He returns it!!! http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/reunion_with_amex_angel_dFCLsWzzXEj2mwhFn6g2IJ A Manhattan homeless man had an emotional reunion yesterday with the kindhearted ad executive who lent him her American Express Platinum Card outside a SoHo restaurant, in what became a shining act of generosity, trust and honesty. "I didn't have to thank him. I trusted him all along," said Merrie Harris, 45, as she hugged Jay Valentine, 32, outside La Esquina on Kenmare Street. Harris lent her card to Valentine there Monday after he asked her for change. Most people who witnessed the act of extreme generosity doubted he would ever come back. But a short time later, he returned with the card, stunning many and earning Valentine the title of Most Honest Homeless Man in the City. "What he did was no surprise to me," Harris said yesterday. "People keep telling me, 'Why would you talk to him and trust him?' But are we only supposed to trust people we know? What would Bernie Madoff's friends be saying?" Valentine told The Post that he was surprised to be handed the card, but he never thought to take advantage of Harris' generosity. "I wasn't tempted at all," said the 32-year-old Brooklyn native. "She trusted me, and I didn't want to violate that trust. I would never do that." Valentine said he has been homeless for a few years, since he lost his job at a real-estate company that had allowed him to sleep in the office. He said he now spends his nights in an Internet cafe whose staff allows him to sleep on their chairs. He said he was hungry and low on cash on Monday when he saw Harris standing with friends outside the restaurant. "I asked her for change and told her I wasn't working," he said. "She said she only had a card. She said, 'Can I trust you?' I said, 'I'm honest, yes.' "I went and bought a few things and came back and gave her her credit card back, and everybody was surprised. "I said thanks for trusting me. I guess she had a good sense of judgment. She knew I was trustworthy." Valentine said he bought deodorant, body wash, a pack of Nat Sherman cigarettes and Vitaminwater. It all cost about $25, he said. "She was really lucky it was me she ran into" and not someone who would have stolen the card, Valentine said. "I was really in need. I only had a couple of dollars on me." "It sets a good example that people in need -- like I am or worse -- can and should be trusted," he said. "Everybody in the restaurant was surprised. They probably thought I would run off with the card." Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/...ex_angel_dFCLsWzzXEj2mwhFn6g2IJ#ixzz0wVxe8uqZ
Somewhat strange story, with a slightly positive tilt to it, but as the guy himself said, she was lucky. Moreover, um, you bought deodarant, bodywash, cigarettes and vitaminwater. something doesn't compute.
on payday i throw the homless guitar guy a 20 for playing his version of "stairway to heaven" makes me feel good inside, or i even buy the dude a whopper meal, fries and all. karma is a firm belief of mine. if i ended up in his shoes i hope to meet some one with the same generosity.
maybe not the cigarettes part but for a lot of homeless people the need to stay clean and having bottled water ranks really high on their list. A lot of times they are able to get food from people but being able to get a clean set of clothes or not smell is huge. Most of the time people shy away from the homeless because of their smell and filth from lack of proper cleansing for days if not weeks. Being able to be clean may actually make it easier for the man to get help in other ways. So buying deodorant and body wash actually does make sense.
I know this ladies plan. She is just going to call her credit card company and report an unauthorized use that it is not her signature.
I was actually wondering the same thing. In my town, I use my my and my girlfriend's debit cards all the time without so much a whisper of questioning my identity yet when we got to bigger cities like St. Louis, Memphis and Little Rock we are almost always asked for it. This being Manhattan, I figured he would run into the same problem but obviously not.
I've got dibs on it next. You would be surprised at how many times the signature doesn't match what is on the card. Noone checks that or, if they do, then it is rare.
true...i usually like drawing hearts and flowers on the electronic signature thingy...can't remember the last time i actually signed my name...
I was thinking the same thing but I hope and am guessing they're both honest in this situation. Signature does not really matter. I could use my credit card and sign Bruce Wayne but I understand what you're saying as she is not the one who signed it and now, a lot of stores don't even require signatures at all.
i never sign mine for the purpose of if i happen to lose the card/have it stolen i dont want someone to have a idea of what my signature looks like
they dont check for ID unless the cashier needs to scan it themselves, which they often dont. yeah i think that tells me he was trying to get cleaned up in hopes of going to a job interview. Yuo can go to on hungry and they wont know, but if you stink and look visibly dirty you may as well not even show.
