Strangest Request of the Week

so far. Sadly, it didn't surprise me ... much.

A lady stopped in the coffee shop with an unusual request, and the 20-something barista brought her to me*. It seems she was in Anchorage on foot, but lives in Kenai. She needed cash (don't they always?) to pay for a ride back home, but her ID was expired, and the bank wouldn't cash a check.

So what she wanted to know was, does anyone have a car? You know, to drive her back home?


At this point, several thoughts are racing through my fevered mind:

• This must be a new twist - hadn't heard that particular scam, before. Usually, they just need "a few dollars for a prescription".
• If she's telling the truth, how did she get to Anchorage in the first place?
• Did she seriously think the barista was going to close the coffee shop & drive her back to Kenai?
• It's about 300 miles, round-trip. Is she out of her freakin' mind?
• Why is she looking for a ride in here? Shouldn't she be out by the road, with a sign? Plenty of people from that direction come to town every day.

After I told the ladies that no, the building actually doesn't operate a Travelers' Aid Society (I put it more politely than that), the needy one wandered away. I sent the barista back to her job with a caution that the odds favored the lady being a panhandler, rather than actually in need.

Some days are just ... ya know?


* She's new, and her instructions hadn't covered this; she hoped I'd know what to do.