Being Polite Isn't Flirting

How sad is it these days that when you're nice to someone they can get suspicious of you? Does everyone who does something for you want something in return other than a "thank you"?

Pretty much. That's the society that we've created in the United States. A bunch of selfish and entitled people who can't see past their own feelings. And as you can see, I'm disgusted by it.

I'm was walking in downtown Jackson recently and it was raining. The building that I was leaving had a cover over the front steps and I was about to walk across the street to a garage. However, the rain seemed to pour down rain even harder once I reached the bottom step.  I could barely see 15 feet in front of myself.

Luckily, I had my large umbrella with me and I opened it up and got ready to cross the street. A lady came out of the building without an umbrella and made her way down the steps to make a run for the garage through the rain. I asked her, "Would you like to use my umbrella? I'm rocking a bald head, so the rain won't bother me. I can just get it from you on the other side."

She turned up her lip as if she was offended by my gesture and said, "Why would you do that for me?"

Ignoring her negative demeanor, I replied sarcastically in question, "So that you don't get wet? You don't want to mess up your clothes, do you?"

She sat idly for a second as she appeared to be pondering the pros and cons. All while she looked at me as if I was playing some sort of con game on her. Before she could respond, I simply turned around and walked across the street with my umbrella. She may have said something to me as I walked off, but the rain was hitting my umbrella so hard that I couldn't make out if she did or not.

Look, I'm all for being cautious, but not to the point of paralysis. I asked her if she needed my umbrella not to get into a windowless van. She was so hesitant in her thinking that she probably thought that I was going to hit on her for allowing her to use my umbrella to cross the street. I didn't ask for her to get under my umbrella with me and walk together. I didn't ask for her name or number. I was simply trying to do what I thought was the right thing.

I'll give her the benefit of the doubt by saying that maybe she's had a ton of bad guys disrespect her to the point of skepticism.  I can halfway understand that and if that's the case then it's just a sad way to have to live a life.  A lot of people do want something for something.  Quid pro quo.  Not many do something for the sake of being generous of chivalrous.

Evidently that's so rare these days that people expect it to come with a cost. Unfortunately, it's her loss because when I drove by her on my way out of the garage she was soaked.