothes paid for. We received probably 20 times that in return and maybe more. This man had real problems, was in a bind, and we helped him.
--About a month later I received a call from him. It had taken a while to get his brother-in-law to find our number from his phone records. I had forgotten he had used my phone. He said that at the end of the year he would be in our area and would like to invite us out to eat.
--The return meal would have been enough. The rest still blows my mind to this day.
--With all that I figure that if one good deed does deserve another I have reason to not mind helping when I see a real need.
I have helped people out many times-----but----- I have also been helped out many times. I could fill this board up with such instances. Some I think would be deserving to be printed. If I get hood-winked a couple of times so be it.
--I have never done drugs so will not give money that may be used for that. There are ways to help and know that it is really needed.
--32 years ago I had been married a year with a new son. I had just been layed off and was on my way home. --A car was stalled in the road and a big truck swerved around it and a pick up almost hit it. I jumped out and helped push it out of the road. I gave the man a ride to pick up another vehicle and even put a fuel filter on the vehicle to get it running.
--Turns out Mr. Monier was the district engineer and got me a high paying job. When that job played out he got me transfered to another that payed even better. I decided right then that helping somone can be a great thing. I still feel that way today.
--Texas-Nana you may not feel special but somewhere someone might argue the point. Imagine a small act of kindness, and a man telling his children of this act, and the reason they should not mind helping someone else out.
My 4 grown children all know the story of Mr. Monier.

 

I have always been the helper/fixer and the maker of everything right. I do it for people that I have done day care for, groceries, diapers, gas money...I do it for my family ALL the time, I do it for people I have no relationship to other than to know their name. My husband is the same way out on the road, giving away showers, a couple of bucks, a can of soda whatever he feels is needed.

I suppose we have both been taken more than once but just knowing that someone truly needed the help and we could lessen their stress is a reward all its own.

Last year he broke down in PA, nothing in the truck to eat as he was headed home and hotter than blazes out. He sat for 2 hours waiting for roadservice and pretty soon these folks were standing at the fence accross the road asking him to come over. It was a church group, they were having a potluck and had brought him a plate of food, iced tea and all the gooy treats they could....he was so grateful cuz by that time it was 8 at night and he was hungry not to mention just cravin something cold to drink. I thak people like that all the time in prayers, I think they are the angels amoungst us.

 

I always say "I live not far from here. I'll call the police to give you a lift to the shelter. They have great food and a work program. We will have you on your feet in no time."

 

Well im no0t a trucker yet but this thread made me laugh and i though id tell you what i saw, i was headed top trhe local walmart and there was a guy there, he had a flat tired and a leg brace and his sign said need money for food for my family.... well 2 days later i had to head to richfeild which is about an hour away, and was pulling into the walmart there, there was the guy no leg brace, and no flat tired, but had the same sign.. i just shook my head cause people were giving him money, and you guessed it, he was back up at my local walmart a few days later, with the leg brace and flat tire.....

 

My coworker had a panhandler come upto him at a truckstop and acted like there was some kind of emergency. He was saying his wife was having health problems and he needed some gas money to get her to the hospital. My coworker said he was a trained paramedic and would go take a look at her problem asap. The guy just turned around and walked upto a different truck instead.

I have problems with panhandlers. Like Texas-Nana said, you can tell the difference.

The guys I don't mind are the ones who offer to polish wheels and stuff like that. I've seen some guys walking around with polishing kits and do good work for $5/wheel.....providing an actual service in exchange for money.

There is a man who works for an airline in Canada that I had the pleasure of working with a few years ago. He spent his teenage years on the street with no home. A library let him borrow books and he self educated himself to get a decent job. From there, he took night classes and moved up to better jobs and is now fairly high up in the Customer service department with a major airline. There has to be the will to succeed.

 

I've picked up quite a few used hand tools this way. When I was in Death Valley, I ran across a guy who claimed to be a mechanic. He was out of work and broke, and wanting to sell a pretty good set of tools.

At that particular time, I could not afford to buy them myself. But I told him about an available job at the service station at Furnace Creek, that I just happened to know about.

He landed the job, and worked there for over a year before moving on.

I think this guy was at the Walmart in Washington (UT) earlier this summer. I noticed the cops checking him out.

There used to be a couple that did the chrome polish bit around the Grand Jct. CO area. This was back several years before the economy took a dump, but it appeared that they were pretty hard up. They did good work, at what I thought was a reasonable price.