Homeless people / panhandlers

[BigPoppa]

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My favorite panhandler con is probably the "car ran out of gas" and now I'm stranded, just need a few bucks for gas one.

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Ask to see car + keys + ID showing address = Bum leaves

I never give anyone money, ever. If they just ask me for "spare change", I tell them the truth: [ QUOTE ]
I can't help you

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If they ask for money for a specific reason, then I may respond differently. I've bought many sandwiches and paid a few fares on the El when I lived in Chicago.

Classic watching people insist that you give them the dollar rather than paying their fare; also get guys insisting they want money for food later rather than a sandwich right now.

[WittyName26]

once upon a time after i flopped quads vs. aces full at harrahs new orleans in a 10-25NL game and won the biggest pot of my life(up to that point, $9200), i gave a bum a benjamin on my way out of the parking garage...he was like "wtf?! god bless you!"...always wondered what he did with that hundred bucks...i'm sure he would have a great trip report for that night...should have made him fight another bum for the benji...oh well, there's always next time...

[HeavilyArmed]

I give zero to individuals and lavishly to the Salvation Army. IMO this is ten or a hundred times as effective.

[Stuey]

This thread reminds me of the tipping thread.

Some like to tell everyone else how they do it. Why? Is there a right way? A wrong way? Unlikely if you ask me.

Some like to give reasons for why they do it. Why? Does the act of giving require a motive? I really wish I could say no.

Some seem to just like to tell others they do it? Why? Clearly extracting some value from what they perceive as a loss of sorts on their part. eeeewwwww

Some just like to control the details under which they are willing to give. Why? Are we so sure we are judging these situations properly or do we just like to judge? It all seems so ugly to me.

Now wait.

Why would I think these things and why would I dislike them so much? Because I am also guilty of them. Is there no hope for any of us? I can't remember the last time I truly gave without a motive to a stranger. I am not even sure how to do it for that matter.

Anyways I am not trying to judge everyone here but I would be interested to hear if anyone agrees with me. I feel like I might be the only one to think this.

[CORed]

I don't usually give anything to panhandlers, unless they seem to be genuinely in dire need. The young, able-bodied, well dressed, clean folks holding up cardboard signs at freeway off rams never get a penny form me.

[FoxwoodsFiend]

I think giving money to homeless people when you could give that money to an organization like oxfam and save many more lives with it is pretty immoral. Yeah, it's hard to decline a person whose plight you see and you feel better when you see where your money is going but at the end of the day that's just a selfish motivation. Take every quarter you thought of giving to a homeless person, put it in a jar, and donate the contents of the jar to Oxfam if you really want to help people in need.

Also, on a different note I've always felt that homeless people dehumanize me in a way. For the most part, they just see me as a quarter machine. Obviously I don't blame them for not giving a crap about me as they have their own issues to deal with but I've always felt bothered by the fact that your worth to a homeless person is really only as much change as you're willing to give at the moment. Is this a weird thing to think?

[TyFuji]

Foxwoods (Ariel? I met you once I think),
I agree with you that it is much better to give to a perutable organization. At the same time, there are situations where an immediate hot meal has more value than a few dollars donated. Also, giving food or a blanket or even a cigarette decreases the dehumanizing element that you referred to.

[tuq]

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Ugly:
Last December, my wife and I were gassing up the rental before leaving the Phoenix area...the neighborhood around the rental car center is a little sketchy, and I saw a disheveled looking guy approach one of the other cars.

He then came over to where I was pumping gas, and was holding a small stack of free newspapers and mumbling semi-incoherently about how he needed money to "fix his arm". He rolls up his right sleeve to reveal, well, it there was a picture, it might be NSFW...from about mid-forearm to elbow was a huge, running sore. I was seriously nauseated, shook my head no, and thankfully he wandered off.

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Not sure if you'll see this since you posted it a couple of days ago, but was he a lean Hispanic guy, maybe around 40-45 years old? That's going from memory, may be a bit off.

Anyway, not far from the airport is an AM/PM I used to frequent (32nd St. & Oak for you locals...I quit going there because it seemed every time I went there a panhandler was working the parking lot, I'd rather pay more and go to the Mobil a couple of miles north). One time I was approached by the guy I described above who promptly lifted up his arm to display a rectangular chunk of his skin that had apparently been cut out. It probably ran 1/4 inch deep, maybe to the bone. He muttered something about needing help for his arm. I was so disturbed by this development that I basically told the guy "gross man...no" and waved him off.

It reminded me that dealing with the homeless is like poker - aggression gets rewarded. About ten years ago a couple of friends and I were walking in Downtown Seattle when we came upon a gaggle of homeless people. Two were fighting over a bike loudly and incoherently - it sounded more like cavemen grunting. A friend of mine, a kid with loaded parents who didn't hold a job until he was nearly forty, decided to test this out. He walked over to them, pointed at one and yelled "STOP IT"! He then instructed one of the homeless guys to walk away. The guy grunted at him a few times, trying to express that he was the victim and not the oppressor. My friend wasn't having any of it and kept insisting that he had to leave. Finally the guy did...he shuffled down the street and around the corner. It was probably a dick move done for his own perverse amusement, but it was interesting to watch.

[OrangeCat]

I live/work downtown and pass 6 or 7 panhandlers a day. Once a month I randomly give somebody a 10 and it makes their day. The rest of the time I completely ignore them.

[FoxwoodsFiend]

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there are situations where an immediate hot meal has more value than a few dollars donated

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considering that you can save an african child's life for 30 cents a month, this is almost definitely false.