Social Etiquette

Two recent experiences have left me unsure of proper social etiquette. Well actually only one of them; the other just left me a little confused. I�ll start with the confusion causing incident.

As I was walking down the street, a bum asked me if I had any spare change. I politely lied and told him I didn�t. He then hit me with an unexpected follow up question � �Do you have the time?� There is a giant clock tower right behind where this guy always sits, but I figured I�d cut him some slack since due to obstructing buildings he would have to walk to the end of the block to see it. I looked at my cell phone, told him the time, and kept walking. When I was a about a hundred feet away from him, a question crept into my mind � why does the bum need to know the time? Does the bum union not allow him to leave his post before 5? Is he trying to catch a movie? Chiropractor appointment? Usually I would have sympathy for this poor man�s plight, but this is the same guy you can often see just chillin� in Starbuck�s reading the newspaper. I have a sneaking suspicion that he is HBC (Hobo by Choice).

The other situation arose while I was eating a sandwich in Jimmy John�s. During the few minutes I was eating, a blind man walked back and forth across the front of the restaurant several times. I found myself noticeably staring at him and began to feel a little self-conscious. I mean, I don�t want to seem like I don�t like blind people or that I think they are somehow inferior. Blind people are great. Jake was my third favorite character on Becker. It turns out I was in no real danger of being judged � I was the only customer in Jimmy John�s and the employees were all discussing reordering vegetables. However, I came up with what I think is an interesting question � is it rude to stare at blind people? I mean they don�t know you are staring at them. And what if you are just staring to see how they handle the common tasks we with vision take for granted? If anything, a person who tells a blind person someone is staring at him is being rude.

Is writing something like this a violation of social etiquette? If so, someone should buy me a guide to etiquette as an Easter present. I would also appreciate it if you would refrain from giving hobos internet access and from reading this to blind people.