#218 Gas Cans and Good Deeds: How Not to Freeze Your Humanity at 5:30 AM

The episode explores an unexpected encounter with a stranger asking for fuel on a bitterly cold morning, prompting thoughts on kindness, trust, and decision-making. The story raises questions about empathy and the balance between safety and generosity in our interactions with others.

• A 5:30 AM encounter in a deserted parking lot 
• Meeting a scruffy man with a gas can seeking help 
• Navigating feelings of skepticism and instinct 
• Choosing to act on kindness despite concerns 
• Reflecting on how our decisions shape our day 
• Understanding the importance of perspective and empathy 
• Introducing a call for listener engagement and questions

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Scott Townsend Show brought to you by Pizza man Productions.

Speaker 2: 0:08

Had something happen to me this morning that was very different, very odd, threw me off my game. Oh man, so I get to work. So here's how it goes I get to work 5.30 in the morning. I like getting to work early in the morning. 5 30, there's no one around, you can get stuff done. It's quiet, it's peaceful. So I there are certain things in the parking lot of the where I work that have to be counted. So in my my, from the comfort of my car, my Equinox nice, warm Equinox it's 18 degrees outside. I'm driving around this huge parking lot taking inventory and as I do, I noticed there's a guy and this little scraggly ass little dog walking in the parking lot. And it's, like I said, it's 18 degrees outside and I can't imagine why he's walking in the parking lot what he's doing and he walks towards this car I guess it's his car, uh.

Speaker 2: 1:21

So as I make it around the parking lot and closer to where he is, he starts walking towards the car and kind of acting like he wants to get my attention, but kind of not at the same time. So I just keep going because I don't know what's going on. You know this is a bad actor, I don't know. Uh, I have no idea what is going on actually. So I drive to the other side of the parking lot and park my car on the totally opposite side corner and I have some coffee and a blueberry muffin and my plan was to. I got there a little early, early, so it's not quite 5, 30 yet. So I'm gonna drink some coffee and relax and, you know, just kind of wake up slowly and easily. So then I noticed he's walking towards me with a small little gas can in his hand and I was like, oh my gosh, what does this guy want? So I get in my wallet and pull out. I'll give him some money. You know, just get him, get him away, I only have a dollar, get him, get him away, I only have a dollar. So he finally walks up to the car, scraggly looking, and he holds up the gas can, and so I rolled down my window a little bit. He goes man, can I get some gas? I need some gas. And I was like, oh, here here's a dollar. I hope this helps. No, man, I don't want money, I need gasoline, I need gas for my car. It's cold out here. I was like dude, I'm at work, I'm just about to walk in the building. If I don't here pretty soon, I'm gonna be late and I got stuff to do. Oh, come on, man, god will bless you if you give me some gas.

Speaker 2: 3:29

You know, I'm thinking is this guy for real? Is he really needing gas or is he going to shank me? It's just he and I out here in the middle of the night or early in the morning, and so I sit there and I just can't believe I'm in this position. So I rolled down my window some more. I said, okay, give me your gas can, and I'll go give me. It's a little gas can. Give me your little gas, can, I'll go get some gas. Oh, man, thank you. Yeah, blah, blah, blah, that's like.

Speaker 2: 4:03

So then I try to roll back my window up. Roll my window back up and it won't roll up. I guess it was so cold, uh, the motor froze or was freezing or something, I don't know anyway. So he starts trying to help me get my driver's side window up and I was like don't, don't, don't, don't, don't worry about it, I'll get it, I'll get it, don't worry. So I drive off and as I drive off, the window starts to go up. So now it's five, 30. And so now I'm officially late on an errand for somebody I don't know. And so I get to the gas station and I I get the gas. I bought $10 worth of gas, put the gas in his little tank and there was some left over. So I opened up my car tank gas cap for the rest of the gas in my car, got his little gas can all tightened up there and in the car.

Speaker 2: 5:06

Off I went, I forgot to put the gas cap and the cap gas cap cover on my car, which my wife discovered later on today. So I get to work and uh, I pull up close to him. But I didn't want to get too close so I just stopped, opened up the door, left the gas can uh on the pavement there, closed the door and parked in my usual parking space and uh went inside and I was totally thrown off my game. I don't know what I'm doing. It's too early in the morning. I haven't even had my first cup of coffee yet and I'm trying to decide should I help, should I not? Should I fight or flight? Or you know what should I do? How should I do it?

Speaker 2: 6:06

And I don't function that well in the morning at 5.30 without coffee first, in a situation like that, probably any time, but especially at 5.30 in the morning and it's 18 degrees outside. So that was my day. And then things just didn't quite go to plan. Things didn't quite go to plan like I had thought they would. I was a little irritable this morning, very irritable actually. Draven. One of my colleagues reminded me that uh, I told her one time that you know, you can be mad for five minutes and after that's up and you quit being mad.

Speaker 2: 6:54

So she looked at me and said you know what? It's good for the goose, good for the gander. So you can be mad for five minutes. But after that got straightened up, so I did and, uh, it was a little bit better day, but that's how my day started, yeah, yeah, I was all ready for a good little day and that happened. What would you have done in my situation? Would you try to give him cash? Would you let him in the car? Would you get the gas for him, like I did? Or would you have done something else called police? I don't know. There's a lot of things that I could have done. Um, but I'm telling you what I did. I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, it's just what I did.

Speaker 2: 7:40

So just wearing me out. So, anyway, I hope that little dog got warm. What was he doing out at 530 in the morning, anyway? And why did he run out of gas? One person told me he must have been so desperate to try to get somewhere like a drug house or something that he was willing to roll the dice and hope he makes it. And he didn't make it and wound up in our parking lot. So who knows, don't know, it's purely speculation, conjecture, but he was a rough little dude. Anyway, that's what I did. That's my story. I'm sticking to it.

Speaker 2: 8:22

Thanks for listening. Yeah, send me an email, scott, at Scott Townsend dot info. Tell me what you would have done or if you have a question. I thought I might start asking, answering questions people have, if you have a questions you would like answered, and then we'll see how that goes. But anyway, future guests are coming up and it's 2025. It's a great year. Thanks for listening. Enjoy your drive or your jog or your walk or walking the dog or whatever you're doing. This is Scott Townsend. Thanks for listening to the Scott Townsend Show. Have a great day. Everything's going to be all right and we'll talk to you later.

Speaker 1: 9:04

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