Is Chivalry Dead? I Guess That Depends On Your Vantage Point

On my way home from work yesterday, I got off the "L" at Armitage and while walking along rocking out to some tunes on my iPod, I noticed the young woman walking in front of me struggling to carry about 5 boxes.  Being the good Samaritan that I am, I slid my headphones off and said, "Would you like some help with that?"

"Oh, well, could you just push the top one more onto the middle of the pile?" She replied, as the top box was starting to inch towards falling off of the pile.

"Sure, no problem." I said.  "Are you sure you don't want any help carrying them though?"

"Oh yes, but thank you.  They're actually really light."  She said.

And she was right, they were indeed very light.  I had noticed that when I moved the top box over.

And so I continued walking along, a smile on my face as it was almost the weekend.  No more than 30 seconds later, a group of about six Lincoln Park High School girls crossed our paths as they headed for the "L."  Just as they passed me I heard one of the girls say to her friends, "Now there's a real gentleman!!  Look at him just letting that woman carry all those boxes!"  I swear I am not making this up.

I could tell that she said this thinking I couldn't hear her since I had my headphones on, but fortunately I didn't miss this gem of a comment as I had turned the volume down and slid them slightly off my ears when I had asked the woman if she needed any help.

Without thinking, I found myself with my hands thrown up in the air, laughing out loud as I turned back to look at the girl who had just called me out.  The group of girls had all now stopped and were looking back at me with these priceless embarrassed, shocked, and confused looks on their faces.

"I JUST asked her if she wanted any help!"  I said while I turned and kept walking down the street, as an even bigger smile crept onto my face.