Pimp Your Finances

I’m a big believer in the golden rule. I always try to treat others – especially strangers – in the way I’d like them to treat me.

I don’t expect them to help me in return… I’m just kind of an idealist, and hope that it makes the world a better place, one small deed at a time.

This past weekend, I had a chance to put my money where my mouth is. While traveling to a popular St. Patrick’s day festival (with tens of thousands of people, many drinking heavily), I was given a chance to help four different people.

I’m proud to say that I went out of my way to help all four. What would you have done? Here are the people that I helped.

1. The case of the missing wallet

While sitting on a bench talking to a friend, I noticed a group of people had stopped nearby to let their (intoxicated) friend sit down for a few minutes. After a while, they got up and walked away.

A few minutes later, I noticed a women’s wallet where the group had been sitting. I immediately gave the wallet to a police officer (so no one would accuse me of taking it), then I ran in the direction the crowd had went, and found the woman that it belonged to.

She walked back to the police officer with me, and was able to get her wallet back with everything inside.

2. The kilt that wouldn’t stay up

At the end of the first night, my friend and I were walking back to our hotel. It was about 3:00AM at this point, and the streets were nearly empty.

I was waiting for my friend outside of a restroom, when an incredibly intoxicated man stumbled out, and fell into a fence. He was at the point of passing out, and was having trouble standing up, or even keeping his kilt on.

The man was intent was laying down in the grass outside the port-o-john, but after about 5 minutes of talking to him, my friend and I were able to convince him that it was probably a better idea to go back to his hotel.

The only problem? He didn’t know where he was, and he had no idea where his hotel was (although he did know which one it was).

I knew there was no way that he could make it back to his room without getting arrested, so my friend and I walked him back. One of us had to stand on each side, to keep him from falling over or passing out.

After about half an hour, we managed to return him to his hotel and much-surprised friends without incident.

I know it was his fault that he drank so much, but he wasn’t causing anybody any harm, and I’m sure he would’ve been arrested and faced hundreds of dollars in fines and fees. I couldn’t let him get in trouble like that.

3. Phone-a-friend

The next evening, I was walking to meet some friends at a bar when I was approached by a somewhat shady-looking drunk person. He was slurring his speech, and couldn’t really stand up straight either.

He asked if I had a cell phone. I paused for a minute, then decided “Why not? He won’t be able to run from me.”

So I let him use my phone. It turns out that he had come into town with a few friends, but got lost when they split up and went separate ways.

Unfortunately for him, he had left his phone in his friends car. And he couldn’t remember his friend’s phone number. Or even dial a phone (he was really drunk).

So I was patient with him, and let him use my phone a few times (I did the dialing) so he could call someone that would remember his friend’s phone number. After a while, he finally got the phone number, but they didn’t answer.

So I did the only thing I could think of… I invited him to come with me, and use my phone whenever he wanted until he could get a hold of his friend. After all, I have plenty of minutes, and I was confident he was harmless.

So he came along with me while I met up with my friends. Every few minutes, I let him use my phone to call his buddy. After about an hour, his friend finally answered, and was able to reunite with them.

His friends were incredibly grateful towards me. If I hadn’t helped him, he would’ve been stranded in town overnight, without a ride or a place to sleep.

4. The Return of the cell phone

Towards the end of the second night, I was walking through an alley when I noticed something strange. One of the rocks along side the road didn’t look like the others, so I picked it up.

Lo and behold – it was a phone. It was scratched beaten, but it still worked.

By this point, I had decided that I was destined to help people, so I was going to make sure to return it to its owner.

I started calling everyone listed in the recent calls, until someone answered.

They sounded confused when they answered, so I immediately said: “I just found this phone in the street, and I want to get it back to the owner. Can you help me?”

It turns out that person I called was standing with the owner. He told me where they were, and I agreed to walk to meet them. After about 5 minutes or so, I delivered the phone in person.

They gave me a high five and sincere thanks, and I went my own way.

What would you do?

So what do you think – am I bit crazy?

I really have a thing for helping people if I have the chance. I know that at least two of the people caused their own problems by drinking so much, but that was irrelevant to me. I knew I could save them a great deal of trouble.

I spent half an hour to keep a guy out of jail, maybe saving him between $500-$1000 in fees and fines, and possibly worse.

By hanging out with a stranger for an hour, I was able to reunite him with friends, keeping him from spending a night on the streets by himself.

And by spending 5 minutes a piece on two other people, I was able to spare someone from losing a wallet (and maybe their identity) and someone else from the hassle of a lost cell phone.

So here’s where I turn the tables… what would you have done in my shoes? Would you have helped just some of the people, or would you have been a good samaritan to all four?