We are yet another week closer to NYCC, and with that, the chance for more comic con stories to happen and memories to be made. For whatever reason, my visits to comic conventions always seem to come with some unexpected adventures. Today, I thought I’d treat you to another story from my adventures at a Big Apple Con past.
As anyone who has been to a convention can attest to, being crammed in like sardines and attempting to squeeze through a press of humanity for hours on end can be hunger inducing work. Thankfully, right down the street from the Hotel Pennsylvania are several establishments which offer what the FDA legally classifies as food. On this particular occasion Dave, Cory and I decide to partake of McDonalds, mostly because it was the first thing we saw and had the quickest moving lines. This McDonalds was laid out like many NYC fast food restaurants with the serving counter and a small seating area downstairs and the main eating area upstairs. Since there was a convention going on across the street, the downstairs seating was all taken up and we were forced to find a place upstairs to devour our Big Macs.
Because this is what I think of when I think food.
Toward the end of our meal, we were disturbed by a man wandering around, and placing a small, business card sized slip of paper on our table. We were pretty involved in conversation and didn’t really pay attention to what was going on.The slip of paper showed several basic American Sign Language (ASL) signs and a short explanation that the man handing out the cards was deaf and homeless and that he was asking for a dollar for the card. Anyone who has spent any amount of time in New York City (A layover at Kennedy or La Guardia doesn’t count!) is well aware of the considerable number of people in the city who ask for money. I have little doubt that most of them need the money, but very shortly we were forced to doubt whether this particular man actually did.
As we wrapped up our meal, Dave cleaned up our table and threw out most of our trash, including the ASL card. After Dave returned, we resumed our conversation, not paying any attention to the card that had just been thrown away, when the deaf man returned to our table looking to either retrieve his card or the requested money. He was rather surprised to find neither and began to tap on our table, as we were still talking. He kept tapping, and we kept talking. After about thirty seconds of this, the man started pointing to the card then tapping on the table and we finally figured out what he was looking for.
Since none of us realized that the card had been thrown out, we didn’t know what was going on, so Dave looked at the guy and just shrugged and went back to talking. Becoming rather annoyed, the deaf guy put down another card and walked away for a moment. Upon returning and seeing the card still sitting there, with no money, our deaf friend finally went off. He started pounding on the table and screaming at us in a completely unintelligible manner. At this point Dave and I quickly grabbed our backpacks and headed for the stairs that lead directly to the street. Having been at comic con however, Cory had amassed a considerable amount of stuff during the day and was unable to get moving quite as fast as Dave and I. Because of this, Cory was subjected to continued verbal abuse by an increasingly angry deaf guy.
Dave and I reached the street and turned around and see Cory come running down the stairs, arms around his head in a protective manner (how much does that really do anyways?), being pelted by a large number of coins. Turns out that we had pissed off deaf guy so badly that he actually chucked a handful of change at Cory in anger. A homeless deaf man who was BEGGING for money threw a handful of change (and we’re not just talking pennies here) at a guy he was pissed off at. I hope we’re not the only ones who start scratching our heads about this point. As we were walking away, all Cory had to say was “the nerve of some people”.
In the end we just walked back to the Hotel Pennsylvania and continued on enjoying our afternoon of comics, art, and other geek pursuits. Since this was early in our careers as convention goers, it made much more of an impression. Now that we are veterans though, you’d be suprised at the weird stuff that just doesn’t phase us any more. I’m looking forward to seeing who and what can push the bar forward this year at NYCC.
Therefore I Geek 