Homeless people / panhandlers

[El Diablo]

All,

Also, having a clipboard to take a survey of some sort or gather information while soliciting donations is a pretty sweet panhandling prop.

[CharlieDontSurf]

I've never understood why these bums simply don't go and pay 50c grab all the local newspapers/usatoday etc and then stand and sell them at a stop light with a sign saying newspapers only $1...anything extra would be well appreciated.

[Hamish McBagpipe]

Bit more serious. I expected someone in Toronto to have remarked on this story but I saw the thread just got bumped. Guy got stabbed to death last week for refusing to give change.


cbc toronto story

Looks like they will finally crack down on panhandlers in this city which is crawling with them. You have to goose-step over the outstretched legs in parts of this city and it has been that way since I came here in the early 90s. A real eyesore on an otherwise great city. We're too soft.


They've since charged a woman with murder and charges pending on two men I think.

[Shoe]

[ QUOTE ]
I'd never seen a homeless person before I went to USA when I was 10 for a holiday, I was pretty freaked out about how many there were. In San Francisco some a guy dressed as a lady came into the pizza shop we were eating at like 10 at night and had some story about having a job interview, it didn't make a lot of sense but he/she was amusing so my mum gave him 10 or 20 bucks something ridiculously large enough that the pizza guy told her off.

[/ QUOTE ]

A lot of them aren't even homeless. They just try to appear that way because the can make more money begging than they can at any job they can get.

[blutarski]

1. I was visiting my then girlfriend, now wife in Richmond, and I was looking for a place to get a pizza while she was at work. I didn't know the city at all, so I just drive downtown and stop at the first place I see. I get out of the car and everyone realizes I'm the only white guy in a three block radius. 'Homeless' people were literally running from down the block and across the street, waving at me to stop. I got my pizza and jetted. I hate Richmond.

2. I work with people who have developmental disabilities. One guy I work with keeps isn't homeless, but he keeps losing his job, then doesn't have money to buy the 3 packs of cigarettes he smokes a day. He calls me once a week and says that he either panhandled for money or knows that he's going to, and he can't help it, like he's addicted to begging. NOTE: Most people with developmental disabilities don't panhandle and aren't homeless.

[ChicagoTroy]

[ QUOTE ]
All,

Someone tried this one the other day, and neither of the two friends with me had any clue what was going on. So, just curious if you guys are familiar with this.

Walking down the street, guy gets my attention, then shows me a handful of change including maybe 8 quarters and asks me "Hey, any chance you have a dollar you could trade me for four quarters? I don't want anything, just want to change my quarters for bills."

Just curious if EDF posters are savvy to this one.

[/ QUOTE ]
Don't know if it's the same thing, but I've had a guy ask me for a "solid dollar" while holding change in his hand. When the buck comes out he explains he doesn't want to exchange, he needs it for the bus.

[tsearcher]

[ QUOTE ]
I've never understood why these bums simply don't go and pay 50c grab all the local newspapers/usatoday etc and then stand and sell them at a stop light with a sign saying newspapers only $1...anything extra would be well appreciated.

[/ QUOTE ]

They do it all the time. Just sell it at face price though.

[Outlaw4033]

[ QUOTE ]
In Houston, near the medical center, the scam always involved gas or bus fare back home after coming there to visit some sick relatives in the hospital.

[/ QUOTE ]

I live in Houston and spend most Thursday-Saturday nights downtown/midtown and this one is still really popular.

If you hang out a lot near bars/clubs in Houston you'll get the homeless guy who offers to 'protect' your car from the other homeless guys. I always got a kick out of that one.

[El Diablo]

CT,

Yes, a variation of the same thing.

The "can I change this for a bill" is classic sales technique.

It often gets people to:

a) engage rather than brush off
b) say yes
c) reveal that they do actually have a dollar

The same guy asking for change is often brushed off immediately with a "sorry, not today" or just ignored.

But if he asks a differnet question, he is much more likely to get the person to actually respond. That's step one, get them hooked.

OK, now he explains to the person that he just wants to exchange the quarters. At this point, a lot of people will say YES, getting them in that mindset.

Now, third step, guy pulls out a dollar. Compare this to the many times people say "no, sorry, no change" even if they have change on them.

At this point, the guy says, great, thanks. And follows it with something like, hey man actually I need 1.50 for the bus, any way I could get you to give me the dollar for fifty cents? Many people find it very hard to say no having gotten to this point, from which it is an easy step to just ask for the whole dollar.

[miajag]

[ QUOTE ]
J,

Somewhat amusing "gas money" story. Guy in Safeway parking lot approaches me, needing money for gas, stranded here w/ family, etc from someplace 100 miles away or so. I ask him where car is. He tells me, stalled on freeway half mile or so away. I tell him I'll fill a container full of gas and drive him there, he says no need, I offer again, he wants cash, I laugh him off, he says something about what a jerk I am for not helping his stranded family.

Next night I am coming out of a bar around closing time. The SAME GUY approaches me and starts talking about how he is stranded a few blocks away. I then tell the guy it must suck really bad to have run out of gas like that two days in a row. Guy does a double take and then starts walking away, but I (drunk) follow him asking him questions. Finally he is like, OK man, yeah I'm not stuck I'm just lying to get some money, please give me a break so I can talk to some people before everyone is gone. I laughed and took off.

In Houston, near the medical center, the scam always involved gas or bus fare back home after coming there to visit some sick relatives in the hospital.

[/ QUOTE ]

There was a girl who used to pull a similar scam outside Penn Station in Baltimore, saying she needed $12 more or whatever for her train ticket. It was kinda weird, because she was this semi-cute white girl, nicely dressed, but with sunken eyes and obvious needle tracks all up and down her arms. The first time I ran into her walking home from school I just gave her my usual "Sorry, don't have any cash, can't help" spiel, but then the very next day she stopped me and gave the same story. I stared at her for a second and said "You said the exact same thing yesterday!" She avoided me from that point on, but she continued to troll around that area for the next couple months.