You Done With That?

One week ago...

I was at a fast-food Chinese restaurant with a friend, sitting by the entrance and nearing the end of our meal. While leaning back in my chair and having a discussion with my friend about the tech industry, a man wandered into the restaurant. He solicited me, my friend, and some of the other patrons at the restaurant for money. Then he went up to the counter and mentioned something I couldn't hear. On his way back out, he stopped by our table again.

To set the scene more clearly, there was still a miscellaneous bit of vegetables or sprouts remaining on my plate. The amount left could probably fit in your hand, it was no more than one or two bites. My fork, which I had used instead of chopsticks to scoop off some of the remaining rice, was in the center of the plate.

The man leaned over, picked up the plate and said, "What you got here?"

Then in a blur, he took the fork and shoveled the food into his mouth. He walked out.

I was so surprised, I can't remember if he looked like he enjoyed it or even wiped his mouth.

What a surprised. I was frozen in shock, and no other emotion came to mind. Not anger, that he hadn't asked me permission. Not fear, that the kind of person who would just take your leftover food and shovel it down could be prone to do anything else. Not pity, despite the fact that he probably has eaten out of the trash before. Instead, total shock, that something I did not even expect to be possible just happened.