So there has been this guy who works at Stadium 10 movie theatres and comes in every now and

then to order food from where I work, Costa Vida. Every time he comes in I am hesitant to talk

to him because he is not exactly “normal”. This guy is probably in his late 30’s, stinks, socially

awkward, might have a little mental disorder but nothing major, likes to talk way too much,

and he always ask for whoever is helping him to go to the movies with him. I often see this guy

walking to and from places and came to the conclusion he has no car. While at walmart the

other day doing normal shopping with Ellen I see him and quickly hide my face and duck

trying to avoid conversation. Ellen asked me earlier in the day to take her swimming at a certain

time so she could tan. We had maybe 30 minutes until that time so I did not think much of it. As

we are walking out I see him again buying subway just standing there all by himself then I

thought he must have walked here and has to walk all the way home. It was at that moment I

decided to make this part of my test. I walked up to him shook his hand and he recognized me

from costa vida so I introduced myself. After the introduction he has to pay and he ends up being

about $10 dollars short so I just decided to take the money he was going to pay and help him

out so I ended up paying the rest for his meal. We continue talking and turns out he did need a

ride home but that he also wanted to stop at Albertsons because on his walk to Walmart he

stopped there to buy some groceries and ended up leaving it there to pick up on his walk back.

So I agreed to take him to Albertsons to get his stuff, all the while Ellen is giving me this look like

the world is going to end because we do not have very much money at all let alone to buy others

food as well as she was going to miss the “perfect” tanning time, but as this went on she loosened

up. We get to Albertsons and he carries in 2 of the sandwiches I just bought him. Upon entering

the lady up front greets him by name and says his stuff are in the back still. Turned out he had

asked the employees to hold his stuff for him in the back so he did not have to carry it all the way

to Walmart and back. We get to the back and he gives away the sandwiches to 2 workers he asked

for by name and I think to myself I just paid for these guys’s lunch what a joke. Turns out these

guys put his stuff in their personal lockers and he wanted to do something nice in return.

We finally got all his stuff packed into my car and drive him home and like always in costa vida

he asked us to go hang out with him, keep in mind we are already 20 minutes late for tanning. I

talked to him for a minute and said that I couldn’t today but we will find a time to go see a movie

or something and that is when it hits me. He looked at me and goes okay thanks friend and says

have a great day and walks into his house all alone. To me I wasted probably 35-40 minutes, $10

a little bit of gas money and some “perfect tanning time” but what I realized is that this guy just

needed a friend. To him it probably made his day to realize he now has someone near his job who

with he can come in and say hi too and chat with for a while. Also he was probably super relieved

with car ride and air conditioning instead of walking in 110 degree weather for 45 minutes

carrying all the groceries.