The color of poverty..

Another random day at work. Similar setting. SSDD.

It's a regular customer. In between the small talk, I notice the small bandage on the inside of her arm, well technically, the inside of her elbow actually. You know, where they poke you for blood, for a blood transfusion, or whatever!?

Well, I was irresistibly drawn to the question, like a moth to a flame, "What's that!?"

I was expecting something along the lines of, "I had to go to the doctor cos I was feeling sick, and he wanted a blood test, blah blah blah.."

Instead I was hit with "Oh I just got back from donating some plasma at the hospital!" She didn't strike me much as the altruistic type, so I prodded her, "Plasma!?" in a tone that said quit joking around.

She proceeded to enlighten me. "Yeah I go give plasma once a week actually. They pay you for it. It's some extra money."

Yeah, I can see that. But this gives a whole new meaning to the term paying in blood.

Turns out this is big business. There is a thriving industry here that I had never heard of before. A basic google search brings up the following interesting hits. Notice how the articles go from donating very quickly to selling plasma!?

Donating Plasma
http://www.donatingplasma.org/

Donating Plasma for money
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/15272/donating_plasma_for_money.html

How to sell Plasma
http://www.ehow.com/how_110908_sell-plasma.html

More donating Plasma in a struggling economy
http://www.mndaily.com/2009/03/02/more-donating-plasma-struggling-economy

I don't completely live in the clouds. Yes, I think it's realistic and fair that people get compensated for their bodily fluids or organs, be it blood, plasma, sperm, eggs, kidneys, or whatever else.

It's just a little out of the ordinary even if there are almost zero long-term effects. The things people sometimes have to do to survive. They might not think twice about them, because they are routine to them, when they are anything but.

There's shades of Slumdog Millionaire in this story if you pause to think about it. People are the same everywhere though. You do what you have to do to survive, with what you can do with what you have.

It is a little known fact that every year India makes more movies than any other country in the world. Considering the quantity of movies, it is not surprising that very few of them are notable. One such wonderful Tamil movie that stands up to the test of time is "Varumayin Niram Sigappu" made almost 30 years ago, in 1980. Translated, the title literally means, "The color of poverty is Red".

You want these cans, bring your own bags!!

Random day at work last month. Nice enough day. Late spring in Birmingham, Alabama.

In and out people come and go. Pack of cigarettes here, a can of Coke there. Someone buys some gum. I check out another customer. I can do this in my sleep. I should know. I have done it in my sleep before. I used to work nights, coupla years ago, almost in another life, it seems like.

Ding. I look up from my reverie, automatically mouthing "Hey how's it goin!?" It's a black lady. Which automatically means she's in her 40s, at the least. She looks around. You can almost see her eyes light up when she finds what she's looking for. She heads towards the back of the store, in the general direction of whatever she's after.

I go back to looking at my newspaper, which I have all spread out around me. What was I reading again!? I barely have time to find my bearings, before I'm pulled away to the window again.

Here she comes. A small bag of chips. Two tallboy Budweiser singles. Good for her. I quickly ring her up, my fingers a blur, all the while keeping up a running conversation.

She asks. "Can I grab some empty cans out of your trash bins outside!?" That's enterprise from an unexpected quarter, and I'm impressed, but I manage not to show it. "Sure. Why not? What you gonna do with 'em!?" I already know the answer, but I ask anyway. "I'ma take 'em to the recycling place."

I bag her purchases, thinking to myself, "Hmm, if only there were more people like her who showed some init. Yes, she's diving for trash, but it still beats sitting on your butt all day because nobody's hiring in this bad economy, whining.. complaining.. but not doing anything.. And she's not doing it surreptitiously or clandestinely. She's doing respectfully by asking me first.."

But I'm brought down to earth in a crash as she says "Can I have some more of these black bags!? I don't have anything to put the empty cans in and I don't want to ruin the carpet in my car.."

I don't know exactly why I'm annoyed but I was. I hand them to her, and I tell her, "Next time, bring your own bags. That's the least you can do, considering I'm letting you grab these cans." The bags themselves, they are monetarily almost of insignificant value. Maybe a penny each, maybe less, I don't know. I almost feel stupid now thinking about it.

The way I feel about it though, if you want someone else's empty cans, so you can go trade them for money down at the recycling center, at least be prepared to put something of your own into it, even if it's just your own bags. It's the whole welfare mentality thing. People expect things to be handed to them on a platter. Gift wrapped too if that's possible.

But aside from my nitpickings, what she did was praiseworthy for the most part. She showed initiative and enterprise. And those are two qualities that are in very short supply in today's society. And so I applaud her for that. You gotta crawl before you can walk. And sometimes old habits die hard.

Update:
I've started collecting cans for recycling myself. I have a few people helping me, so I'm off to a good start. Richey brings home cans from his catering adventures, the pool is a veritable gold mine, or as my friend Yi corrected me, an Aluminium mine. Well the adventure is on..