Monday, October 12, 2020

the climbing wall

 


so it's yesterday. My usual excursion to eat some lunch and I'm sitting on one of the benches near the climbing wall on Sydney Road. 

now there's a man sitting across from me and he's not wearing a mask. He's swaying back and forth and lightly but obsessively pinching his bottom lip. He obviously has some kind of mental impairment but that is a fact that is lost on some old guy standing nearby. Then it starts.

"Hey, how come you're not wearing a mask?"

no response but the swaying becomes larger and the pinching faster.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, how come you're not wearing a mask!?!"

now the swaying becomes more animated and changes from back and forth to side to side. The pinching transforms into this manic face rubbing. Before I get a chance to say anything, the old man mutters "Right, I'll get this sorted" and heads across the road to two protective services officers. I can't exactly hear what was being said but I can see the pointing in this direction. Less than a minute later they are in front of the sitting man with the old guy standing behind

"Hey mate, how are you?" They attempt diplomacy because they can obviously see that he has some type of issue. The old man starts arguing with the PSOs, spouting words about how come you two can't do your job. They try to reason with the old man, he mutters something unintelligible and storms off, then starts yelling when he is a little further away. The sitting man adds moaning to his routine and the two PSOs try to console him. The sitting man eventually calms down and walks off.

then I overhear the PSOs chatting with each other - 

"I know this wasn't on the list when we signed up, but I don't get paid enough for this shit."

"Whether it's some turkey not wearing a mask or someone complaining about a person not wearing a mask, that's the fifth one over the last week. The ones not wearing masks are the worst!"


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