I was in the United States Submarines!
Working in Berkeley, CA, I see a lot of interesting people - pretty much everybody in Berkeley has something interesting about them. I could probably make a living writing for this blog with all the great content Berkeley provides for me. As it is, though, I believe this to be my first post specifically related to a people watching incident in Bezerkeley.
I arrived at work early this morning - 7:15. Since it was rather early and I had only about five and a half hours of sleep last night, I headed back out from the office at about 7:40 for some coffee and a blueberry muffin. In the few minutes that I was in the Addison Annex Coffee Shop, a homeless man that I see frequently in town showed up on the sidewalk. Not a big deal - he's always been very friendly and has frequently commented on how well I dress (usually when I'm wearing a tie, which I'm not today).
But today, he was a little different. It isn't unusual to see homeless people acting a little - dare I say it? - crazy, so it doesn't shock me; however, I have never seen this particular homeless man talk to himself or yell at nothing. Today was different. As I was walking up the sidewalk towards him - his back toward me - I didn't think anything of it, until I heard him start to yell. What was this about, I wondered? As I came closer, I could see that he wasn't yelling randomly. He was standing only inches away from a parking meter and was yelling at it furiously, as if it were a human being.
"Are you listening to me?? I was in the United States Submarines, do you hear me? Answer me!!"
Clearly to his dismay, the parking meter did not answer and the homeless man became even more enraged by this defiance. He saluted (I'm not making this up) the parking meter. The parking meter did not return his saltue.
"Is that all you have? I was a Submarine! We played a huge role in the United State Defense Attorneys!"
The parking meter was unimpressed. At this, the homeless man huffed and puffed, storming around in circles on the sidewalk, devastated that this parking meter was refusing to recognize the signifcant contribution that he had made to the US Defense Attorneys as a Submarine. The last thing I saw (and heard) as I turned into my building half a block up was the man now yelling at a wall. I guess he hoped the wall really did have ears.
I arrived at work early this morning - 7:15. Since it was rather early and I had only about five and a half hours of sleep last night, I headed back out from the office at about 7:40 for some coffee and a blueberry muffin. In the few minutes that I was in the Addison Annex Coffee Shop, a homeless man that I see frequently in town showed up on the sidewalk. Not a big deal - he's always been very friendly and has frequently commented on how well I dress (usually when I'm wearing a tie, which I'm not today).
But today, he was a little different. It isn't unusual to see homeless people acting a little - dare I say it? - crazy, so it doesn't shock me; however, I have never seen this particular homeless man talk to himself or yell at nothing. Today was different. As I was walking up the sidewalk towards him - his back toward me - I didn't think anything of it, until I heard him start to yell. What was this about, I wondered? As I came closer, I could see that he wasn't yelling randomly. He was standing only inches away from a parking meter and was yelling at it furiously, as if it were a human being.
"Are you listening to me?? I was in the United States Submarines, do you hear me? Answer me!!"
Clearly to his dismay, the parking meter did not answer and the homeless man became even more enraged by this defiance. He saluted (I'm not making this up) the parking meter. The parking meter did not return his saltue.
"Is that all you have? I was a Submarine! We played a huge role in the United State Defense Attorneys!"
The parking meter was unimpressed. At this, the homeless man huffed and puffed, storming around in circles on the sidewalk, devastated that this parking meter was refusing to recognize the signifcant contribution that he had made to the US Defense Attorneys as a Submarine. The last thing I saw (and heard) as I turned into my building half a block up was the man now yelling at a wall. I guess he hoped the wall really did have ears.
posted by Lance Johnson at 9:00 AM
1 Comments:
Well now you've done it. I absolutely can't get this image out of my mind -- Cpl. Klinger from M*A*S*H hollering at a parking meter. Tell me, was this person wearing a dress???? Did he look like Jamie Farr?
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