From the “Who Says the Homeless are all Stumblebums and Winos” Desk….

Last week at the Atlanta Gift Show, another vendor there related this story during the “daily chitchat as you wait for customers” time:

The previous evening, after the show ended, this guy and one of the other neighbor vendors decided to go out for dinner in Atlanta. As they were walking down Peachtree, a homeless guy came up to them who needed money for food. To my friend’s horror, the other vendor reached into his wallet, which was packed full of bills, and handed the homeless guy $20. They then proceeded to their restaurant and had dinner.

On the way out, there waited the homeless guy! Astonished, the vendor who gave him the twenty allowed himself to be drawn into conversation, and as one thing led to the next, the homeless guy offered to walk his benefactor to his hotel (the Ritz Carlton) to make sure he arrived safely. He did need to use the rest room when they got there, so the vendor let him walk in with him past a cringing doorman. The next day, this vendor woke up to leave the hotel and go back to the show and would you guess? There outside the hotel stood the homeless guy, offering to help him find a cab or get directions to the train. At 8:00 am!

It turned out, for the length of the Gift Show, this vendor was accompanied by the homeless guy whereever he went. Whether it was to dinner, a bar, the hotel, there was his newly found friend. I’m not sure if there was any negative part to this story, because the vendor abruptly left town half way through the show and had an employee finish up.

All I know is, what a bargin’ in Atlanta!