The Bagged Lady

[Music: Broken - Tapping the Vein]
[Mood: Numb]

Dunkin Donuts strikes again. I couldn't get my Monday morning mocha because they have a 10.00 minimum charge, and I would've gotten to work late had I stopped at the ATM.

This is not the first time that DD location has inconvenienced me. As pissed as I was, I felt like launching a complaint to Visa... since it's against Visa/Mastercard policy for merchants to charge a minimum. It defeats part of the convenience of having/using a bank card to pay for things, no matter what amount.

So, there I was, driving to work empty handed, and a little bent out of shape over the whole thing. Should I complain to Visa? Should I complain to the manager? Would it be worth my time & effort?

Then I remebered the Bagged Lady.

A few weeks ago, a few freinds and I were in NYC, walking down Madison Ave... and if I'm recalling correctly, it was 50th or 51st street. We saw a woman laying on the sidewalk, leaning against a fire hidrant, wrapped in nothing but a plastic garbage bag, begging for money. I did a Google search on homeless and mental illness connection. There's a lot of info out there, but the bottom line is... I'll never get that image out of my mind. She didn't look right... she was mumbling, and had her cup out. She literally had nothing.

It's unfair to compare my life to hers. I'm not going to sit here and say 'well, it could be worse' ...I know it can. It does keep me in check, in a way. Not starting off my morning with my mocha isn't the catastraphe I make it out to be. It serves as a reminder that I have bigger, more important things to devote my thought energy to.