Today's suggestion was from last week's vote to act as chivalrous as possible in a day and see if people respond positively or negatively. This one was a little tough, merely for the fact I was unsure of how to go about this in a substantial way. But I thought I could try to make it a little better by also trying to do as many good deeds as possible, maybe try to make someone's day. Sure I can hold doors, but how do I really connect with people? This took some thought, but I gave it a go. There aren't too many photos today because it was hard to capture the good stuff, so today will be sensory.
I started out the day by riding the subway during rush hour. Anyone who has taken the New York City subway during rush hour knows that it is terrible. It is so crowded and people are in awful moods and it is just not pleasant, especially if you can't find a seat. So what I did is got on a train near the beginning of the route, promising myself a seat, then waited till it got crowded and then gave up my seat to a nice lady who looked like she could take a load off. It worked perfectly, as she had a cain and two grocery bags with her, and as soon as I let her sit, I could tell her day became just a little bit better. She even called me sugar. Perfect.
A good way to start the day, and there was so much left to go, because before I could even leave the station to head back home, I found a lady waiting outside the subway station wondering if someone could swipe her into the subway. Now I am not sure if this is legal to do for someone or not, but I figured on a day like today, karma is going to flow with me, and I am not going to get busted. Now this lady seemed like no one had listened to her plea at all, so when I offered to help her out, it startled her a little bit. Success again! Two for two on a day of good, and, no trouble from the police.
Next up was a little bit of environmental chivalry. I picked up some trash all around my street. Now, I live in an area that is pretty well maintained, but there is still a lot of loose stuff that goes tumbling down the street. So I thought, I'll clean it up. A cigarette butt here, a water bottle there. Before I knew it, I had a bag full of trash, and a cleaner street. Three for three.
But soon my hot streak came back down to earth and I got an understanding of why people aren't as into chivalry as before. This is because I may have come up with a couple of poor ideas. The first one was to head down to Battery Park near the Statue of Liberty, and try to hand out compliments. Everyone likes to complimented, so giving them out with a handy sign that says FREE COMPLIMENTS should be easy right? Nope. People looked at me with crazy eyes. I didn't talk to ONE person in 45 minutes. Weak sauce, New York. Weak. 3 for 4.
Feeling a bit bummed, I headed up North a bit to our local Trader Joes. We only have one in NYC, and it is conveniently located near NYU. I actually got an email from someone saying I should offer to carry groceries for people leaving Trader Joes because they haul their 7 full grocery bags 20 blocks. This seemed like a nice thing to do, so I thought I would give it a go. Once again. Epic failure. Post this idea on failblog. It didn't work mainly for the fact that people probably thought I was going to kill them. Now while I was offering a nice gesture, all they saw was some dude standing out in front of a grocery store waiting around, then offering to help carry their bags back to their apartment........not going to happen. Not a great thought process on my part. No one took me up on this, and I don't blame them. I probably wouldn't have accepted my own help. Plus, a little while through this, I remembered a news story I heard about a couple weeks ago about a serial killer who was following ladies home from the laundromat or grocery store, then killing them. Oh boy. I needed to get out of there before someone reported me. So I walked as quickly as possible and ran back home with my tail between my legs. 3 for 5.
Back to back strike outs here. I needed something to redeem the day, and I had the perfect plan. Coffee. Everyone likes it. Some people are addicted. I enjoy it every once in a while, but today, I was going to get a lot of enjoyment out of this. Here was my plan: buy people coffee. Now rather than looking like a creeper again standing next to a counter and saying 'hey, I'll buy that for you', I thought of a different approach that was probably more affective. I set up shop in the little cafe down my block, and gave the people working there the lowdown of the day's mission. They were intrigued, and asked how they could help. I gave them 20 bucks, and told them to put the next number of coffees on my tab, and when people ask why, just to point over to me and say he is buying them today. This way people didn't feel super awkward right away and could come over and say hi whenever. Prefect plan. I got my own table, and actually started working on my standup routine that I will hopefully do next week. Then, every once in a while, someone would come up to me and ask 'uh, did you buy my coffee?'. Yes ma'am I did. I told them I just wanted to do something nice for people, and I hoped it brightened their day. It worked. I talked to about 7 people who all were so nice and appreciative. One lady said she wanted to cry it was so nice (please don't make a scene). After it was all said and done, I bought 7 coffees and 2 cokes for people, and talked to all but two of them (I think they thought it was some kind of scam and ran out of the store as quick as possible). It was a lot of fun to sit and talk with these random people who were so nice. Made me feel good inside. 4 for 6 friends.
With this coffee experience, I decided to end on a high note. And why not. It was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed it. I think I learned that you do get when you give to others. Maybe it is not a one for one trade, but it's a barter system. Thanks for reading along, and happy Friday.
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