Bell,

Having volunteered with a church-affiliated program that serves a primarily poverty-stricken population, I encountered a number of people whose hold on reality is shaky to say the least. The poorest segments of the population has more than its share of persons with mental illness, drug addictions and people prone to violence. Experience taught me not to come across as judgmental, no matter how outlandish the requests and offer a sympathetic ear, even if I knew that what was being asked for was wrong.

Have you seen the outfits O'Keefe and Giles wore? It would set off alarm bells.

If those two walked into my office, my first thoughts would be to say anything to appease them and get them out of the office, because I would guess that they were either scam artists, drug addicts or schizos. I probably would have caught on pretty quickly that this was all a goof and escorted them to the door, but I hesitate to judge how others react. Then again, if I felt the story might be at all true, I might be worried that the guy was armed and dangerous. And if the Acorn workers thought that might be the case (after all, they know it happens often enough in their community), then the prudent thing to do would be to shovel whatever bullshit was necessary to get them out of the office.