A Victim Treats His Mugger Right

[Guest guest]

Julio has a daily routine.

Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.

But one night last month, as stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.

He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.

"He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, 'Here you go,'" says.

As the teen began to walk away, told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."

The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, "like what's going on here?" says. "He asked me, 'Why are you doing this?'"

replied: "If you're willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me ... hey, you're more than welcome.

"You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help," says.

says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth.

"The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi," says. "The kid was like, 'You know everybody here. Do you own this place?'"

"No, I just eat here a lot," says he told the teen. "He says, 'But you're even nice to the dishwasher.'"

replied, "Well, haven't you been taught you should be nice to everybody?"

"Yea, but I didn't think people actually behaved that way," the teen said.

asked him what he wanted out of life. "He just had almost a sad face," says.

The teen couldn't answer — or he didn't want to.

When the bill arrived, told the teen, "Look, I guess you're going to have to pay for this bill 'cause you have my money and I can't pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I'll gladly treat you."

The teen "didn't even think about it" and returned the wallet, says. "I gave him $20 ... I figure maybe it'll help him. I don't know."

says he asked for something in return — the teen's knife — "and he gave it to me."

Afterward, when told his mother what happened, she said, "You're the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch."

"I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It's as simple as it gets in this complicated world."

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