Homeless Men With Squeegees

Friends, it is true. There really are homeless men with squeegees running around LA who are more than willing to clean your car windshield. How do I know this? Because one got me. Against my will. I was not happy....

It was around 11.30 pm and I was finally on my way home from LAX. It was a pretty warm night so I had my window half ways down and I was sitting at a red light minding my own business. All of the sudden, I see this homeless man weaving in and out of lanes wielding a squeegee and a rag ... Cleaning car windshields! (Seriously - I thought this was just a joke and didn't ever happen to real people. Especially me.)

As I am watching this bizarre man scurry from car to car I began praying that he wouldn't come my way. Apparently God didn't hear that prayer or just wanted me to add another random story to my vast collection. Suddenly, the man runs towards my car and I begin shaking my head no. He then smiles at me and gets closer. I say out the window "no thanks". He responds "It's alright, sweetheart. This will only take a second". At this point I say louder "NO" and add hand gestures to accompany my head moving from side to side in a "no" kind of movement. The man continues towards me and washes my windshield anyways! What the heck!? Even though I him not to do it he still expected me to give him money. I don't get it. I think they try to guilt you into it. They stand there and flash that toothless smile as if to say "Look at the great job I just did. Who cares that I probably stole the squeegee and rag from an Arco up the street. I just cleaned your windshield and I should be rewarded for that". Well, my friends, I didn't fall for it and when the light turned green all got was a view of my taillights fading into the distance.

Has this happened to anyone else out there?


p.s. don't ever forget where you've parked your car in the C Lot at LAX. I think that has to be about the biggest parking lot I've ever seen. And no, this didn't happen to me...