Beggars and panhandlers

I have a ugly confession to make. When I was in high school I used to pretend to be broke with my girlfriend at the time and we’d panhandle for money. I had a beat up car in those days and it sometimes served itself as a good prop. My girlfriend was pretty too, and she was good at taking to strangers. We’d take that money and buy drugs.

Because of this I know a lot of panhandlers are crisis actors putting on a fake story. Despite this, I still give money to certain people asking for money. I’m very choosy about it though.

For instance, if a panhandler is disabled with limbs missing, I’ll give them some money as long as they aren’t acting like a jerk about it. But if you’re a working aged person, especially a younger person who is able bodied, you can fuck right off and find yourself a job working the fields for your money. You have no excuse to beg.

However if you’re able bodied, panhandling, and doing some work, I’ll donate to you. This work could include things like doing backflips, spinning poi, playing an instrument, offering to wash windshields, or even waking around with a sign up and down the freeway offramp. These people are actually working for a donation. It may be a shitty job but it takes dedication.

 

I don't think you have a grasp of what life is like for holmess people and the reasons why they are where they are. Some scam but you have too much anger and hate to people you know nothing about. I suspect a lot of this comes from your own middle class struggles. Usually people like you hate the homeless since you work hard, so it upsets you that someone does not have to get agitated at work too.

See them as people, often people with mental health issues or addictions which make employment hard and work on those issues. It gets more results then a "fuck off and get a job" approach.

I've spent a lot of time helping the homeless. The amount of people who lost a job is tremendous compared to scammers. How do you work when you don't have a address or phone? I've seen homeless people go into stores with help wanted signs and when they say they are homeless they are told to leave. You reach a point where it's hard to get back and there is an assumption of your character since you are where you are now.

 

Holmess.

 

Larry Holmesless

 

Larry Farry

 

Fairy Larry

 

Elementary, my dear Watson.

 

I'm choosy about who I give money on the street too. But 6-eyed, what I find interesting is that you base your perception on these beggars and panhandlers on your own history and actions. I noticed earlier on other topics you're vocal and kinda judgemental about that this is likely a possibility there to. This includes people making use of wellfare, 'incels', porn addicts, certain kinds of immigrants. You might be judging them by your own intrincite being a little too much. A consideration, not an accusation

 

I'll give money to anybody. Of course, there are no beggars in rural Iowa, though I often throw 60 bucks or so to my friend Cindi when she's broke and out of pot.

 

I used to give money to homeless people a lot, basically whenever someone asked and I had cash on me I would hand it over.
I've become kind of jaded though, I have noticed a lot of panhandlers have sob stories that obviously arent true and they stand in the same spots every day with the same story, like it's a full time job for them.

And as fast as the actual homeless population, there's been a shift in recent years. I'm seeing more young people who are obviously strung out on heroin and pills. I'm not one of those who is judgmental towards addicts, I feel pity for them but I'm not going to give them money to support their habit either

 

Yea, it's unfortunate. I've encountered the ones carrying the "will work for food" signs and have offered them work. What follows is "welllll, my back....." or "I would but ......." and then like you say the ones with elaborate stories that are full of holes or clearly missing the details that might explain how they themselves are to blame for whatever.

However, when I go into Atlanta and plan to be walking around a lot, I keep several $1 bills in different pockets so I can dispense with the prize without having to hear the show. Usually if I pay off one of them I'm good for a few blocks before I run into another. They seem smart enough to avoid hitting me up every 10 yards like they do in other cites I've walked through.

So I'm still jaded, obviously. I just consider it as the cost of minding my business in peace. I also carry a dummy wallet, just in case they get crazy on me. Which has only happened once in over a decade. I have a couple of dollars in it and a collection of those fake credit cards that arrive in the mail.

 

I would probably volunteer at a shelter over give money to panhandlers these days. When I was younger I would give money to homeless on occassion, especially if they provided some sort of entertainment. I remember one homeless guy dubbed The Jokemon would tell corny jokes for money and I'd kind of make it a point to see him when I went to Berkeley.

More recently, a couple times I've brought food to homeless I would have otherwise tossed.

 

I have given them money knowing it's for drugs. Letting them get dope sick is not helping them get clean. I only feel bad since I don't want them to die. I tell myself that they have a tolerance but who knows what they buy. I make them say it's for food and I don't want to judge. I can see what they use from their appearance. H users have to eat too. But when somepme literally says to you "I am a piece of shit, so I am asking you for money" it's either very low self esteem or a clever con. I see what the street is like espeicly when the world is full of 6's.

I would rather get conned 99 times of 100 if one time I really helped someone. It's a few dollars and I am middle class. I also use drugs. Just not heroin. Others would flip it. Who cares if I help one person when so many lie to me?

 

That goes to show how much you makes assumptions about me. 7 years ago I had a homeless friend who I brought into my little studio apartment where he could couch surf and stay for a few days of the week. I gave him some job interview clothes and a bathroom where he could groom himself to get better. We got along fine until I realized he was taking advantage of me and had no interest in bettering himself, and would rather continue living off of social security for some trauma he had years ago, as he wasted his life away smoking heroin off a spoon. That's when I cut him out of my life.

The way I see it is if you're a beggar who is doing some form of work, like twirling hula-hoops, juggling, or anything else I listed. You're doing work of some sort. I still see that as a job.

If you're able bodied, there will be someone out there who'd be willing to hire you to do something. You can clean toilets. If you don't like cleaning toilets, you can carry bricks, sweep the streets. dig ditches, wash dishes, pick pears, mix concrete, etc. All these jobs are needed and have value to society. Lots of openings at jobs like these, even for felons. Wear that fast food uniform in pride, even if it's not a place you wanna remain for too long. Do anything to avoid work-free begging.

There's no such thing as a shameful job

 

lol. this made me laugh. As long as they're doing backflips...

I typically carry no cash, so no dice.

 

Oh it's not just you....................

 

A dummy wallet is a good idea.
I've been jaded by the behavior of a lot of transients when I used to work security for a community college. Often they would bother the small female students to score free cigarettes, and would get hostile if she said no. Cigarettes are expensive, and students generally don't have the money to be giving them away for free. So I would have to be there and tell them to go away.

And the thing is, it's often the same ones at the same street corners, doing the same things. In my old city, there was a woman who'd stand in front of the same book store for 5+ years asking for change. If she's been doing it that long, she's likely living comfortably in some way.

 

Yea, but dice can make you a lot of money!

 

homeless dude whips out Iphone.. No problem, takes debit, and bitcoin..