So I had a breakdown of awareness today that let a dude who was probably homeless get way too close for comfort to me, and most worrisome, my daughter. I’ll post it up here because it had an ok ending. Hopefully some of the other folks can chime in with ways I could have managed better.
I’m coming out of CVS with my kid. I was parked one spot away from the door, so I bee lined for the car, unlocked it, and began the process of getting the kid into the car seat. Then I hear, “Sir, can you spare a couple of bucks so I can get some food at McDonalds?”
There’s a dude, most likely homeless, on a bike. He’d come from the driver side and the vehicle had obscured my ability to see him coming. Minus ten for me failing to even look past the car. I’ll own that, I fucked up, especially considering I had a young child with me.
I looked at his hands, which were in plain view. If he wasn’t nt homeless it was a hell of an act. He was genuinely dirty, looked hungry, looked kinda weak. I responded in less than a second, “yeah, I can help you. But you gotta let me get my kid in the car. You let me do that you can have some money.” He says ok. I say, “While I do this, I want you to stand over there.” Over there was a curb about 15 feet away. I wanted to create some distance and see if he’d comply. He did. He went and sat on the curb, nearly falling over as he got down.
I got my kid, who was asking 1000 questions about what was going on, buckled in, locked the car. Gave the dude a $5 bill and left, only unlocking the driver door as I got back in the car. Then I left.
Number one thing I wish I’d done was park further from the door. If I’d had to walk further, I would have gotten a much better view of the parking lot and maybe seen him coming. As it was, I came out of the door, focused on getting the kid in the car, and he snuck up on me. I’m kicking my own ass over that, as normally I’m much more vigilant when it’s just me and a kid without the rest of the family.
I think the request for him to back up and create space was a decent one. I tried to be firm about it but not more confrontational than necessary.
Any other thoughts appreciated