A Sucker Punch Born Every Minute

While tailgating with friends before an Eagles rock concert, a non-credentialed man approached us in the parking lot. He resorted to the voice of a salesman after an initial hello. He handed me a bumper sticker with a provocative slur on it. He likewise handed out stickers to the other members of our party. He encouraged their placarded use and made liberal commentary. He filled our hands and I wondered if he wanted us to fill his.

Upon receipt of a decal he probably bought on Ebay for 65 cents in a bundle pack lot, he asked us to open our wallets and provide donation to his worthy cause. He promised that proceeds would benefit forsaken battered women in shelters. I almost crinkled the sticker seemingly given to me for free only a moment ago. My sticker read Spank Me I’ve Been Naughty!

When the other members of my party provided an instant cash flow to someone I considered a sticky con man, I wondered if I was missing the charitable side of being human. However, I reasoned that nobody with compassion for victims of domestic violence would salute the stickers he handed out while voicing politically incorrect gibes. It left me incredulous and irritated coming from my mindset as a career social worker. I did not have the words for it then but I can tell you the experience felt like a sucker punch and it gave me sticker shock.