Homeless people / panhandlers

[JSchnett]

When I was leaving a grocery store with my brother and his friend there were these 2 hippies at the exit of the parking lot with a broken down van asking for money to get back to somewhere. My brother's friend gave them a bag of doritos.

[BG1124]

I just read this article in New York magazine about a panhandler who won a $100,000 settlement from the NYPD. Pretty entertaining article.

http://nymag.com/news/features/31530/

[Chaostracize]

[ 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.

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.

[/ QUOTE ]

The deal between my gf and me is that she cleans the pans and I wash the pans.

So who is the panhandler?

She gets so pissed off if I don't wash the pans.

If she doesn't wash them, then who cares?? We just don't have clean pans!

[BigPoppa]

Buskers (musicians/street performers) don't fall into the same category as panhandlers. They're performing a service for tips. If I like the performance, I give them money.

Panhandlers are just asking for money without giving anything in return. If some guy just walks up and asks for money, I'll tell him "I can't help you" (which is true). I'm not going to lie and say I don't have any money, nor am I going to apologize. I'm just going to tell him that I can't help him, because his problems aren't going to be solved by anything I do.

If they have some long and complicated BS story I just keep walking and don't stop to listen, but if they just walk up and say "I really need something to eat" or otherwise get to the point, then I stop. If I've never seen the guy before, I will usually offer to buy him whatever it is he says he needs the money for (food, gas, etc). Somtimes they accept and get a free sandwich, sometimes they change their story real fast and don't get [censored]. If I've seen the guy panhandling before (and sometimes I have), then they get nothing.


edit: Really aggressive panhandlers, especially ones who make uninvited physical contact (grabbing, not just shaking hands), get nothing but a massive heap of profanity and abuse from me. Some [censored] grabbed my kid's arm in Chicago and I pinned him to a wall. After he left, some old lady thanked me for standing up to the guy.

[BigPoppa]

[ QUOTE ]
I was in Montreal last weekend, walking around downtown. a normal dressed woman stopped me and said "do you speak English?"

after I said yes, she said "well, me and my family are stuck, and we just need some help..."

anyways that was a good opener, but obv. wouldn't work everywhere

[/ QUOTE ]

There's a Bosnian woman who walks around the most touristy part of Ku'Damm here in Berlin with her kid and does this. If people say they speak English, she gives them a laminated piece of paper that has her tale of woe written on it. I guess it's a good way to target tourists. Feel bad for the kid, being used as a prop all day every day so Mom can scam money from foreigners.