Ol' Homeless Bob

[Gurndigarn]

You could've knocked me over with a feather the time I handed a guy my lunch and he profusedly and sincerely thanked me. He said "I am hungry, can you give me some money to buy some food?" I happened to be holding a bag lunch, which I handed him. I was quite shocked when he thanked me and seemed sincere. That sort of thing usually gets you sneered at.

My father was in charge of our local church for a while. He said that he semi-regularly got calls asking for assistance. His response was "We have <local welfare project> that needs help, it pays <not much more than minimum, but enough to cover short-term issues>, paid in cash at the end of the day, we can have a ride availible for you tomorrow morning if you want."

One, maybe two takers on it per year. But those people were grateful for it. Most of the rest responded with something like "Work? You want me to work for money?", followed by a quick hang up.

[Boozy]

I was walking down the street with my brother and one of our friends. A homeless guy asks for spare change. My brother hands him a five. As we're walking away, our friend says, "Why did you do that? He's just gonna blow it on booze and drugs." To which my brother replied, "So? That's what WE were gonna spend it on."

[zzapp the witch]

Out here in the boonysticks we've got Hank. Hank's a sweetie, kind of a shy guy. He rides his bicycle over 50 miles a day, picking up cans and bottles. He even picks up kid toys and put up a lost and found sign at the local store. My bf didn't know what to think of him at first, and was especially worried cause he was living in a trailer in the front yard of our very elderly neighbors, but a few thinly veiled threats later, we figured he was a good guy. And his actions show it. He does yard work for the neighbors and winter outside chores in exchange for a roof over his head. He's very clean, and very industrious.

What struck me when I first met him is that he's afraid to come inside. Took me 10 whole minutes and a bribe of coffee to get him to sit down in the kitchen and chat while the bf took his bike apart in the living room to start fixing it. (Its got well over 50,000 miles on it). He doesn't know what to think about all my kids liking him and waving at him when he goes by.

Its sad that he's so jumpy, he actually has people TRY to run him over. I've actually stopped a potential fight. Hank got cornered by 3 of our good ol' boys out here, they were pushing him around and just being general shitheads. I sized it up and had my 3 yr old daughter run over to give Hank a hug. So she does, grabs both of his legs and hollers up at him, "Hi Hank, its me, Cricket!" He picks her up and smiles at her, turning away from the guys in a slightly defensive way. I march up with a smile and address all three of the boys in turn, and then introduce Hank to them (I knew their dads, who Hank had worked with at the sawmill years ago), "This is so and so's son, and this is so and so's son, and this is so and so's son."

When Hank confirmed that he knew all of their fathers, and their mothers, too, these kids jaws dropped and they quickly made excuses to get out of there.

Hank's a good guy, but there's the flip side, too.

In Eugene, a couple hours away from me, I and the bf have spotted more than one begger that, at the end of their "shift" of sign holding, would walk around the corner and hop into a brand new car, think Beemer. So I've been disenchanted to the point that I'll only help you if you're hungry (in the form of food) or if you're willing to work, or if I know your story and I know its the truth.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

We have two in our area that are know as either "The Brothers" or Pete and Repete. They are not homeless, but they are two mentally handicap brothers that walk everywhere. You always see one walking in front of the other through out town with the one in front having a bag of some kind of chips. That was until this past fall. Someone thought it would be fun to run one of them down with his car. Now you see them going through town, one in a wheelchair holding the bag of chips and the other pushing him.

[Getoutofmylobby]

"Hey buddy, is that a kielbasa in your pants or are you just happy to see me?"

seconded.


Here my feel good story: Mrs Getoutofmylobby and I were leaving a Rams game one night when a homeless woman noticed my wife smoking and asked us for one. My wife handed her her last unopened pack.

Not of the caliber of IMAPseudonym's story, but any smokers reading this will understand.

[Plaidman]

Just about every homeless person who has gone to our store has been kicked out for repeated or excsessive theft. This one small elder lady, who's husband was just kicked out for stealing soup has been on watch, but hasn't stolen anything. Other then her begs of selling her beer, (We're not allowed to by company polcey to sell to street drinkers), she has been cool.


Anyway, I get off work and since i have to walk, I put my check in my backpocket. Its been signed, and I just need to go by the bank. Mind you htis is overtime and seven day paycheck, so its about 700 dollars for two weeks.


I get to the bank, and my check is GONE. I panic. I backtrack all the way back to work, where my boss told me this.

The short homeless lady brought it. She said I must have dropped it.

O_O took me by surprise, so I bought her cigs, and have been taken more cans then I can leagally take. I still won't sell her beer though so meh.

[acidtrunks]

We have two in our area that are know as either "The Brothers" or Pete and Repete. They are not homeless, but they are two mentally handicap brothers that walk everywhere. You always see one walking in front of the other through out town with the one in front having a bag of some kind of chips. That was until this past fall. Someone thought it would be fun to run one of them down with his car. Now you see them going through town, one in a wheelchair holding the bag of chips and the other pushing him.

i sincerly hope that there was no humor involved,because that is not funny

[RecoveringKinkoid]

While I find the vast majority of panhandlers to be annoying people, I have been reading a lot in the news about them and homeless people being beaten and sometimes even killed by teenage boys. This is absolutley horrific. I wonder if zzapp the witch didn't diffuse one such situation.

[Rapscallion]

i sincerly hope that there was no humor involved,because that is not funny

I suspect not. It rather came across as sounding sad, to me.

Rapscallion

[FormerCallingCardRep]

There are those of us in town that are just waiting for the trial. We hope the punk that ran him down gets what he deserves. My oldest daughter said that if they see them near the High School at lunch time on Fridays they by them each a piece of pizza.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, with the exception of being someone's old lady in prison, he probably WON'T get what he deserves. Because he will still be able to walk.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

On the way to school this morning my Daughter saw them heading to their favorate bakery. She asked me for an extra $2.00 so she could get them both a slice of Pizza and a drink at lunch. There is a church down the street from the school that offers pizza and pop to the kids on Fridays. For a slice of pizza and a can of pop it is only $1.00 SHe gets together with a group of friends and they usually buy two whole pizzas and pop for everyone. They try to make sure that "The Brothers" get some pizza too.

[JustaCashier]

I don't suppose you're proud of your daughter, are ya FCCR?

To DaughterofFCCR and friends,

I know, that despite all that we see and hear on the News, there are good young people out there. This just reinforces it!

Mike

[FormerCallingCardRep]

She told me last night that when they came out with the pizza to give then that "The Brothers" thanked them for being so kind to them. She asked the one how he was healing and found out that the reason they were always near the high school on Fridays during her lunch is he has PT at the outpatient clinic across the street from the school and gets out at the same time they have lunch.

There are several of us parents that are proud that our children have started looking out for them. If we can teach the young to respect them then maybe they can teach the adults that they come in contact with.

[tollbaby]

When I was 17-18, I was living on the streets. Literally sleeping on park benches living on the streets. Thing is, I was also trying to finish high school. So one day I'm sitting in the doorway to the abandoned pub on a pretty busy main street, doing my homework (the library wouldn't let me stay, because this little old blue-haired lady found me offensive)... this woman walked by and offered me a $5 bill.... I said "Ma'am, thank you, but I'm not a panhandler, I'm just doing my homework" and smiled at her. She said she'd seen me there several days in a row and asked where I lived... I kind of looked sheepish and said "err... near here"... woman walks away.

She came back ten minutes later with a box in her hand. She had gone to the little pizza shop on the corner and bought me a pizza! I was absolutely speechless. It was one of the few acts of decency I had been on the receiving end of during that really weird and dark time in my life. Today, I won't give panhandlers money (I know for a fact that the ones here in town use the money for smokes, booze or drugs), but if there's a food venue nearby, I'll buy them something to eat.