Living on nothing (after being spoiled for years)

I never hustled or scammed even when I was living on the streets.

 

I scammed and scratched my way from the bottom to the top

 

Lol.

 

Some people here are very picky about the wording of things,,

I found nothing wrong with the word "hustle". To me, it just means urgently trying to find something that works toward one's survival, and that of one's loved ones.

"Scam" is related to "hustle" in the sense of urgently trying whatever works to find a viable income, be it material, or food, or money. One can't always wait for the "right thing" to come along, when one is hungry, on the street.

Give the guy a fucking break.

Fuck this "moral high ground" shit, and "my shit smells better than your shit".

"I never hustled or scammed",,,

Pullleeeeeezzzzzzzz,,,

Fucking snooty liberal attitudes.

Me,,I've taken packets of jam to take home when I went out for breakfast.

My mom once took an ash tray, for a souvenir, sneaking it into her purse at a fancy restaurant my dad took us to in San Francisco. She was a bit embarrassed when my dad, not knowing what she'd done, asked nicely if they could take home an ashtray. The waiter gave him one.

One of the local restaurants is famous for getting a take-out order wrong. I'd say they're batting around point 50. I love it, since we live within walking distance, and always get extra stuff when they fuck up.

Desperate criminals, we are. The bane of society. A curse to the civilized world.

 

You say you're an engineer. Funny, I have a friend who is too, hasn't found much work in that area and he is NOT a hustler or scammer. He's more of a Jack of all trades and willing to work hard to get what he has. Yeah, he and his wife do get some assistance, especially since they have a kid now-but they don't cheat and steal to get what they have. They picked up another house in addition to the one they live in so they can rent it out. They happen to live in a depressed area so they got both their house and the rental for a song. He helped a buddy move cross-country last year simply for the money the friend was willing to pay. He takes jobs with construction if it's available. He makes an honest living, even if it isn't using his degree. When you're down and out, you take what you can get, and you don't have to be dishonest to get it.

 

oh the problems of rich people when they are no longer rich...

 

You're a piece of shit? So sorry, bro.

 

Forgot to add I have yet another friend who was an engineer and has also been out of work for a few years. He also does leather and wood working, and that is how he makes his living. He is fortunate to have friends that are allowing him to stay on their property in the storage trailer he converted into a home. Somethings he has was donated, others he has traded for. But he doesn't scam to get around, he works for what he has. He has suffered a lot of loss aside from his job, he lost his home and his wife (she died), but he still isn't a scammer. My point is, just because you're down and out it doesn't mean that you have to scam people in order to get by. It's possible to survive with hard work. Scamming is the easy way out, and the most risky since you could end up in jail for it.

 

So am I, man, an electrical engineer who changed over to software engineering after my first career was shipped over to Taiwan. When the shit hit the fan for me my unemployment insurance ran out and I had to move my family into our travel trailer. It sucked a lot. Imagine a Colorado winter in an RV with kids. We did four consecutive winters that way. Instead of stealing or begging I took whatever crappy temp jobs and odd jobs I could find and took to the river and the woods to feed my family when there wasn't money left after paying the space rent in the RV park.

Before you get to thinking that a guy with an RV must not be doing too badly: That travel trailer was 20 years old and wouldn't be accepted by most parks. The place where we went was full of down-and-outers, folks whose lives had gone horribly wrong and who didn't have any other options. We didn't have any other options, ourselves. With no work and no family to fall back on, it was a life and death struggle that played out in slow motion. The park was considered an eyesore by the neighbors who often petitioned the county to get the place shut down. Life was uneasy and tenuous there, but the retired farmer and his wife who owned the place fought for us and kept the park open, helped out as best they could, and we who lived there always did our best to help out our neighbors. It was anything but easy.

All of the hardscrabble times in my life have come about because some selfish prick has rationalized that his need was greater than mine so he was justified in ripping me off. I'm incapable of arguing my point from a position of compassion and respect so I'll just let that aspect of the discussion go.

Here's my advice to you: While you're flush, get yourself some fishing tackle and at least a suitable rifle for taking small game. If you aren't too squeamish for gut piles, get a suitable big game rifle, too. Get a hunter safety card if you don't have one, and get proficient at putting wild food on the table during this period when you don't have need of it. Man, you're in Oregon. I've hunted and fished there, and know you've got no excuse for stealing to eat there. You're surrounded by food.

Be well.

 

oh blah. I don't even have anything to say to this, it really speaks for itself.

 

Since when is "get a job and work for a living," considered a liberal attitude?

 

Since when did you derive that from what I said.

Some people, those whom you obviously have not met in your privileged existence, are desperate, and desperation to survive can cause a person to do things he/she otherwise would not have contemplated. I'm willing to give the OP the "benefit of the doubt", and reject the thought that he is simply "selfish, lazy, irresponsible" in his approach.

I doubt that he is some evil, heartless, malicious genius like "Bernie Madoff". It's just that some people, especially here, assume "scam" to be the most evil of words. In that sense, everything is a "scam". When you go to a job interview, don't you hope to convince the interviewers that you are most definitely the better choice? Don't you try to use every tool to your advantage? Isn't this a form of "scam"? How can you honestly say that you ARE the best prospect?

Every sales pitch is a "scam", whether it is benign, or malicious.

Study the way people acted in the concentration camps. It has been said that in many cases, it both brought out the best in people, and the worst.

Take another example, based on the principles of what is commonly known as "relative morality":

A man has a wife that is ill, and they can't afford medical treatment. He robs a bank in order to get money to pay for his wife's survival. Was that wrong of him? Would you counsel such a person to sit patiently by the side of the road with a sign saying "Please help", while his wife lies suffering, dying?

It has been my observation that those who espouse the "liberal" agenda frequently assume themselves as having a higher morality. Don't get me wrong. I don't consider myself a "conservative" or a "liberal". I'm not in either "camp". I'm just making an observation.

 

Ha! I lied too cuz I was a teenage girl and I got ppl to let me into apt bldgs reealll easy like I lived there then slept in the laundry

good tip if you ever need it btw
winter is cold

 

Yeah, fucking right it's cold.

Our washer works but our dryer doesn't, so I take a freshly washed load to the local coin laundry to dry. The guy who closes knows me, because I'm usually there right around closing time. He told me about a laundry about a couple of miles away that never closes. The owner couldn't get in one time, so he cut the wires to the electric locking mechanism, and it's been that way for 2 years. It's never locked, even after hours. The only difference is that the lights dim. The radio is still blasting away all night long.

I've been going there a lot recently, when I'm late with my loads. Sometimes I'm there at 2 or 3 AM. A couple of times I've found someone sleeping on the countertop, and kind of "tiptoed" around, so as not to disturb their sleep.

Well,,the inevitable happened the other night, after 2 years. I arrived there with a wet load, and found the door locked, and a sign on the door,,"Sorry, Closed".

Sucks for me and the homeless, but I suppose the owner could have been sued if someone got raped, robbed or injured in any way there after hours. Guess I'll just have to adjust my schedule now.

 

Why don't those "desperate" people go to a food bank, or find a way to eat that doesn't involve stealing? There's a huge difference between picking up a loaf of bread from a shelter and scamming a couple of burgers out of a fast food place.

Also, when I go to a job interview I don't have to lie. My resume is pretty impressive and I know how to handle myself in social situations. I've honestly never been turned down for a job. I've only had 3 jobs, but I still think that's a pretty good record.

People make up so many excuses when it comes to stealing... I mean fuck, they took the burgers when there was a more honest route to getting fed. Holy fuck, that sounds pathetic... I feel bad for these people.

 

What's "pathetic" is how people brag about how honest, righteous and holy they are, when they haven't walked in another's shoes. If you haven't been in their specific situation (location, etc.), all you can do is whine, brag, and criticize. You're just pissin' in the wind.

You must work for McDonald's or Burger King.

And you suggest they eat "Wonderbread",,

Here's a fucking gold star, Mr. Wonderful.

 

Bunch o' proud mofos here, bubba.

 

Thanks for the small amount of support I got here, and I assume some are afraid to tell their true thoughts.

yeah I hit a food bank and I have done without. But who really loses when someone that is hungry gets a fast hot food meal once in awhile. I am working now, and believe me bolero, I make more money than you do. Yet I would not begrudge any hungry person a hamburger that has been having tough times. I will buy it for him/her in fact.

So judge me how you want, but I feel good telling someone here that may be hungry how to get something to eat between allowed visits to a food bank.

One more tip... Try to look like you are not living on the streets. That is the key to being able to live the way I am. And that is also the reason I am back in the workforce as well.

 

you and the homeless! ha! ha! do you really think the laundry being closed would be one of the most difficult times in a day of the life of any homeless person.where do you live.disneyland?

 

Roamy, I think he meant it sucked because the homeless that had been sheltering there during the cold nights wouldn't be able to do that anymore.