The Homeless and Popcorn

Not a good mix when I am involved!

So here I am, volunteering with the Canadian Red Cross... who is helping out the Mustard Seed with the overflow for shelter due to the extreme cold.....and starting a bit of a commotion due to popcorn.

It started with me showing up for my shift yesterday at the Grandstand a bit early and one "guest" giving me a bag of microwave popcorn to pop for him. I head off to the Stampede lunchroom to find a microwave. Easy. I give it back to him...popped....no problem.

About 3 minutes later, a different "guest" gives me his bag of microwave popcorn to pop. No problem...so I repeat the process. When I'm giving him his bag of popcorn back, another guy gives me a bag to pop for him. I'm thinking "wow" the homeless sure like popcorn, and where did they get this anyway....surely they have no microwaves.

The second guy comes back and gives me 2 more bags of popcorn to pop. Now I'm thinking ..... is this all I will be doing around here for the next 6 hours.......boring.

While I'm popping these 2 bags, security comes to find me and tells me that they have this lady out front who wants to donate a pile of sweaters, socks, blankets and stuff to our makeshift shelter. I have her come with me while I finish popping the 2 bags and have her follow me in to where the mats are so I can give this guy his popcorn back.

He's not there. I look and look. No guy that gave me the 2 bags of popcorn to pop.

So.....what do I do...which I realize was pretty stupid....is I hold up the bags and ask "who gave me this popcorn to pop". I get several guys going "me"........"my buddy gave you the bags to pop" .........so I just give 2 different guys the popcorn (with a kind of funny feeling I might add).

I then start going outside to help unload all the supplies this lady has donated, hearing someone screaming "where is my f----- popcorn".

OH OH.

Yup...........I gave this guys popcorn away.

Popcorn HE says he PAID for with his own money.

Boy did I ever feel bad.

I tried to fix this by running back into the lunchroom and looking for popcorn...even asking some of the workers there having lunch if they had any popcorn I could buy off of them. No luck.

Meanwhile, this guy had to be restrained by one of the Mustard Seed staff AND one of the Stampede Security staff. He was pretty ticked off. Lots of swearing.

As I'm putting on my coat to run over to the Casino to try to find some popcorn, one other "guest" comes up to me and introduces himself as Alex. He tells me to NOT go buy this guy popcorn . "Trust me....I've been on the street for 4 years. You are being taken advantage of."

"What" I yell........ME....being taken advantage of....absolutely no way could this happen. I go storming back into the building.

Now the Red Cross Team Leader is trying to calm this guy down while he is pointing at me and swearing at me that I gave his popcorn away. Popcorn he paid for. A lot of f words in between.

Wow..........this could NOT be happening to me. How stupid could I have been. Really stupid.

I really had no idea on how to solve this other than say I would PAY for his popcorn.

Rule #1. Never give a homeless person money when you are volunteering at the shelter they are staying at.

I gave him $2.00 and the Mustard Seed security guy gave him $2.00. The Red Cross volunteer gave him water and a granola bar.

All this just before my shift was to start.

I thought I was going to get fired.

I didn't.

I'm actually the Team Leader on today's shift at 2 pm.