Homeless people / panhandlers

[El Diablo]

Feel free to talk about either interesting/funny stories, or your personal philosophy re: this.

I generally have a rule that is if the person entertains me, makes me laugh, or provides information, I give them a buck or two. Occassionally I'll give more.

Guys playing music that I enjoy do well from me. Guys with actual funny jokes.

People who just stick out their hand usually don't get money unless I'm feeling particularly sad.

The younger and more able-bodied you are, the less chance you'll get any money.

If you're injured or clearly in bad shape, better chance.

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. I have a few good stories to tell about that one. That's one of the few I've heard in multiple cities.

[Hobbs.]

There is panhandler in harvard square that often stands outside of the CVS opening the door and cracking jokes to people while asking for change. He struck me as one of the most affable bums in the area and I often gave him change over others just because he often put me in a good mood. Well one day I'm walking out of CVS and he asks some kid walking down the street for change and the kid says no but he'll give a loaf of bread the he has so the bum can eat. Well in response the bum says 'no, it's ok I have plenty of food at home'

[kidcolin]

"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."

I fell for a variation of that in Boston a few years ago. Standard "I need thirteen", you give him thirteen, and he then looks stunned and says, "I said I need thirty", or other similar sounding combos. I felt like such a dummy.

I generally don't give much, except under special circumstances (either how I'm feeling or they do something unique). The one exception is subway musicians.. I generally give a buck or two to them when they're good.

Some bums used to hang out in Kenmore Sq., right across from a Campus Convenience store that I knew gave away muffins and such at the end of the night, so sometimes I'd grab a couple of those and bring them over.

[TyFuji]

I have heard lots of crazy stories about "homeless" beggars refusing food and drink, etc. I try to offer food whenever I can but I never give money, as a policy. I think it's foolish to give money when they clearly do not know how to use it...

[nyc999]

There's a guy on the N train in NY who is in pretty bad shape - missing a lot of teeth and a few fingers. But he comes into each subway car and says "Give me a dollar or give me a smile." and proceeds to make each person on the train smile. I'm a sucker and always give him money...he must walk out of each car with 5 - 10 bucks.

[TiK]

[ QUOTE ]
Feel free to talk about either interesting/funny stories, or your personal philosophy re: this.

I generally have a rule that is if the person entertains me, makes me laugh, or provides information, I give them a buck or two. Occassionally I'll give more.

Guys playing music that I enjoy do well from me. Guys with actual funny jokes.

People who just stick out their hand usually don't get money unless I'm feeling particularly sad.

The younger and more able-bodied you are, the less chance you'll get any money.

If you're injured or clearly in bad shape, better chance.

[/ QUOTE ]

This pretty much sums it up for how it works for me as well.

What amounts do you usually give (not asking to get into a pissing contest, just out of curiosity)? I think the most I usually give a musician performing on the subway is about $5. When I do give to the homeless, it's usually a buck, except during colder weather seasons, I give more, maxing out at $5. On rare occasions, I will give more, but the max I've ever given was $10. This guy was playing some mean blues at the Union Square L station and I sat there listening to him for about 30 minutes and missed multiple trains, so I definitely got my money's worth.

[TiK]

[ QUOTE ]
There's a guy on the N train in NY who is in pretty bad shape - missing a lot of teeth and a few fingers. But he comes into each subway car and says "Give me a dollar or give me a smile." and proceeds to make each person on the train smile. I'm a sucker and always give him money...he must walk out of each car with 5 - 10 bucks.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know exactly who you're talking about. I usually give him a buck since he's always smiling and getting people to smile.

[offTopic]

I very rarely give money.

Good:
Generally, the musicians I've seen don't strike me as homeless. That said, I saw a guy in Venice (CA) that was playing the bass and the bass drum with his feet, a snare drum with a stick tethered to his elbow, and the saxophone. He got a buck or two.

Bad:
The "out of gas"/"need money for the bus" one just bugs me. I never give anything.

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.

Honorable Mention for Funny:
Several years ago, I'm visiting an old college roomie at his place in the Haight. I can't find a parking spot for love or money. After driving around in circles for almost an hour, I finally get a spot, and as I'm walking towards his apt, there's a homeless woman sitting on a couch on the sidewalk. This couch is quite possibly the nastiest, most vile piece of furniture I've ever seen. As I walk up to her, she says, "Wanna buy a couch?"

[ChicagoTroy]

"Spare any change?"

"Change comes from within."

My philosophy is people who give cash to panhandlers are prolonging their homelessness. I'm assuming this is in a country like the US where resources exist to get someone off the street if they really decide to do so.

[AZK]

Music and honesty do it for me. I've seen signs, need $ for alcohol, I gave him some. Also walking down the street with a six pack or whatever and a guy looking at me and saying can i just get a beer rather than $...I don't know why. Maybe just cause if I was in that situation I'd want a drink too.

I've also given cigarettes leftover from parties I've thrown (no idea who's they are) to homeless people that I know smoke...

Recently, I've had a bit of a ethical dilemma with this as I learn more and more about the effects of alcohol/cigarettes...I mean obviously I knew before medical school, but now that I REALLY know, I've started wondering if as a future physician I should be handing out alcohol/nicotine to homeless people...still on the fence... this can also be expanded to 'is it better to give food or $ to homeless people?'