COTR: I don’t know about you all, but I never ever ever give panhandlers money. On a few occasions, I’ve doled out a bottle of water, but never cash. There are just way too many stories about people driving in their nice cars to park somewhere, and then standing on a corner with some sad story written on a piece of cardboard asking for help, and then making a few hundred bucks doing absolutely nothing but standing there looking sad. Often, these people are able-bodied, perfectly capable people who have just found an easy way to swindle money from sympathetic suckers. I just refuse to be one of the suckers.
I donate plenty of money – to organizations I trust to use it well. We can’t give money to every single person who appears to be in need, and the best we can do is to donate it wisely.
I recall seeing a young woman outside a Starbucks, quite attractive and seemingly very desperate as she approached me one morning. I didn’t give her anything, but later I was wondering how desperate she really was, and whether she spent her evenings dressed up and clubbing. With her looks and desperation act I bet she did very well panhandling, and she had certainly chosen a well-to-do part of town.
Reminds me of a twentysomething “homeless” guy who I saw panhandling just across the street from a McDonald’s which had a Help Wanted sign clearly posted.
I gave a panhandler money for food, as that is what he said he needed.
I waited and followed him after he passed three fast food places.
Straight to the bar. They must serve food there….. huh?
I’ll take them to a restaurant, but no cash.
Please don’t feed the pidgeons.
Whenever any panhandler or “homeless person” asks me for money I always give them the same answer: “I have no money because low information voters like you re-elected Barack Obama. He has all my money. Go ask him for it. If you want money from me, you better start voting against the democrats.”
No workie, no eatie.
Scammers gotta scam.
Lady in her early 60’s drove up to me in a parking lot..cleanly washed car, nicely dressed. “Can I get some change?”…”Can I get a cigarette?”..I nodded my head and drove off.
I’ve helped many, and said no to many.
“I need gas” : where’s your car? Pull it up to the pump and will put some gas in there.
“I need $___________” ( sometimes an exact amount)
Learned quickly that unless your charity goes directly to the cause they’re asking for, and you call their bluff, they turn away from you with a quickness.
When I was in undergrad there was this coffee shop when students would go hang out and study, usually on their patio. It looked out over the parking lot, and there was this hobo that would sit on the corner, in his wheelchair, and panhandle.
On this nights when I hung out there long enough to see it, he’d wheel himself over to a very expensive-looking BMW, fold up his chair and stick it in the trunk, and take off. Sometimes he’d *WALK* into the coffee shop first and get a sandwich or something before driving off.
A buddy and I followed him home one night. He lived in a nice upper-middle-class neighborhood, and there was a pretty flashy-looking red sports car in the drive that he parked next to.
I never give money to hobos. If they stare at me at a red light, I stare right back. If they start to come over, I snap my stun gun where they can see it.
I have yet to see a skinny, emaciated panhandler.
A little off topic, but I’m also bugged when some supermarkets ask for a donation at the checkout…..”would you like to donate a dollar to the blah-blah cause?” I always decline.
Panhandlers?
You mean the people that park their kids in front of the grocery store and ask for money so their team can be in the playoffs?
Or do you mean when I buy something at the store and the cashier says; Would you like to round that $16.27 up to $17.00 for XYZ?
It’s all a scam!
If you don’t want to deal with bums asking for money, simply be alert and walk with purpose.
I give to the Salvation Army. That’s it.
Get Jesus with your bowl of soup, the way it should be.
I NEVER give to panhandlers. Ever. There have been numerous investigative reports highlighting panhandlers who make SIX FIGURES! I did once give a bag of oranges, which I had brought up from the valley, to a family claiming to be hungry at a rest stop, knowing that they may well have been scamming me. I thought it was worth the risk, in case the kids really were hungry.
My late mother-in-law used to call panhandlers’ bluffs by offering to take them into the nearest coffee shop and buy them a sandwich. She only ever bought one sandwich.
Another trick they do is jack their car up in a parking lot with the tire off and look worried, like something is seriously wrong. Then ask people for cash so they can buy some expensive part in the auto parts store in the strip mall. They always have some sick relative in the hospital and they just need a few bucks more so they can get the part to continue their journey to the hospital to see dying gramps.
I’ve educated many store clerks on various “charities” such as how the search and destroy mission of the March of Dimes related to abortion and the link between breast cancer and abortion. The people in the line behind me also get a pro-life education also.
I play it by ear weather I give a handout. If I give to someone and it’s a scam, then God will take car of them, if it’s a real need, then I helped them.
Wow, I might give them 5 bucks for creativity. (Sarc)
I once too a bum into a Micky D’s with me to buy him lunch. He was asking for money outside, so I decided to feed him. I’m guessing by the look on his face he was pissed that he had to eat – again – so soon after his last mark drug him into Mickey D’s.
I learned my lesson when back in the 80s when I had to move from my apartment and needed help moving. There was this bum I saw every day that had a sign “will work for food”, I pulled over and told him I would get him a good meal if he would help me load some boxes….his response…”shut up and give me some f**king money”. Last time I ever tried to help them out.
Hobo: “You got any spare change, man?”
Me: “No, my friend. True change only comes from within yourself!”
Here in Houston, parents stand on the medians and “fund raise” to send their kids to this sports tournament or that cheerleader camp. I always shame them and tell them they’re only teaching their kids to beg.
Or, you have been waiting through three lights to turn left, because the arrow is only on for about fifteen seconds. Then, the bum comes up to the car in front of you, and the dipsh!t driving has to dig out some money, followed by a conversation about the weather. Of course, they go through on caution, and then I’m the next target of the hobo’s spiel. I just tell them to GTFO of the intersection.
Trooper, this became a huge problem here until it finally went to the assembly and is now illegal. The difference is amazing.
Sometimes they can get aggressive and think they can shame you into delivering, or fakesters pretend to be homeless and then rob you (if you’re lucky, that’s all).
I used to park far out into the parking lot because I’d been trying to strengthen my back after an injury, and any exercise helped. However, I stopped not long after starting because the new trend amongst beggars was approaching people in parking lots, and one night it really ticked me off. This guy approached me as my son (younger then) and I were getting in the car, and he came way too close, in a manner that really put me on alert. I put one hand on my purse, the other in a stop gesture and said something like, “Don’t get any closer.” It was purely instinct that came from anger at the space intrusion and feeling threatened, but he looked really scared and backed off immediately.
It’s widely known here that many, many people carry, and all it took (at least for that situation) was the understanding that people are prepared to protect themselves to eliminate the entire situation. He walked off quickly and I haven’t been approached like that again, though I also choose spots now close to lots of people, close to the store. Hopefully these people also now have a greater awareness of how their behavior triggers (no pun intended) defensive responses, because I’m sure I’m not the only one to get sick of being startled and feeling cornered at their car (and with a small child).
Or they need just X enough more to buy a bus ticket to get home on the other side of town (few people here, but city is spread wide). Yap, amazing what they could do with that energy if they put it to better use.
I once saw 2 panhandlers in front of a Taco Bell, with their dog, which was leashed with a 3/8″ rope! I realized it was a scam because their dog was fat and healthy.
Same here, Anon. SA is the ONLY charitable I donate to. It’s the only one where you can pretty much be assured that at LEAST 90% of your donation goes to those in need and not to ridiculously rich “administrators.” F*ck the Red Cross.
Years ago I was smoking outside O’Hare airport with a friend from Britain during a layover. A middle-aged fellow came up to us and gave us a seriously sad and detailed story wallet stolen blah blah blah could we help him out to get a ticket home to his dying child.
My pal didn’t miss a beat. “Well, mate, yer shit out of luck.”
A guy in midtown Manhattan once asked me for money. Said he was an Australian tourist and his wallet had been stolen.
At the time I worked for an Australian company. I knew what an authentic Australian accent sounded like, and he didn’t have it.
“I’ll give you money if you can tell me what’s the capital of Australia.” He said Sydney.
LOL. The capital of Australia is Canberra. No money for you!
“No, round it down and you give ’em 27 cents!”
Or the pigeons.
I say to them that there is no such thing as ‘spare’ change. I need every cent I have to survive.
Isn’t “Panhandler voter” one of the top ten oxymorons…?
😛
I encountered a lady with a gas can, asking for help, ‘because she ran out of gas and needed to go back to her home for a family emergency, in another state’. I don’t have ‘spare’ change, I told her. Then a week later, at the same parking lot, she approached me again, pitching the same story. I said, ‘You asked me last week.’ She took off like a bat out of hell!
Way to treat them in my hometown. End the scourge before it ever get’s going.
As opposed to Crapholeapolis where one of these druggies (they’re known to shoot up together) is on every corner.
When asked for a spare cigarette, a guy I worked with took out his box of Kools, opened it, looked inside, closed it, and said – “Nope, it only came with 20!”
maybe that was “extra” cigarette …