The Man with the Stick.

Like every Sunday I have church at 9:30 a.m. Usually, I end up taking a taxi. However, I decided I'd try to get there by bus. I knew the name of the bus and where to wait for it, but I never saw the bus. At this point it was about 9:40 so I decided I'd have to take a taxi.

This meant I'd have to go to an ATM and grab some cash. I went to a grocery store really close to where I live, but their ATM machine didn't seem to want to work. "Okay," I thought, "I know where some other ATM machines are located. I know they work." 

Much like the zebra that stays too long at the watering hole, I had a surprise in store for me. Half way to the ATM some guy, Mr. Crazy we'll call him, asked me for some money. "Unfortunately", I told him "I don't have any." Next thing I know Mr. Crazy starts following me. Weird. The chase was on.

Now he demanded that I take him to an ATM machine. My wheels started to turn faster. He told me he wanted R$ 200. This, I thought was a rather steep demand. It was at this point that I started thinking what I was going to do. I'll be honest, I really wanted to deck the guy. However; it was Sunday, he had a pretty large pointed stick, and he wouldn't take one of his hands out of his pocket. I decided against attacking him.

As Mr. Crazy escorted me to the closest ATM I thought about running, but decided if I ran he'd always be looking for me, and since I live close to that location I probably shouldn't bolt. Mr. Crazy told me about how much his life had sucked and the reasons he needed R$ 200. Some of his reasons were pretty compelling. However, I wasn't exactly in agreement with his manner of achieving his goal.

Once at the ATM we entered into negotiations again. I used my best negotiation skills and little bit of anger and told him he was only getting R$ 20. He shuffled around a little bit and fiddled with  his poking stick. After I gave Mr. Crazy the R$ 20 I parted ways with Mr. Crazy to let him try to get the other R$ 180 from someone else. While I walked away the hilarity and awkwardness of the situation dawned on me. 

Like most things in life you get to laugh and learn from your experiences. I'm just glad Mr. Crazy didn't try to use his stick on me, or whatever else he had in his pocket. Next time I think I just might start running.