Give them an inch...

[Tyrnn]

... and they'll rob you of $10.

I was coming home and needed to fuel up at the gas station. An elderly man with a white goatee approached me and asked for some change for gas. Being the kind of person I used to be, I said it would be no problem and he could run a couple dollars' worth of gas on my debit card to see him through the night.

I used to be a nice guy, I used to be the type who wouldn't mind sparing a couple dollars for someone to get by. As I ran my card and got things set up, he asked for five dollars' worth of gas. I considered him to be a rational human being, so I agreed. Therein was my flaw.

He was a deep, apathetic, void of empathy and human soul.

I watched him blow past $5 without stopping. He had the gall to say that "I had done something wrong" and he wouldn't listen to me telling him to stop, that wasn't how it worked. His partner in the truck yelled at him, and he said "Don't worry, he said I could have $10". I had said no such thing! I was of course, stunned into a stupor as he calmly kept chugging my bank account for $10 worth of gas, despite my protests and shocked looks. I am a nice person. I cannot believe that ANYONE would brazenly talk sugared vomit through their mouths and claim lies and steal money like this, but there he was, smiling and shaking my hand and thanking me for the $10 worth of gas that he had just stolen from me.

What hurts me the most about this sort of sheer lunacy is that it doesn't just affect me. It affects all the legitimately needful people who I see on the side of the road with "NEED FOOD" signs, "Hungry, need work". Because of this foul excuse for a human being tonight... I will be second guessing them for a long time.

[xxscooterxx]

That happened to my manager the other day. She told someone that they could have a few dollars for gas and they pumped over ten. Ive become the hateful bitch behind the counter that wont even give them 12 cents.

[Captain Trips]

That's why I don't give to people with "homeless" signs - some of them make more per year than me, and they don't pay income tax on it, either.

[Seanette]

I lost a lot of willingness to do handouts the time my husband and a friend of ours got cussed out by someone claiming to be hungry when they gave her food instead of cash.

I do my giving through organizations I can count on to actually be HELPING, not just enabling scams and addiction.

[mjr]

That's why I don't give to people with "homeless" signs - some of them make more per year than me, and they don't pay income tax on it, either.

I saw a story like this once. Some dude pulled in close to $100,000 per year or so just panhandling. The dude drove a Mercedes and had a NICE house, too. At least I think that's how it went.

Another one I saw somewhere (this was several years back) had a guy panhandling (and making good money at it) just on weekends. He had a regular job during the week, and it paid well, so he was just doing it to "supplement".

[mjr]

I lost a lot of willingness to do handouts the time my husband and a friend of ours got cussed out by someone claiming to be hungry when they gave her food instead of cash.

Maybe it was food she didn't like.

In all seriousness, though, I could see that happening. They ask you for money for food, you actually buy them food, and they cuss at you. Because they didn't really want the food. They wanted the money.

Just the other day, a co-worker of mine and I were eating lunch at a restaurant. We'd passed this one lady on the street, as we were walking down to the restaurant. She actually comes into the restaurant, and starts walking around asking people if they will buy her food for her and her daughter.

It made me and my co-worker very uncomfortable.

Then, after lunch, we decided to walk back to the office on the other side of the block (basically U-turn around the buildings). As we walked back, we walked by a guy who asked us for thirty cents.

But you're absolutely right. Because there are so many who do this to scam people, it makes one reluctant to actually hand out money.

[Jetfire]

Ugh, the gall of that guy. About the only way I'd give a stranger money for gas, would be by going in to the cash and asking them to put 5$ (or whatever amount I'm donating) on their pump as a prepay so they wouldn't be able to go beyond that.

No way would I pay at the pump for them, even if it had preauthorized amounts; I'd be too paranoid about my PIN to do that with them hovering around.

[raudf]

If I had the money to help out a person needing gas, I'd go into the station and prepay for their pump. If they threw a fit for my doing it that way, it'd be no gas for them.

I once saw a panhandler asking for a tent, not money. If I hadn't lived so far out of town, I'd have given her one. It was autumn and she wanted shelter for her and her two (well fed, even if she didn't look it) dogs.

[Evannah]

Wow! That's really shitty! :/

[wagegoth]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had his own version of this tale:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man...he_Twisted_Lip

I do give out some money to beggars, but I've quit giving any money to anyone with a sob story.

[Barracuda]

I have actually helped people out, myself, but it was people who looked like they needed it and didn't actually ask for it. Once I was at the grocery store with my EBT card and passed a girl in the parking lot who was trying to sell plastic roses with perfume on them. I refused and drove off, but my conscience starting bothering me, so I drove back and asked her why she was doing that. She said she was trying to get money for groceries. I took her inside and bought her several days' groceries with my EBT card for her and her family, and I've never regretted doing it. I also saw an obviously homeless guy digging through trash at a fast food place, and was going to buy him a burger, but he moved off before I could let him know. Most of the time you have to find people genuinely in need yourself; most of the panhandlers on the corners aren't really in need.

[MelindaJoy77]

I never give anything to panhandlers; in the 7 years that I've lived where I live, most of them have been on various street corners every day the entire time. Many of them are scammers. The city keeps passing bans for panhandling on certain street corners, but then they just move to different corners. There's always someone on the corner coming into Hellmart. I have actually seen one of them a few times come in and buy food, but he's still there on the corner...

[Monterey Jack]

I have actually helped people out, myself, but it was people who looked like they needed it and didn't actually ask for it. Once I was at the grocery store with my EBT card and passed a girl in the parking lot who was trying to sell plastic roses with perfume on them. I refused and drove off, but my conscience starting bothering me, so I drove back and asked her why she was doing that. She said she was trying to get money for groceries.

Wait...she could afford plastic roses with perfume on them, but not food?

[Ophbalance]

I've only twice had people use their kids to help beg. Several years ago a dad was dragging behind a toddler with the "just need some gas money" bit. I really just wanted them to go away so I kicked them the $5 I had on me. Truly, I felt bad that the lessons being learned by that toddler are going to screw him up for life.

Second time happened just this past week. I rolled out of a Food Kity near the office carrying my next two weeks lunch. I saw a rail thin miss (maybe 30s?) almost running with a stroller bearing a youngling. I'd guess the wee one was not quite a one year old. I crossed over to the other side of the lane in the lot (on foot) but she angled in to intercept. Given the fact that she was rail thin, and the "I'm going to kill you" eyes, plus the unwillingness to look directly at me... I guessed where this was going before she got her roll on.

She blurted words in my direction. I honestly didn't catch it, but just returned with "sorry, I don't have any money". I didn't get past "sorry..." before she started her mad dash to another poor soul that had just exited her car.

Look, I don't care if you beg. But please leave the kids out of it... oy.

[Monterey Jack]

Look, I don't care if you beg. But please leave the kids out of it... oy.

Sadly, this will never happen, because these scam artists know that using their kid as sympathy-generating prop is more likely to get them money.