InvisibleEye
Bluelighter
Fellow BLers, I would like to hear your thoughts and advice on the situation I'm in right now. Please bear with me, as English is not my first language.
I recently stumbled upon a guy I hadn't seen in a long, long time - 5 or 6 years. We weren't close friends at the time, but we did enjoy going out for a drink, and he used to come and visit me while I was working the night shift at my former job. We were both recovering drug addicts at the time, though his addiction had probably been more severe than mine.
So I just met him down at the metro station near my apartment. We had a little chat, and I learned that he is currently homeless; in fact he's been living on the streets for six months. He told me he was back to being a full-time coke addict and showed me the track marks on his arms. He was carrying a huge backpack; in it, there was tons of quality, pricey pieces of meat that he had just stolen from a grocery store. He planned to sell them at a discounted price, something he apparently does every day (he even gets kicked out of some supermarket chains as everyone knows he steals - his picture has been sent by head office to all its stores!). He also told me that he planned to go in therapy in October because being homeless during the winter is just unbearable.
He has no place to stay and sleeps whenever and wherever he can. He asked me where I lived and I lied to him, intentionally giving him the wrong door number. I felt that it wouldn't be safe to tell him the truth since he had just told me he stole stuff every day to get his coke fix. So I did not invite him at my place, because I was scared that he would steal some valuable stuff that I have (laptops, electronics, books, ...). I can't afford insurance and if anything gets stolen from me, I will not be able to buy it again because I make very little money as a full-time grad student.
Now I feel like a total asshole, knowing that he's sleeping, in the cold, under an overpass or in a building entrance, right there in my neighborhood, while my apartment is big enough to accommodate him a few nights a week. I do not judge drug addicts and homeless people; I know how it sucks to be an addict, even though I don't think my own addiction will ever lead me to lose my apartment or my job. But I couldn't get over the fact that he told me, right off the bat, that he steals food every day to sell it and buy cocaine, especially since we've never been close friends - I would imagine that a 'distant' friend is the ideal person to steal from, as you will probably never see them again... Am I being reasonable or am I an asshole? Should I simply try to hide my valuable stuff and invite him over?
Thanks for reading my post.
I recently stumbled upon a guy I hadn't seen in a long, long time - 5 or 6 years. We weren't close friends at the time, but we did enjoy going out for a drink, and he used to come and visit me while I was working the night shift at my former job. We were both recovering drug addicts at the time, though his addiction had probably been more severe than mine.
So I just met him down at the metro station near my apartment. We had a little chat, and I learned that he is currently homeless; in fact he's been living on the streets for six months. He told me he was back to being a full-time coke addict and showed me the track marks on his arms. He was carrying a huge backpack; in it, there was tons of quality, pricey pieces of meat that he had just stolen from a grocery store. He planned to sell them at a discounted price, something he apparently does every day (he even gets kicked out of some supermarket chains as everyone knows he steals - his picture has been sent by head office to all its stores!). He also told me that he planned to go in therapy in October because being homeless during the winter is just unbearable.
He has no place to stay and sleeps whenever and wherever he can. He asked me where I lived and I lied to him, intentionally giving him the wrong door number. I felt that it wouldn't be safe to tell him the truth since he had just told me he stole stuff every day to get his coke fix. So I did not invite him at my place, because I was scared that he would steal some valuable stuff that I have (laptops, electronics, books, ...). I can't afford insurance and if anything gets stolen from me, I will not be able to buy it again because I make very little money as a full-time grad student.
Now I feel like a total asshole, knowing that he's sleeping, in the cold, under an overpass or in a building entrance, right there in my neighborhood, while my apartment is big enough to accommodate him a few nights a week. I do not judge drug addicts and homeless people; I know how it sucks to be an addict, even though I don't think my own addiction will ever lead me to lose my apartment or my job. But I couldn't get over the fact that he told me, right off the bat, that he steals food every day to sell it and buy cocaine, especially since we've never been close friends - I would imagine that a 'distant' friend is the ideal person to steal from, as you will probably never see them again... Am I being reasonable or am I an asshole? Should I simply try to hide my valuable stuff and invite him over?
Thanks for reading my post.
