Panhandling SC's looking for handouts!

[Kitten in the box]

Some of the homeless that frequent our store sometimes panhandle for money (for booze mainly) but when the patrons tell them no they are cool with it. I admit sometimes I give money to these guys (they ALWAYS pay me back) and they don't ask often so I don't trip on it....but to get crazy when someone says no is uncalled for. We had one co-worker punch a homeless guy dead in the nose because he got in his face when the co-worker said No to giving money after the homeless guy got in his face. This guy was warned several times to get out of his face or he would be hit...the homeless guy ended up on the ground with a busted nose. The homeless guy's buddies he was with? Laughed at him and said they told him that he should NOT HAVE gotten into the worker's face. No should have been enough.

[blas]

On my 19th birthday I went to Hennepin Ave in the Twin Cities with a friend to go to a club. There were beggers and panhandlers EVERYWHERE!

Since you cannot smoke in any restaurant there, we were outside smoking when a man came up to me and had a very fake Southern accent and said "Hey ya'lls, I'm from N'Olans, we had that bad bad storm, well I need some money real real bad, do you think you can spare some?"

I immediately had a fear of being mugged since a lot of people nickname that city Murderopolis, so I put my smoke out and ran back into the restaurant. My friend followed.

We watched as that leech took all the half smoked cigg butts out of the ashtray and pocketed them.

I also saw several panhandlers at the airport in Minnesota and in Seattle.

There is always one or two beggers who stand by the Wal-Mart in the big city (not the Wal-Mart I frequent) during the spring, summer and fall nearly every day with a cardboard sign begging for money and a ride.

I wouldn't even give them a second look. I don't know who has a knife and who would kill me for doing a good deed. Too many stories of panhandlers who have stabbed people to death.

[scary cary]

does it make it tacky that i cursed right back at the panhandler who got angry at my trying to give him a sandwich?

[blas]

No. He wasn't hungry or needy. He just wanted booze.

Don't feel bad at all.

And even if he were hungry, he had his priorities really messed up...

[greensinestro]

My grandmother once dealt with a homeless person a few years back. She was in her 80's then, but still would do what she could be help out a person down on their luck.

There is a drawback to this story though. First of all, this woman came walking down her country road and actually approached my grandmother while she was outside tending her garden. She told her this all out sob story, about how her husband just left her, filed a divorce petition with an attorney, but was making her raise their only daughter. The daughter was bipolar, suffered from bouts of depression, had constant mood swings, etc. My grandmother was so touched by this and felt so bad for this lady, she told her, "Well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll put together a few items, such as non-perishable food, then you come back later and I'll give it to you." This woman did not act too elated, but still said it was great that someone would do something like this. Grandma prepared a paper grocery bag full of items, things like dry food, flour, sodas and juice. She then waited for close to six hours and even waited around the next day, yet this woman never appeared again at Grandma's house. It then dawned on her that this woman was not after food or something that would help feed her and this daughter of hers. Instead, she wanted money for whatever unimportant things she wanted, like cigarettes and booze.

Again, I do feel bad for those who are down on their luck, have nothing and at least attempt to make a living. But for those others out there, the ones making a career of panhandling, harassing patrons at stores....those are the ones I do not feel bad for. I find it appalling that those people are making more money than I do, and aren't having to report it to Uncle Sam.

[TNT]

You should all spend a day with me sometime... I live in a tiny, (sometimes) middle class neighborhood, surrounded on four sides by slums. Within my little neighborhood, there's a convenience store for cigarettes and Dutchies, a carry-out beer place that specializes in the cheapest available beer, the YMCA (which has around 100 rooms for single men) and... the Rescue Mission.

Walking three blocks to and from work is always an adventure... people bumming cigarettes, asking for change to buy booze, and trying to sell stuff they've stolen from the convenience store (along with people sleeping in doorways, drug dealers and crackwhores). It's even more fun when I'm carrying beer.

I don't like it... and yet... I can't hate it. Nothing in the world ever prepared me for poverty... but it happened a few years ago. I never expected that there would come a day when I'd get sick, have no money, and no insurance. But, it happened. I'm way too cool to ever be a panhandler, but I'll never refer to that time as "the good old days." Somehow I got through it, though it almost killed me... twice.

So, even I can't totally hate it, it often irritates me that many of the panhandlers I see don't even try (these aren't the pros you read about... these are people who seriously live by bumming enough quarters to buy a 40oz., drinking it, then going out to bum more quarters). I went through hell to get out my situation... I can't believe that there aren't others who can, too (not everybody, of course... but a lot of people).

[blas]

I can relate, TNT.......my old neighborhood was a slum.

If I ever just came back from buying ciggs or groceries in balk, I'd NEVER do it at night and I'd take as much as possible and run upstairs. I always put cigarettes and the like in bags and never smoked outside or gave the impression that I smoked. Too many people walking around the neighborhood would ask for smokes and I was afraid of being jumped.

If someone was buying booze for me, I told them to do get upstairs as fast and possible and don't talk to anyone.

[Dreamstalker]

I like to give people with signs actual food. Like if I see one up the street and I'm hitting a fast food place, I'll by an extra 99c burger or something.

There is one Spare Change paper vendor in the area who my mom and I have known for years. He's a geniunely good guy, but really down on his luck. I'll give him money and if I'm going food shopping anyway will buy him some juice, fruit or a sandwich. I don't have a hell of a lot of money, but he knows I know he truly appreciates what I can spare.

I generally ignore panhandlers, especially the ones who get up in your face (and don't even get me started on the charity-donation scammers...I believe there's a post of mine on the subject around here someplace). I used to know a kid who would go begging in Harvard Square during the summer...he didn't need the money. I'm still trying to figure out if it was some strange social experiment or what.

On the T a few months ago, I witnesed a well-dressed woman board the train at Haymarket, followed quite closely by a scruffy kid. She (the kid) was actually holding the train up while wailing for money. As she was escorted away by transit police, I heard a sob story how she was 6 months pregnant (didn't look it), diabetic and there was a third one that I didn't catch as the doors closed.

[blas]

I was told in the 80s, before there was a huge Wal-Mart in the way nowadays, it used to be all highway and bum egypt in this particular part of town.

A college professor dressed himself like a bum and made a sign asking for food and rides. He would keep tabs on people who would stop to help, people would drive past and laugh, people who swore at him and gave finger gestures, or people who would flat out ignore him.

Why do an experiment like that? And what did he do with the food and money that he was given?

[greensinestro]

A college professor dressed himself like a bum and made a sign asking for food and rides.
Why do an experiment like that? And what did he do with the food and money that he was given?

To answer the first question, maybe he was a part-time professor? And yeah, what did he do with those donations? I hope he gave it to a homeless shelter.

[powerboy]

I very rarely give money out to panhandlers. Mostly because they get in the face of everyone, or they have nicer shoes on, then what I have. About a month ago, someone came up and asked if he could clean my car's windshield, for whatever change I had. I told him yeah, and I gave him $5. You could tell that he was down on his luck, and at least he made an attempt to work for what ever change people had. Until the fast food restaurant told him to leave. I told them off for that. I had to roll up my car window, when this one guy came up and asked for me for some money. Why, did I do that? He was on nice shoes, and he was clean shaven. And was a young guy my age.

Once I was visiting my GF at that time, at College. And I needed change for $1. I asked about 15 people. I got told that I need a job, to go to hell. This one lady gave me the change, and didn't expect the $1. I told them all, what that money was for.

[Tigress]

Good point here. I did not intend to offend anyone as yes, there are those out there down on their luck with nothing but perhaps a shopping cart with all of their belongings and the clothes on their backs.

To clarify, I meant the liquor store panhandler, not you.

[Crazeyal]

Until the fast food restaurant told him to leave. I told them off for that.

Uh.. Methinks you should have kept yer trap shut. I've worked FF, and however hard someone's life may be, it can't be allowed to mess with business. You'll get customers who'll complain to the manager, who'll have to deal with it. You could ALSO get customers who complain to CORPORATE, and shit rolls downhill.

Just because someone is being polite, doesn't mean that customers should be assaulted by beggers. Yeah.. I went there. It's a captive audience, customers can't get out of line because they'll lose their spot. It's ALSO a liability issue. People can't be on foot in a drive-through.

You owe those workers an apology.

[Tigress]

One of the weirdest panhandling stories I had was one day when my husband and I went to Wal-Mart late at night to pick up a few things. As we were leaving, we passed a few guys hanging out near one of the exits. One of them waited until we were already halfway to our car before shouting out to us and asking if we could give him a quarter.

Sure, dude, we'll walk all the way back over there just to give you a quarter.

I think the most pathetic panhandler is a girl that hangs out at my local gaming shop. Very few people can stand her, mostly because she brags about being a gaming "expert" and has a really crappy attitude. A few months ago, she was walking around the store asking for money to cover her entry fee for the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament. The problem is she has a kid less than a year old and another on the way. She didn't get any money that day.

Really, though. If you have two kids and need to borrow money for a $5 tournament fee, you probably shouldn't be playing. Especially when you keep whining about how you have no money because of those two kids.

[CrazedClerk]

My aunt loves to tell me a story about a homeless man she saw in town one day.

He was looking for money, doing the paper cup thing and my aunt, feeling sorry for him, offered to buy him lunch.

He refused.

Interesting story Powerboy, I had a similar experience but I think appearance counts for something. I'd gone away for the weekend and I stupidly left my wallet in a cab by mistake and it was stolen. I still had my bus ticket "home" but in this case "home" was a bigger city next to the small city where I lived. So when I got to the big city, I was $ 0.50 short for bus fare (my wallet was gone but I still had some pocket change) for a bus that would take me home to my small little burgh.

I felt AWFUL having to wander around that bus station asking people for change, but most were courteous enough and eventually one lady (bless her soul) gave me the change I needed to make it back. However, I didn't LOOK like a bum. I had clean, non ripped clothes on and was clean shaven save for my beard. I bet if I'd looked more bedraggled I'd have gotten nastier responses.

Some homeless people I feel bad for, because they are good people who just hit a wrong turn or caught a bad break (lost job). Others, I could care less about and would mind it much if they just up and disappeared.