Panhandlers piss me off! (page 5)

SPAZnik

Another one is when they say "spare change?"
You say "no thank you"
(as if they were offering you some)

SPAZnik

Here's an idea. You could pretend to be a JW and start preachin' to 'em. That oughta back 'em up in a real hurry. ;)

Bstndance

"need money for pot, please give"

You should have asked him if he would share.

My mother was walking to her car after leaving the market. A panhandler approaches her and says he's had nothing to eat in two days, can she help? Without a word she reaches into a bag and hands him a loaf of bread. With a stunned look he takes the bread, walks off about twenty feet and tosses it into the landscaping.

Last year in downtown Portland an aggressive panhandler walks up to a guy who has just got off a bus. The man ignores him and walks on. The bum follows him and starts giving him a bunch of abuse. The man turns around, pulls a huge .44 cal revolver out of his jacket and blows the bums brains out. Turns out the guy with the gun was a paranoid mental patient living in a halfway house. End of story.

Most all the freeway offramps in our area have more or less permanent beggar installations, folding chair, umbrella, etc. The busy ones are manned in 3 shifts. When they go off shift they leave the same cardboard sign ("cancer, anything helps, God Bless" "Disabled vet- need food", etc. ) for the next guy.

XJW4EVR

Another one is when they say "spare change?"

My response of choice to this is, "None of my change is spare."

lola28

While some may be alchoholics or drug addicts, well they have to eat sometime too and you never really know what a person's story is. So I don't judge or get angry, my heart goes out to them and I give. ;

Same here, like you I don't judge them I don't know what issues they have or what's going on in their lives, at the end of the day a dollar is not going to break me and I don't think I could sleep at night knowing that I could have helped someone and did not.

Lola

Gregor

I would never give a dime to a beggar. But I do contribute to established charities who provide food, clothing and shelter. I feel those who hand money to strangers are really doing it for their own self-image of being morally superior to others. They must realize that in most all cases they are enabling and encouraging druggies and alcoholics and are contributing to continuance of that lifestyle. Hard to call that "helping".

lovelylil

Gregor,

my parents could not get any help from charities because my dad did have an income and was a few dollars over the cut off limit. It is the same way with some programs today. My hubby works in a school and said a lot of single moms do not qualify for the free or reduced lunch program for their kids because they are $50 over the income limit. My hubby fudges the paperwork so the kids can get a good meal.

I am just saying we don't know the situation. Believe me it has nothing to do with ego. Having to beg strangers as a child for food was a very humbling experience.

I don't feel I should stand there and give the third degree to someone asking me for a dollar to see if they are going to buy booze or really buy food. It will not break me if I gave a dollar to people every day all year long. It is such a small amount compared with the material things I can afford.

If you walk a day in someone's shoes that has been there, you will not feel as you do, believe me. I had a very tough life and am thankful every day for where I am now. And by the way, both my parents were addicts at certain times in their lives.

I am not trying to make anyone feel bad. We are all entitled to our opinions and thats o.k. I am only trying to give the other person's perspective. It is very hard to beg people for anything, it is totally humiliating. Lilly

lola28

I feel those who hand money to strangers are ;really doing it for their own self-image of being morally superior to others. They must realize that in most all ;cases they are ;enabling and encouraging ;druggies and alcoholics and are contributing to continuance of that lifestyle. Hard to call that ;"helping". ;

Sir, while I respect your opinion I must disagree with you. We don't really know what's going on in someone elses life, what if it's a mental illness that has not been treated that has landed this person on the street? I can't just walk away and pretend that the person is not there. Also when my sister was about five she used to feed a homeless person ( my mom kept wondering why food was missing) I doubt she was doing it for her own self image or because she needed to feel morally superior, I will ask her when I get home.

My mom is a single parent who never got any child support and people really helped us out, I don't know where we would be if it had not been for the kindness of strangers, the least I can do is try to help someone else out. One of my teachers once told me "You can't just take from the world you have to stop and give something back" and she is right, what kind of person would I be if I refused to help others when so many people have helped me?

Lola

Princess

A friend and I were driving yesterday and every on/off ramp to the highway had a panhandler on it. I noticed one offramp had a 20 something woman with a nice tatt in the small of her back, dressed nicely, holding a sign. I wondered aloud at her really being destitute or just begging money for a new tatt. My friend said if she was openly panhandling for a new tatt, he'd probably give her money for it.

You just can't tell if they are destitute or a career panhandler around here (Seattle area and north). When we drove back by the same place, a man listening to music through nice headphones, smoking a ciggie had taken her place.

I ignore them.

Panhandlers piss me off!

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