Homeless Is Where The Heart Is, Part 13

I showed up to work one day and there was what appeared to be a large package just to the side of the main entrance. I went in and asked coworkers what it was. Turns out it was a homeless guy who decided to camp on our doorstep. The owner refused to call the police and was looking into at least getting the guy a tent and telling him that there was space behind our office building. She even looked into setting him up in a campground nearby. He turned down the offer since, apparently, he had work in the area despite being homeless and the campgrounds were too far. Otherwise, we gave him some bottled water. By the time I left at the end of the day, he seemed to be gone.

I was wrong. Apparently, he took the owner’s offer and parked himself behind the building. I arrived at work early today and found I was the first person at work. There were three police cars at the back end of our parking lot. I walked over to see what was up. The officers were all returning to their cars.

Me: “Is everything okay?”

Officer: “No problems.”

The homeless guy was still there, sorting through his belongings. Nobody seemed distressed or angry, so I returned to opening the office. Shortly after, a coworker came in. He had talked to the guy and found that he had been told he couldn’t actually stay where he was, but the cops told him to take his time to collect his things. 

The pot of coffee I started when I came in was full, so I filled a cup with coffee and creamer and used that as an excuse to talk to him for a minute. He was grateful for the fresh cup of coffee to go with the breakfast someone had just given him. In fact, he had been given so many things in the last forty-eight hours that he was trying to sort things out before moving on.

Despite the one anonymous person who called the cops on the guy, my faith in humanity was renewed by all the people who offered help to a guy who was clearly just a bit down on his luck. Even the cops were cool enough to do the very minimum to respond to a complaint and generally leave the poor guy alone.

Related:
Homeless Is Where The Heart Is, Part 12
Homeless Is Where The Heart Is, Part 11
Homeless Is Where The Heart Is, Part 10
Homeless Is Where The Heart Is, Part 9
Homeless Is Where The Heart Is, Part 8