In Chicago the guy that "just needs some money for gas ..." is a con. I had one guy tell me he had a church van full of kids and just needed gas money ... When I told him that the CPD may be able to help considering kids were involved he was quick to decline and move on. So is the guy/gal dragging a kid around asking for change.
One night my friend who's a social worker was approached by a woman. She just needed money to get on the bus to the women shelter because her husband beat her and she just got out of the hospital. My friend, knowing the system, asked what hospital let her out without bus money. The woman said UofC. Wrong answer, UofC always gives bus money. So my friend asks which shelter because she knows them all and will call to have the shelter van come by and pick her up. That woman was out of there so fast. Can't get high in the shelter. Maybe wasn't headed there in the first place.
Most of these people are on the street asking for money are there either because it's a con OR it's a living. You could almost call it a homeless industry.
<strong>You could almost call it a homeless industry.</strong><hr></blockquote>
the "industry of human misery"? (anyone seen "threepenny opera"?)
in boston you get panhandled all the time. i never give any money; don't have a whole lot and don't believe they'll use it for food. i really dislike this one guy who used to wait on one end of the kenmore t stop, and he would just be so persistent, even a bit angry. once this guy was about to ask me for change, and then said "oh, you probably don't speak english" oh well, i guess that could be a stategy for me.
<strong>The problem is you don't know who is a scammer looking for crack money or a genuine down on their luck homeless guy some of the time. </strong><hr></blockquote>
I'd say it is a pretty safe bet that the guy on the street hitting you up for change every day, or even every other day, is someone who considers begging for free money their job.
Down on their luck folks tend to take advantage of what is offered to them by showing up at any shelters and trying to recover; you don't see them at the 7-11 Tuesdays and Thursdays asking customers for spare change.
There are systems available for these people to get help, maybe even get a job. Truth is that most of them don't want this. It's a shame people give them money...
Right after starting this thread, I get this guy at the gas station last night asking me to give him cash for his money order....riiiight!
He says the banks are closed and the corner stores won't cash it. So I tell him what makes you think I'm going to then?!!
Do I have stupid written on my forehead?
Anyways, I do feel for the true homeless and it's really becoming a problem here in Toronto.
Today you see one on lying on every heated grate. It's too bad these other lazy panhandlers give the others a bad name and we end up painting them all with a similar brush.
If I give to one, then I feel I should give to all. So, I don't contribute to panhandlers... there are so many here in L.A. that if I gave a dollar to each one I walked past, I wouldn't be able to pay my own rent. Perhaps that's an easy, compartmented and convenient excuse, to make me more comfortable in, and not to intrude too much upon my tidy, middle class, cushy life-style.
Some panhandlers are homeless and genuinely down on their fortune, and some are scammers. But the thought of being homeless (even on a "chilly" night in Southern California where the temperature rarely falls below freezing) is a real fear that millions live with, just a paycheck away from that status. Imagine being homeless in sub zero conditions with a howling gale and driving snow...and the shelters are full.....they are probably longing for a night of warm, safe, comfortably well-fed, orderly incarceration alongside serial rapists, bank robbers and potsmokers.
There's a lot of hostility towards the homeless. Maybe because it's a status that can happen to anyone who isn't independently wealthy and the subconscious idea that anyone can end up in that ignominious state promotes an expression of self-hatred, easily taken out on a target that is ugly, smelly and dirty. Perhaps this is refected in society's increasing criminalization of the homeless status. Anti-homeless ordinances are being passed in cities all over.
Panhandlers are just another variant of "fund raiser"...just displaying the entrepreneurial initiative to better their lot. For me, the most annoying and intrusive variety of panhanders are telemarketers.
i just about never give to the homeless. i especially hate the tactic they use on the subways. they get onto the car, and announce to everyone a little bit of their life situation then hold out a cup and push it in everyone's face. i was just about comatose one saturday night on a train home, and some woman woke me, told me she was distressed and wanted some cash; i gave her a mean look, and told her to get the **** away. i hate to be insensitive, but a lot of them smell quite rank. i don't mind the singers asking for handouts though (i still won't give, but the singing is nice. actually, one of the best blues songs i ever heard was from an apparently blind man walking thru the L train; i wish i'd caught the name of the song...dang).
i find the regulars sad though. the ones i see frequently. threres this fella on my block back home who only asks every third day or so, but i see him daily. he always looks at me as though he's never seen me before. i tell myself that one day i'm gonna throw him a twenty, maybe next time. when i see them regularly, i tend to think they are genuinely out of luck. there used to be a couple which lived in front of my old parish (when i was a christian). every sunday i'd see them, and i always thought it odd that they kept their heavy winter coats (plus a few sweaters, and shirts) on thru summer. they must get really hot like that.
i dont think they want to be out there like that though. being homeless is terrible. a situation arose at my home, and my brother left the house for a few months to be on his own. he said after he'd worn out his welcome with his friends he lived on the streets for a while. from his accounts its a terrible thing, the likes of which i'd never wish on anyone. i think a person who gets to the point where they dont have a house, they are pretty bad off. and if they havent tried everything to get back to a better situation, then there was some good reasons behind that.
Comments
One night my friend who's a social worker was approached by a woman. She just needed money to get on the bus to the women shelter because her husband beat her and she just got out of the hospital. My friend, knowing the system, asked what hospital let her out without bus money. The woman said UofC. Wrong answer, UofC always gives bus money. So my friend asks which shelter because she knows them all and will call to have the shelter van come by and pick her up. That woman was out of there so fast. Can't get high in the shelter. Maybe wasn't headed there in the first place.
Most of these people are on the street asking for money are there either because it's a con OR it's a living. You could almost call it a homeless industry.
<strong>You could almost call it a homeless industry.</strong><hr></blockquote>
the "industry of human misery"?
in boston you get panhandled all the time. i never give any money; don't have a whole lot and don't believe they'll use it for food. i really dislike this one guy who used to wait on one end of the kenmore t stop, and he would just be so persistent, even a bit angry. once this guy was about to ask me for change, and then said "oh, you probably don't speak english" oh well, i guess that could be a stategy for me.
<strong>In Chicago the guy that "just needs some money for gas ..." is a con. </strong><hr></blockquote>Definitley the oldest scam in the books
often with the added "I'm from outta town and I gotta get back to help my mother....and....and..."
<strong>The problem is you don't know who is a scammer looking for crack money or a genuine down on their luck homeless guy some of the time. </strong><hr></blockquote>
I'd say it is a pretty safe bet that the guy on the street hitting you up for change every day, or even every other day, is someone who considers begging for free money their job.
Down on their luck folks tend to take advantage of what is offered to them by showing up at any shelters and trying to recover; you don't see them at the 7-11 Tuesdays and Thursdays asking customers for spare change.
There are systems available for these people to get help, maybe even get a job. Truth is that most of them don't want this. It's a shame people give them money...
He says the banks are closed and the corner stores won't cash it. So I tell him what makes you think I'm going to then?!!
Do I have stupid written on my forehead?
Anyways, I do feel for the true homeless and it's really becoming a problem here in Toronto.
Today you see one on lying on every heated grate. It's too bad these other lazy panhandlers give the others a bad name and we end up painting them all with a similar brush.
Some panhandlers are homeless and genuinely down on their fortune, and some are scammers. But the thought of being homeless (even on a "chilly" night in Southern California where the temperature rarely falls below freezing) is a real fear that millions live with, just a paycheck away from that status. Imagine being homeless in sub zero conditions with a howling gale and driving snow...and the shelters are full.....they are probably longing for a night of warm, safe, comfortably well-fed, orderly incarceration alongside serial rapists, bank robbers and potsmokers.
There's a lot of hostility towards the homeless. Maybe because it's a status that can happen to anyone who isn't independently wealthy and the subconscious idea that anyone can end up in that ignominious state promotes an expression of self-hatred, easily taken out on a target that is ugly, smelly and dirty. Perhaps this is refected in society's increasing criminalization of the homeless status. Anti-homeless ordinances are being passed in cities all over.
Panhandlers are just another variant of "fund raiser"...just displaying the entrepreneurial initiative to better their lot. For me, the most annoying and intrusive variety of panhanders are telemarketers.
[ 02-11-2003: Message edited by: Samantha Joanne Ollendale ]</p>
i find the regulars sad though. the ones i see frequently. threres this fella on my block back home who only asks every third day or so, but i see him daily. he always looks at me as though he's never seen me before. i tell myself that one day i'm gonna throw him a twenty, maybe next time. when i see them regularly, i tend to think they are genuinely out of luck. there used to be a couple which lived in front of my old parish (when i was a christian). every sunday i'd see them, and i always thought it odd that they kept their heavy winter coats (plus a few sweaters, and shirts) on thru summer. they must get really hot like that.
i dont think they want to be out there like that though. being homeless is terrible. a situation arose at my home, and my brother left the house for a few months to be on his own. he said after he'd worn out his welcome with his friends he lived on the streets for a while. from his accounts its a terrible thing, the likes of which i'd never wish on anyone. i think a person who gets to the point where they dont have a house, they are pretty bad off. and if they havent tried everything to get back to a better situation, then there was some good reasons behind that.