washing money (not to be confused with money laundering)

since i started volunteering for homeless youth in phoenix, i have definitely broadened my horizons in terms of the people i get to see and meet. one of the stranger meetings with a (presumably) homeless person occurred last night as my volunteer partner and i were about to leave the outreach center. as we were pulling out, she noticed that someone was hunched over at the water hose, using the water.

we then pulled over to stop this unauthorized use of water. on my questioning on what he was doing, the homeless guy replied "i'm washing my money" as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. as i looked closer i saw that he was indeed washing a handful of coins stored in a plastic bag. we explained that the water was not free for public use and then turned off the tap. my partner then pointed towards a hydrant spraying water just across the street for him to use instead.

when he saw the gushing water from the hydrant, his eyes lit up. without any sort of regard to his personal safety he rode his shopping cart across the five lane street with cars whizzing by him from both directions. somehow he made it across without incident and proceeded to jump around and play in the water as if it were a hot summer day (which it was not). interesting people.

getting a supercut

i went to get a haircut a couple days ago at supercuts. i normally call in first to reserve a spot, but the last few times i've done this, they hairstylist would tell me that there's no wait and to come in anytime. thusw, i decided to forego the call ahead and drive straight there.

as i pulled in front of the supercuts, i was relieved to see that the place was empty. i walked into the store to be greeted by a hair stylist, expecting to be seated immediately. instead, she told me, "hi, haircut? the wait will be about one and a half hours." my response was along the lines of "...?" realizing that i did not understand the reason for the delay, she explained that a lady had already called in a reservation and that she had just gone to target (which was literally right next door) and was "driving back in her car right now." she looked at my hair and then told me that if my haircut didn't take long, she could do me first. i said that would be great and waited for her to seat me. however, she continued to sweep up hair for a few more minutes before staring at me and saying, "well, do you want a haircut or not??"

after finally being seated, she was just about to start my haircut when the phone rang. so she was on the phone for another five minutes with her boss complaining about store keys before she was able to start on my hair. my haircut took the standard ten minutes, so by the time all was said and done, i had finished up around 20 minutes later, with the call-ahead lady with a reservation still apparently in transit from target. as i was paying/leaving, i saw a guy come in for a haircut. his quoted wait time? one and a half hours... and so it goes...