Eh?

A tall man with dark hair and eyes stepped into the outer office today. I thought it was the boss back from the bank so was a little startled when he tapped on the window. He looked like a pleasant guy, slightly rumpled looking in his yellow short sleeved shirt and (ick) matching yellow slacks. I thought he would be looking for work.

I put the computer on hold, got up and slid the little window open. I asked, "Can I help you?" His lips moved and I could hear the barest whisper of garbled words.

He answered me, "I'm deaf, it's hard to talk."

"OK, what can I do for you?" I wish I could have signed it correctly but it's been 35 years since I have used the little signing I knew. I just looked right at him, spoke clearly and signed me?you?.

He fumbled in his pockets for a minute, handed me a stack of small papers and his state i.d.. I knew what they would be but check them out anyway. There was a note that said, "Hello, my name is ____ _____ and I am deaf. To raise money and help people learn to sign the alphabet I am selling these cards with the symbols on them. Please donate what ever you can and take one for your self.

I smiled at him. We had deaf kids with us at church camp one year and most of the kids had learned to sign the letters and a few "short hand" signals. We used it to talk in church without getting caught.

I had just looked them up on the web to use with a couple kids I know for educational amusement. I was going to tell them it was a code for special people and brush up while I taught them. So I didn't need the code cards.

I explained all this to him, handed his papers back and said I didn't have much but I would like to contribute. I pulled out my money. I had a five and a one, I gave him the five. He looked shocked. He said/signed "Do you know how hard this is? People can be so rude, thank you very much!"

I said/signed "Your welcome," and "good bye". He smiled again and left. I went back to work.

I'm not stupid, I know there are people that mis-use this fund raiser. I don't care. If the guy needed money bad enough to go door to door like that when I was going home to the mansion of treasures with all of my senses functioning (today anyway :)) then he needed it worse than I did.

How do you deal with this situation?