This young man was playing music in the parking lot of the shopping center as I arrived at the bicycle shop the other day. The music was haunting and beautiful, I stood entranced by his playing for several minutes and fished a few dollars out of my wallet. Several other folks as I stood there walked up, thanked him, and put money into the jar he had at his feet. On the jar was a photo of him with his young wife and child, with a very small note that said, "Thank you for helping. We lost our home in a fire."
https://flic.kr/p/2gESvpw As I walked up to put my money into his jar, one of the shop clerks across the way strode out and upbraided him for "... annoying people with that music! I'm not saying the music is bad, but not everyone is going to like it. You're going to cost me business!" He was being quite the butthole. The young man said, "I'm sorry, I meant no harm." A half dozen people on the sidewalk shouted, "Leave him alone!" It was horrible. After the idiot clerk retreated back into the store, I walked up to young man and thanked him for his music, "You play beautifully, your music is wonderful. All these people love it. Don't let the fools get you down." He had a tear in his eye and gave me this quiet little smile and the peace sign. I asked if he minded I take a photo, and he nodded. I crossed the street to go into a store ... when I looked back, he'd left. A few minutes later, in the store that the clerk came out of, I saw the clerk standing there talking to his colleagues (and presumably he was their manager). "… You just have to put a stop to such people, they ruin the business if you let them have their way..." I walked up to the group and addressed him. "Sir, I have a complaint." "About what?" he said in his best smarmy manager voice. "About the awful music you play in this store. It sounds like I'm standing in an smelly elevator. There was some beautiful music as I approached the store, I thought it was coming from the speakers in here—it's why I came in here!—but I guess not," I said back. I turned with my purchase and left. I saw his colleagues snickering as I walked away: he stood there open-mouthed and looking foolish. Enjoy! G — No matter where you go, there you are. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
