Customer Leaves 1-Star Because A Homeless Man Hangs Out By The Entrance, Gets Shut Down By The Business Owner

Society’s collective solution to homelessness is often to turn a blind eye. We avoid eye contact with homeless people, we cross to the other side of the road when passing, we even build cruel deterrents to prevent the most vulnerable in our society from finding any shelter in our cities. We do anything we can to avoid confronting the ugly truth that we are failing collectively to care for our fellow humans, and when the reality inconveniently pierces our bubbles of denial, we get super mad about it.

This business owner in San Diego is being praised for doing what we so often fail to do – treat homeless people as human beings. Rather than looking at Ray as just another addict, alcoholic or mentally ill statistic who should pull himself up by his bootstraps, the owner of Nomad Donuts sees him as part of the community and encourages others to get to know him.

Image credits: Nomad Donuts

Image credits: Brad Keiller

Far from a ‘shutting down,’ this thoughtful and respectful response makes us all think about the ways we interact with others and encourages us to see the person underneath the circumstances they currently find themselves in. We have all seen a Ray at some point in our lives, but have we ever stopped to consider the story behind their plight?

Here’s how people reacted to the story

James is a Bored Panda reporter who graduated with a BA in Peace And Conflict Studies and an MA in African Affairs. Before Bored Panda, he was an English teacher and also travelled a lot, doing odd jobs from beer-slinging to brickie's labourer and freelance journalism along the way. James loves covering stories about social and environmental issues and prefers to highlight the positive things that unite us, rather than petty internet squabbles about fictional characters. James is the grumpy, contradictory one who thinks that Bored Panda, due to its large audience, has a social responsibility to inspire and inform its readers with interesting issues and entertaining, well-researched stories. Let's do our bit to make our little corner of the internet a smarter, more truthful and less angry place!

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As a Visual Editor at Bored Panda, I indulge in the joy of curating delightful content, from adorable pet photos to hilarious memes, all while nurturing my wanderlust and continuously seeking new adventures and interests—sometimes thrilling, sometimes daunting, but always exciting!

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What do you think ?

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Mewton’s Third Paw 5 years ago

Ray is a person. So we have to deal with the fact that he is homeless, because he is one of us. Earthlings. I would be a lot more comfortable with billionaires existing if homeless people didn’t.

61points

Monika Soffronow 5 years ago

Spot on, Mewton! Have a nice week.

13points

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Cat 5 years ago

The phrase get shut down is overused these days. Brad's comment was calm and collected. Not trying to be witty, sarcastic or snarky. Just having a normal conversation like people should. Kiddos for defending Ray

32points

Nadine 5 years ago

It was perfect & shows both men in the best light.

5points

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Pittsburgh rare 5 years ago

I'm growing increasingly sick and tired of the lack of basic empathy and compassion among people. And it's not just an American issue: here in Europe people get also "bothered" by the sight of homeless people who don't interact with them and whose only crime has been being less fortunate than us and perhaps making bad life decisions (as we all could make at some point). Most of us are two months away, if not less, of becoming one of them. All it takes is a streak of bad luck.

26points

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Mewton’s Third Paw 5 years ago

Ray is a person. So we have to deal with the fact that he is homeless, because he is one of us. Earthlings. I would be a lot more comfortable with billionaires existing if homeless people didn’t.

61points