Working at a restaurant, you see many different types of people, regulars, travelers, couples, foreigners, and just about everyone. We all need to eat. But what about the homeless? What happens when they walk into a restaurant?

I walked into my restaurant the other day, for another day at the daily grind, to find a lady by herself in my section. The other waitresses told me that she had been sitting there for many hours. Come to find she had been there since about 11 in the morning and it was already reaching 4 in the afternoon when I got into work. I stopped to check in on her where she asked for a slice of pie; my manager had just gone over to talk to her, so I assumed she decided to order something in order to stay longer. After about another hour, she asked for a refill of her coffee to-go. It was then that I realized that it was the coldest it had been all week and she might want a hot drink to warm her up.

When another server came on and started to take over my section, he began talking about her loud enough for her to hear of course. He would say things such as, “shes been here since 10,  she shouldn’t still be here” or “she smells and is grossing the customers out”. And shortly after that is when she decided to leave, most likely due to his comments.

Many of us wanted to help, but we were unsure of how; from the class I am currently taking, I know that there are some shelters in San Bernardino, but we were in Redlands. My manager called the police to see if there was anything we could do, there apparently is a Goodwill just down the street, but the only problem is they don’t accept people until after 8 pm, and that was about four hours away. Before she left, my manager was able to tell her this information for which she only nodded.

But how is it that we don’t know what to do in these situations, where we want to help someone, but don’t know if they want it or even how to give it. There wasn’t much any of us could do, since we were at work, but even if we could, we didn’t know what to do. None of us wanted to send her on her way since it was really cold out, but there wasn’t much we could do in the first place. And what if we were in her shoes, someone just trying to stay out of the cold, but being commented on by other people. Would the other server treated her differently, if he only imagined he was in her shoes, wouldn’t he hope for some compassion?

So, what can we do in our town to help the homeless?