A 'homeless' person has been panhandling at the same spot 4 years in a row

I moved to downtown Portland a little more than 4 years ago. One of my biggest culture shocks that I quickly had to adapt to was aggressive panhandlers and homeless folks trying to solicit some sympathy. I walked to school and work every day using the same route, and eventually you get to recognize certain people within certain locations. One such character is the same homeless lady in front of the same store on the same intersection asking for money with the same sales pitch.

It really makes me wonder...
What's her real story?

What has she been doing with all the money she collects from these pedestrians? Why has she been doing this for 4 years if not longer; I mean, if you're unemployed in poverty, shouldn't your mission be to try and find a way out? Is she really without a home? Is she doing this to make tax-free income on the side of her real job? There's plenty of charity organizations and government programs that are put in place to fight poverty and take these people off the streets. Do some people actually prefer panhandling to an actual job?

Most panhandlers I see will sit at a crowded area for a couple hours, days, weeks, sometimes months. But years? Gimme a break.

For the record, I stopped giving to panhandlers long before I moved out here. They rarely say thank you. And they're ungrateful. I once saw a young woman buy this bum a sandwich from the deli and give it to him. He grabbed the bag, threw it at her and yelled "I want money!!! Not this bullshit!!" This is why whenever a bum comes up to me and asks me for money I'll turn and say, "Aww man, I was just about to ask you the same thing."

I don't have a squeaky clean record either. I'll admit. When I was in high school, my girlfriend and I used to panhandle and pretend we were stranded travelers who needed extra cash. Then we'd spend the money on drugs. Something I'm not proud of at all. So I know what many panhandlers are up to.

 

there was a guy asking for 25 cents by the 191st street 1 train subway station tonight. I'm pretty much conditioned to ignore people asking for money, but I really think this guy just needed a quarter to get on the train.

There are people that will come on the train and come with this whole sales pitch type thing, some of them are pretty good at it. I've done street sales and still do occasionally and they use the same tactics, they will move from one train car to the next until they get thru the whole train then they get off that train and get on a different one, and do that all day. They will tell you that they are "NOT" homeless in part of their pitch, yeah .. okay. Hehe, that would be more acceptable if they were actually in the homeless situation, otherwise wtf. Idk whether they're lying when they say that either, maybe some are, and some aren't so i just ignore anyone that asks for money.

In fact there are many things a person can say, or ask that will raise a red flag in my mind, and from that point forward i will ignore them .. some people are actually legit tho and aren't in the same class as those people and that's what sucks cuz it means most people will ignore you when you really do need help.

I know i've been helped numerous times tho by people i didn't know, maybe i was short a quarter for something, sometimes it happens without even asking too I don't go around begging for money but i have asked for money on the street before because i was a bit short thru no fault of my own. I've even had someone give me a full dollar without even asking, i asked someone else on the sidewalk and they "didn't have any money" but i didn't ask him and he's the one that gave me the dollar. And i really needed that dollar too, i was in some kind of situation but I don't normally ask people for money unless i'm really in some kind of predicament like my bank card is blocked or something and i need to get on the subway.

some of them if you actually listen to their pitch .. i think they are bein pretty honest, that they're not homeless but are having financial difficulties so they're doing this for a little bit extra income

chicks seem to be better at gettin more money panhandling for some reason ive noticed

 

25cents? Shit, I got asked for $2 yesterday while walking around town and almost fell flat on my face. Two fuckin' dollars! She must have thought I was a millionaire.

 

In Europe the beggars get down on all fours with their faces on the ground. I stomp past them and they never budge. XD

The Gypsies though well they get their children to do all the work for them and run around with a piece of paper and target popular tourist spots. I can't stand them. One of my friends made the mistake of stopping to hear one out a few years back I had to go in and push that gypsie away and a look like -.- you go and die!!

 

Living in NYC u see a lot of people begging I hate when they come to like a food place and ask for food or change I feel bad and all but I'm like don't try to trap me. I just hiss at them and walk away. I used to give them money but since I've been on my own I've learned that some times even a Nickel can make a big difference in your day so I don't give anymore.

 

Not much of that goes on around here, but a girl came up to me in the supermarket parking lot the other night asking me for gas money......as she had no gas in her car....I said I didn't have it......She really did not look wanting for anything. I figured she would get more luck asking a guy next, anyway.....

 

I don't mind helping the people that are really down and out and sleeping in the streets...If I have a few extra dollars on me, sure.....here you go.....make someone's second sometimes.....when I can.

 

You have it pretty good over there with your silent beggars. I've seen them myself. In America they'll interrupt whatever you're doing in order to sell you their sob story. The beggars in Czech Republic never tried any of that guilt trip bullshit. However, you folks in Europe have belligerent street vendors who attack the shit outta you and won't leave you alone until you buy their cheaply made overpriced garbage. I don't see a lotta that here.

 

We have several folks around here that stand along side busy streets with signs. The ones that get me are the young able bodied men who appear to be able to hold down a job if they really wanted to.

 

I eat a lot of fruit. Always have some on me.

If I see someone who I think really needs some fruit I offer them some.

 

i've had a beggar flex his bicep at me before as part of his sales pitch to show that he wasn't a junkie. "do junkies look like this?"

i dunno if he was trying to intimidate me or what.

i saw that guy when i first moved here, and i gave him some change from my car door. it caused me to place the DVDs i just rented on top of my car. i forgot about them, drove away, and i bet that same guy picked them up and pawned them.

then i saw the same dude, with the same "i'm not a junkie" story like two years later in the same area.

i don't give money to them anymore. i don't give money to any charity really...i guess i'm a tight-wad with no empathy.

i did recently get someone some food from the restaurant i was at...but i had to tell her to go eat it somewhere else...you can't be hanging out right outside the door

 

you hiss at them?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti4sqG85FU4"]I'm a Snake ( original / official ) [ As seen on Tosh.0 ] - YouTube

 

When I first arrived in LA I parked on Sunset Strip and watched a young gal in Daddy's new Mercedes, get out in nice clean hippie drag and start panhandling for change for the parking meter.

Next I met a hippie tourist on Haight St. spinning a tale of need and starvation while wearing a very nice turquoise ring. I told him I knew of a buyer who would pay a nice chunk of cash for the ring. He screamed at me for at least two blocks that I was trying to steal his heart and soul!

I was in the Haight forty years and if a person would take the time look me in the eye and talk to me rather than stick out a hand while looking for his next target and repeating by rote 'spare change' I would likely listen and spare what I could.

There was a well dressed blind gent who for years sold pencils in San Francisco's financial district and if you were around at the end of his day you would see his chauffeured limo pick him up!

 

I’ve seen the same guy at the same intersection for 2 years as I drive into work each morning who claims to be a homeless veteran. I‘m a veteran myself so I’m sympathetic but I also read there’s a homeless shelter for veterans in downtown Boston which rates as one of the finest in the country, and provides every service imaginable from counseling, housing, employment, and provides them with 3 meals a day, a personal locker for their clothing, a bed, drug/alcohol rehab, health services, cable TV/Wi-Fi …….


I told him about it once and he said thanks, he still at the same intersection so I’m guessing he’s either lying and has a house/apartment/condo/ or he was dishonorably discharged and they won’t accept him.




Hotwater

 

really? what, you carry around a fruit basket with you?

 

No-but he'll happily show you his plums,'undies! :2thumbsup:

 

I'm also a vet and the things that make some vets fight shy f those programs are if the vet has a woman pard (not wed) who isn't a vet she can't enter the program with him and he's restricted to base the first thirty days and must be subject to a drug/alcohol program whether he uses or drinks or not. In our case we were caught in a National Disaster flood and lost everything. We didn't use or drink and so there was little to no help via the VA. The programs they do have are 'boot camp' strict and I can see why a vet with PTS would shy away.

 

There has been a lot of money fighting poverty, and most of it has been wasted. You can't just give money or food or food. The root causes of homelessness are drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, criminal recidivism and domestic violence. There have been billions spent on the war on poverty, because we don't want to see suffering, but without actually re-shuffling the deck, and providing drug rehabilitation, or preventing employers from discriminating against peole with criminal records or dealing with our broken mental health system...

It's all been wasted.

 

Studies have shown that only ten cents of each government dollar gets to the client the rest go to admin.

 

i know whole families who have been panhandling off the government welfare system for generattions

one guy i went to school with was a grandfather by the time he 30 or 31....more kids equals more cash from the canadian system....