The Mediocre Samaritan

The Mediocre Samaritan

No good deed goes unpunished…

 

I wrote about an agency worker in “Reasons to be Unreasonable” and “The U Turn”. Yesterday he said that he was feeling rotten and didn’t know if he had the energy to carry on through the day.

 

He looked pale and droopy and had a nasty hacking cough.

 

At the afternoon tea break, the warehouse manager said that he had sent him home.

 

I thought about the agency worker feeling so ill and making the hour-long cycle ride home in the cold wind and rain. What if he collapsed? What if he had an accident?

 

I decided to talk to my boss about it.

 

Me: “You know that the agency worker was feeling really unwell?”

My boss: “Yes I know. That’s why he was sent home, because he is ill.”

Me: “Did you know it takes him about an hour to cycle home?”

My boss: “Yes, I suppose it would take about an hour especially on the bike he’s got. Have you seen the state of it?”

 

I decided that a more direct approach was needed.

 

Me: “Why don’t you be a Good Samaritan and put his bike in the back of the van and drive him home?”

My boss: “Well he’s gone now.”

Me: “Well he won’t have got far on a bike; you could catch up with him.”

My boss: “Yes. Yes, I’ll do that.”

My boss drove off in the van.

 

He returned to the office a few minutes later.

 

My boss: “Stubborn man!”

Me: “Didn’t he want a lift?”

My boss: “No. He swore at me!”

Me: “What? He swore at you? But you were trying to help him.”

My boss: “I know. He told me to sod off. Well worse than that actually.”

Me: “What happened exactly?”

My boss: “Well I caught up with him along the lane. I beeped the horn and he just ignored me. So I drove right up behind him and beeped the horn a few times. He turned his head round and… and swore at me.”

Me: “What happened next?”

My boss: “I came back to the office.”

Me: “Oh well. At least you tried.”

 

“If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.” ~Dalai Lama~