Homeless people / panhandlers

[billygrippo]

[octopi]

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Ditto. I also hold conversations with them as well. You'd be amazed at the interesting stories hobos have about their past. Some of them are legitimate.

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On a recent trip to Hawaii, my family was staying on the secluded west coast of Oahu, in a pretty poor area, with some extremely expensive beachfront homes. It was a weird mix of super rich Californians with second homes and transients from the mainland and the island, living in their cars and tents on the beaches. The police would round them up occasionally, but mostly were happy they were in this quiet area, away from the tourists.

One day, on the private beach near our place, we were watching the turtles feed in the morning. Out of the bushes, this leathery skinned, long haired, no shirt wearing dude came up to us. His name was Paul, and he was swigging something out of a canteen. An ivory medallion carved into an octopus was dangling from his neck, nestled into his greasy chest hair. I got the impression he might have been homeless, but we were a bit far from "tent town".

Anyhow, he had a cell phone, sores on his back, and was a war vet. He saved up money to move to Hawaii, and lived in a van. Down by the ocean.

He said it was a fairly good life, you just had to avoid methheads and leave your windows open to keep people from breaking them. He didn't really foresee ever moving back and just scraped by eating Spam and beans a lot. He told us stories of whales, seals and turtles. A really nice guy, if slightly creepy due to the sores. [img]/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

[dlk9s]

I "fell" for the gas money thing in the Rio parking lot during the WSOP. Thing is, the lady was in her car with a couple kids and she really was low on gas. I just decided to give her $5 in case she was really telling the truth. Hell, that's only 20 BB's for me.

A few years ago, my wife and I were walking from our car to a restaurant when a guy stopped us asking for directions to the nearest subway station. He looked innocent enough, didn't "look" homeless. As I began to point him in the right direction, he actually got on his knees and begged me for money. I was stunned. I told him there was no need for that and that he could stand up. I gave him a few singles.

Final quick story. A popular sports radio host here in Atlanta recounted a time he ran into a homeless guy after picking up a couple sandwiches from Subway. He was in his car at a light and the guy had a sign which read, "Need money for food." The radio host decided to give him one of the sandwiches, but when he handed it to him, the guy said, "No, I want money."

At that, the offer for the sandwich was rescinded.

[kipin]

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I like the challenge of trying to knock a panhandler out of their grind, of getting them to see me as an agent, and of (correctly) getting them to see me as someone who sees them as an agent.

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[Reef]

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Also, on a completely different night there was a group of chicks from school in line who saw me and so as they were trying to infiltrate my group the dude came over and started like giving me tips on how to have sex with the girls...while they were standing there. Pretty awesome! He was saying stuff like "you gotta buy these bitches drinks for tha pussy...my man....hey bitches, you thirsty?"

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lol awesome

[fluffpop62]

Front page of hte LA Times "local" section today was an article about a homeless woman intentionally burned to death over a $150 drug debt. The article does mention how rarely homeless deaths are covered by the media. . .sad sad story what with ms. smith being a 3min30sec news story, the iraq war 14 seconds, and the death of "Jilly" (said homelesswoman) relegated only to the papers

edit:
earlier post mentioned radio host who's sandwich offer was rescinded; I was driving after stocking up on premade salads, snack bars, bottled waters, diet sodas and diet juices using meal plans at school, so they were still in the trunk (it was about to be thanksgiving day weekend and everyone was going out of town and i didn't want to get scurvy). i pulled over at a stoplight and went to my trunkn and give the homeless man on the corner by the mall a salad with a fork, a powerbar and a couple bottles of water, and i was walkin gback to my car when i remembered a story i had heard earlier*. I walked back and asked if he would actually eat that, or if he'd prefer more powerbars or something like htat. he said he'd much prefer the powerbars and the salad would probably go to waste. sooo he had graciously accepted teh salad from me, but was honest in asking for what he wanted; i gave him all my powerbars and i hope that he ate them!

*the story was that homeless people who are handed apples and other crunchy foods like htat can't eat them because theri teeth are weak and rotting; they aren't trying to be rude when they refuse the food but they don't wnat it to go to waste either.

[ozyman]

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Does anyone know this one guy in NYC subway who has horrible chemical burns all over his face; I think he works the 4 or 5 lines, I sometimes see him when I ride to school in the afternoon. His face is very disfigured and not easy to look at… he walks around carrying posters with explanation of what chemical burns are, with some illustrations. He just basically comes in says something like , "Hi I have chemical burns, please give me money" and because he looks so disfigured plenty of people just give him money. His face is pretty bad, but he walks around in normal clothing and doesn’t seem very broke. I've seen him several times and never once gave any money, there is just something about him which just prevents me from giving him a buck and I give money from time to time to people asking for money. He probably must make a ridiculous amount of money because every time I've seen him like at least 5 people per subway cart give him a buck.

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I saw that guy on the 4/5 about 2 months ago. He definetly cleans up, I ususally don't give money but he got a dollar from me and at least 6 or 7 from other people in the same car from about a 2 minute walk through.

[ReDeYES88]

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Short and sweet:

Guy walks up to me in a Deli on 92nd and 1st and says to me, "What's the greatest nation in the World?"

At this point I have no idea the guy is even looking for money and I'm somewhat taken aback that a stranger is asking me a random question like this out of the blue. After a short pause I manage to confusedly mumble "I don't know" while shrugging my shoulders and turning my palms up towards the sky.

He then sticks his hand straight out and proudly shouts "DO-NATION!" as a huge smile comes over his face.

I gave him nothing, just like I always do, but it did make me chuckle as I was walking away.

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you should have pulled a rubber out of your wallet, slapped it into his hand, and said "CONDOM-NATION!!!".

[NajdorfDefense]

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The radio host decided to give him one of the sandwiches, but when he handed it to him, the guy said, "No, I want money."

At that, the offer for the sandwich was rescinded.

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This has happened to me a few times, they don't get squat after that.

[NewTeaBag]

MY Personal fav:

Back in 94', I brouht my Ohio GF back to visit my familia in NYC. I took her for a wander about manhattan and at lunch time we had settled onto some benches by the fountains in the middle of the WTC concourse/courtyard. Mid-sandwich, a black dude wanders up with a big smile and asks "Would you like to donate to the United Negro Pastrami Sandwich fund?" Both my gf and I laughed so hard I gave em a fiver.