No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Have you heard this saying? It is only marginally applicable to the following story.

The Friday before Christmas I was at the post office. After handling my own mailing, and dealing with the 46+ year old worker who flirted with me, I was on my way to the car. Our post office has a sort of a mud room. First you walk through a set of doors and then through a second set of doors that are only about five feet from one another.

As I exited I noticed an older gentleman in a motorized wheelchair trying to open the outer doors. He was a war veteran who wore a baseball cap littered with pins, and an American Flag t-shirt. He was struggling to open the door and maneuver through it. I noticed other post office customers were passing right by him and took this as an opportunity to do a good deed.

I grabbed the door for him.

"Hey, can I get that for ya?" I asked, with a smile.

"grumble, grumble," he replied.

I held open the first door as he passed through, and reached to open the second and hold both open. With my arms spread I felt good helping this man. Then it hit me, it really hit me. A felt flag on a thin pole attached to the back of his chair. The flag was at the exact height of my face, and smacked my left cheek and slowly slid across my face as he entered the post office. I had to laugh at this "reward" for being helpful.