Shyra said:

I've stopped giving money to folk who ask. I've been duped so many times and it pisses me the fuck off! Example: Guy has a bicyle and asks me for money so he can ride the metro. He said his bike was broken and he couldn't ride it and didn't have money for the train. I gave him a dollar. The next week, I saw him again. He approached me and asked me for money. I looked at him and said, "Oh. You've got a nice little hustle going on here. You gave me the same cock-and-bull story about that bike last week. You need to have a better memory, son! Step!" All he could do was slither away.

Another time this well-dressed woman approached me in my car while I was stopped at a traffic light. She said her car was broken down and she needed a few dollars to pay a tow truck. I gave her a dollar. The very next day at the very same traffice light, she approached me again. When she went into her spiel, I looked at her and said, "You got me with that story yesterday. You will not get me again, sistah!"

At the gas station. I'm pumping gas and this guy drives up next to me and asks me for $2. He said he's out of cash and gas and has to get to his mother's house to take her to the doctor. Dude is driving a black Charger and dressed nicely, so I figure he's just short a few bucks and just needs a hand. I gave him the deuce and dude peels rubber and hauls ass out of the gas station. Didn't pump ere gallon. After that I vowed, I"M DONE! I won't give nary a quarter!

just remember. you're intentions is what matters. you did it from the heart. what happens after; you've no control of that.

There was an issue with women drugging their babies/toddlers so that they looked ill and then begging on the underground a couple of years ago in London. Though since it was in the papers and stuff its basically stopped (the whole women begging with kids thing).

When I was in London a few days ago a guy was sat on the street begging for money saying he couldnt afford to eat etc whilst listening to an ipod

b3xy said:

When I was in London a few days ago a guy was sat on the street begging for money saying he couldnt afford to eat etc whilst listening to an ipod

that one i could almost excuse. music or food?? hmmm tough choice even for me.

NOPE!! I do not and will not give money to panhandlers.

The time and energy they are using to ask me for money is the SAME time and energy they should be using to ask me "do u want fries and a coke with that?" some damn where!!

Get ya asses up and GO TO WORK like I do every damn day!!

SHOCKADELICA1 said:

NOPE!! I do not and will not give money to panhandlers.

The time and energy they are using to ask me for money is the SAME time and energy they should be using to ask me "do u want fries and a coke with that?" some damn where!!

Get ya asses up and GO TO WORK like I do every damn day!!

but

i usually give them a couple of dollars, or so. depends. if they are old, maybe five

Corporate advertising is panhandling, what's the difference?

XXAxX, can I have five? lol

My brother used to live in Palo Alto and a friend of his (a retired Stanford professor) decided to 'live' like the will work for food guys for one year and write about it. I (foolishly, I will admit) thought most of these guys were drug addicts/alcoholics, and that's what they spent their money on, but my brother's friend said the guys he met spent about 90% of their earnings on prostitution. And none of them had any other source of income (save for a select few who received social security benefits, etc.).

I'm getting pretty cynical, plus there are simply too many people asking for money for me to pay attention to any of them anymore.

But the worst are kids who have obviously chosen this "lifestyle" out of laziness. They sit on the sidewalk all day and ask for money for weed. I want to sit around all day and have people buy me pot, too!! They're probabaly rich college dropouts. Get a job motherfuckers!

Peace, hippies!

DesireeNevermind said:

Are you suspicious of people who stand on street corners or near freeway ramps/exits holding signs that say "hungry" or "starving" or "out of work, any $ will help" etc.?

Sometimes they look rather healthy and well fed. Sometimes I see couples or people with their dogs. I dunno....I'd think you would go down to the aid office and the food bank if you were really that needy. In the back of my mind I envision these folk making loads of cash at the end of the day then hopping into their GMC Yukon. I sound like a cynic don't I?

I think you feel like many of us do. I see this all the time in my city (Toronto). This is why I only give money to people who are mentally ill and living on the streets. The rest can get a fucking job or do some volunteer work or whatever else it takes to feed themselves.

There are lots of jobs out there, but many people believe that some jobs are beneath them. I don't get that. If you are starving and can't pay your bills any job would be a good one.

I generally do not give, I have noticed that most in my area are "career" panhandlers....been doing it for years.

DesireeNevermind said:

Are you suspicious of people who stand on street corners or near freeway ramps/exits holding signs that say "hungry" or "starving" or "out of work, any $ will help" etc.?

Sometimes they look rather healthy and well fed. Sometimes I see couples or people with their dogs. I dunno....I'd think you would go down to the aid office and the food bank if you were really that needy. In the back of my mind I envision these folk making loads of cash at the end of the day then hopping into their GMC Yukon. I sound like a cynic don't I?

IMO that's between you and your God.

If I can give, I do and don't worry about it.

I'm not about to judge.

But for the grace of God . . . .

johnart said:

PunkMistress said:

That depends.

Have you ever sucked on a fag?

OOH! OOH!

I'm shocked.

Putting those things in your mouth is a filthy habit.

DesireeNevermind said:

Are you suspicious of people who stand on street corners or near freeway ramps/exits holding signs that say "hungry" or "starving" or "out of work, any $ will help" etc.?

Always. In NYC, everyone's got a hustle.

Empress said:

DesireeNevermind said:

Are you suspicious of people who stand on street corners or near freeway ramps/exits holding signs that say "hungry" or "starving" or "out of work, any $ will help" etc.?

Sometimes they look rather healthy and well fed. Sometimes I see couples or people with their dogs. I dunno....I'd think you would go down to the aid office and the food bank if you were really that needy. In the back of my mind I envision these folk making loads of cash at the end of the day then hopping into their GMC Yukon. I sound like a cynic don't I?

I think you feel like many of us do. I see this all the time in my city (Toronto). This is why I only give money to people who are mentally ill and living on the streets. The rest can get a fucking job or do some volunteer work or whatever else it takes to feed themselves.

There are lots of jobs out there, but many people believe that some jobs are beneath them. I don't get that. If you are starving and can't pay your bills any job would be a good one.

And there are other issues that interfere with gaining employment such as housing, hygiene, education, having a criminal record, being mentally ill . . . .

Who am I to judge?

SUPRMAN said:

Empress said:

I think you feel like many of us do. I see this all the time in my city (Toronto). This is why I only give money to people who are mentally ill and living on the streets. The rest can get a fucking job or do some volunteer work or whatever else it takes to feed themselves.

There are lots of jobs out there, but many people believe that some jobs are beneath them. I don't get that. If you are starving and can't pay your bills any job would be a good one.

And there are other issues that interfere with gaining employment such as housing, hygiene, education, having a criminal record, being mentally ill . . . .

Who am I to judge?

I'm not judging, I'm choosing not to give any of them money because a great majority of the time I can't tell the difference anymore. It's actually quite frustrating, to be honest. But that's the only sollution I can come up with. When half of the people asking for money have on nicer clothing than I do something ain't right.

PunkMistress said:

johnart said:

OOH! OOH!

I'm shocked.

Putting those things in your mouth is a filthy habit.

SUPRMAN said:

Empress said:

I think you feel like many of us do. I see this all the time in my city (Toronto). This is why I only give money to people who are mentally ill and living on the streets. The rest can get a fucking job or do some volunteer work or whatever else it takes to feed themselves.

There are lots of jobs out there, but many people believe that some jobs are beneath them. I don't get that. If you are starving and can't pay your bills any job would be a good one.

And there are other issues that interfere with gaining employment such as housing, hygiene, education, having a criminal record, being mentally ill . . . .

Who am I to judge?

I agree with you in theory, but I do still judge. There are obviously homeless/panhandler people who need & deserve our help & compassion, and there are obviously some who have simply given up & burned bridges.

But you are right to not judge, I wish I could avoid it. I just can't.

BklynBabe said:

PunkMistress said:

We saw a guy on the side of the road the other day holding a "HUNGRY PLEASE HELP" sign.

Behind him was one of those camping chairs, and it was stacked with food!

Including a big jar of GOURMET NUTS!

WTF, at least hide that shit!

you should have held up a sign that sad "EAT YO FOOD, DUMBASS!"

I almost always give something. If they dupe me? Worse has happened.

I was walking with my kids and as I passed a woman sitting in her car, she said "hi" I said "hello" she then asked me for money.

I became upset, because she carried a statement bag that cost more than mine and was sitting in a decent car.

I said, "Hell no, I will not take money from my kids to feed you, I'm not your mother.. get another job. "

I have zero sympathy for beggers on the street because I know about all the support services in my area. There is no excuse for begging for food here, too many food kitchens and the only reason people can not help is because they choose to not get/be sober.

Lammastide said:

I almost always give something. If they dupe me? Worse has happened.

I don't know about Toronto, but where I am if I gave money to every person who asked, or has a sign, I'd be flat broke.

paintedlady said:

I was walking with my kids and as I passed a woman sitting in her car, she said "hi" I said "hello" she then asked me for money.

I became upset, because she carried a statement bag that cost more than mine and was sitting in a decent car.

I said, "Hell no, I will not take money from my kids to feed you, I'm not your mother.. get another job. "

I have zero sympathy for beggers on the street because I know about all the support services in my area. There is no excuse for begging for food here, too many food kitchens and the only reason people can not help is because they choose to not get/be sober.

BklynBabe said:

PunkMistress said:

We saw a guy on the side of the road the other day holding a "HUNGRY PLEASE HELP" sign.

Behind him was one of those camping chairs, and it was stacked with food!

Including a big jar of GOURMET NUTS!

WTF, at least hide that shit!

you should have held up a sign that sad "EAT YO FOOD, DUMBASS!"

One sign made me laugh:

"Why lie? I need a beer."

I work in a metro downtown area...I get hit up everyday...i would be broke if i helped everyone.

Cerebus said:

Lammastide said:

I almost always give something. If they dupe me? Worse has happened.

I don't know about Toronto, but where I am if I gave money to every person who asked, or has a sign, I'd be flat broke.

Yeah... I've found the West Coast to be pretty relentless where panhandlers go.

And I should qualify: I give with minimal to no reservation to the extent I can spare it (albeit also on some occasions when I can't). There are times, though, when I'm met with a total onslaught of requests, and while I'm not against helping almost all those folk in principle, even if they're playing me for a fool, I admit I simply can't from a practical standpoint.

[Edited 9/26/10 13:24pm]

I don't hand out $ to them when approached

I do suggest to them the local "Kitchen" I donate to ... so they can go wait in line and have a hot meal if they are hungry

Saw two more this weekend. I should start taking pics of these fools. One guy had on clean clothes and one of those hats that fishermen wear. If he was broke then I'm Angelina Joile. The other panhandler was a lady but I admit she looked all skin and bones and somewhat dirty - my guess is she was on drugs.

Most of our homeless here in Auckland New Zealand are drunks or people with mental illnesses, most of them are Maoris or Pacific Islanders. Incredibly for a city of 1.4 million they only counted 53 rough sleepers last winter. They go to the city missions and several doss houses.

But up to 5 years ago, panhandling and beggary was a bad problem, you couldn't walk down Queen Street with out 5 or 6 cats coming up to you asking for money, the worst would be rapping on the street, making music with improvised instruments and others who would hang around ATM's and ask for change (Here in NZ the smallest note you can get out of an ATM is a $20, so that just seems stupid). And the Local McDonalads was dangerous due to the number of drunk homeless people out the front, but then the Police cracked down hustling beggars along and arresting them for loitering and spoiling the peace. Seeing a drunk tramp (We call them deros or derelicts here) crouched in a door way of your office covered in vomit is not pleasant.

Now there are just a few and they have to remain still and silent with a sign. Sad really.