Noises Noises Noises

Man, homeless people can be noisy. Alone, they may or may not make a peep. But put two or more together, and watch out!

Seriously, there is a high percentage of people in the homeless community who don't know how to behave around others - whether it's in public, or in the confines of a shelter.

Most homeless people lack some serious social etiquette. Which is one of the reasons I have few homeless friends.

The, I-don't-give-a-damn attitude of many homeless people is complex - and one of the core issues a homeless person must overcome in his personality, before he can return to a "normal" life.

The homeless person may very well have brought it with him when he became homeless. Or, he could have developed it while being homeless. Mostly, though, I think it's a combination of events. Most homeless people have some kind of chip on their shoulder - homeless people's "pre homeless life" usually isn't very good. And so the attitude is exaserbated by becoming homeless, and again from events that happen while homeless.

Because becoming homeless is so undesirable, most people exhaust all their resources trying to prevent homelessness from happening. Bridges are not so much "burned" as they are consumed. Every last buck, every last favor, is used up - all to prevent homelessness. And yet homelessness happens anyway, and so the friends, and family, and whomever, feel like they've wasted their rescources on the particular individual.

That leaves us with a homeless individual with many personal losses, guilty and regretful and angry. They no longer like themselves, no one likes them, either. In spitefulness, they turn on others - rejecting others for rejecting them, or trying to reject others before being rejected. Not only do they no longer care about others, they must make a point of showing that they don't care for others. And they must proven that they are taking it to the ultimate extreme. Nothing pisses off an unhappy person more than another person trying to find some source of happiness in them. They want their facade to state to the world "unhappy." Trying to change another person's facade statement is an unwelcome intrusion.

To make this statement plain, the homeless person will commit any and all acts of unsocial behavior. The worse the behavior, the more intent the individual is trying to display his unhappiness.

Worst of all is the behavior of one homeless person upon another. It becomes like a pissing match. One always having to do the other. The result is a very unpleasant environment for the homeless, among other homeless, and most especially in homeless shelters. Arguments are always breaking out. Fist fights happen occassionally. But mostly, the better behaved homeless treat the bad behavior of other homeless like water on a ducks back. You just let it happen and go on with whatever you're doing, yet hoping, without much success for it to end - and for that moment of peaceful relief.

Making noise is one of the easiest ways for homeless people to display their contempt. And this really comes out best when it's time for people to go to sleep, or attempt to go to sleep, in shelters. Instead of homeless people quieting down as they enter the dorms of the rescue mission, conversations begin, or take on new and enhanced energy. And pronouncement of "hey we're trying to sleep here," is met with the common come-back, well go get your own apartment then. And the talking gets worse for spite of the original comment.

There are other things happening too. Cell phones are owned by several homeless people, and they use them all the time. And watches have alarms on them, and they go off indiscriminately, cause most homeless people don't know how to set them correctly. So, for at least a couple hours after entering the mission dorms, a person doesn't have much chance of falling asleep.

Morning is even worse, as well set alarms do go off. Wake up is officially at 5am at the mission, but sleeping until then is near impossible. You'd have to have gone without sleep the night before, (cause you couldn't get into a shelter) to sleep that heavily. The program men come into the dorms before the light come on to wake up some individuals who asked for early wake up. And they usually wake up most people around them too. And some program men, who assigned to clean up the dorms after everyone has left, actually begin their clean up before the lights come on. And, the program men bring in pallets on pallet jacks for the piles of blankets, between 4 and 4:30. The pallet jack itself makes a tremendous noise, and then the pallets are also dragged along the ground, making a loud grinding noise. By 4:30am you can usually hear the sound of a dustpan dragging the ground around the bunks. And of those people who got up early, they will make plenty of noise, even yelling, out in the hall, as they make their way to the dayroom. Sometimes, someone will think it's funny to yelling throw the dorm doors "GET UP YOU TRAMPS, GET YOUR FEET ON THE FLOOR." or, something to that effect, also before anyone actually has to get up. And yet there is just the general milling about that happens which also wakes people up before time. (to possibly be continued...)