Beggars are getting bold!

[NikitaZee]

When I was old enough to drive into NYC I would go often wth my friends. Once we were parked on the street outside of McD's eating our meals, and a homeless guy was nearby asking people for money. A couple of minutes later, as I was chatting with my friends, he reached into the car and grabbed my french fries right out of my hand

That said, I still give to homeless/beggars if I have $ on me.

 

[ols386]

I hate to say it but my church runs a food bank that I have donated to many times. One day I was up at the church and saw folks loading food bank groceries into their car. The lady was wearing the latest trendy clothing and shoes and decked out with jewelry. I don't think our food bank is very careful to make sure the folks are truly needy. It looked like she had more disposable income than me because she spent less on groceries! I do still give, but I worry a bit more than I used to that I am really helping needy people.

I don't think you can tell just by looking at someone if they are truly in need or not.

There will always be people who are not truly in need, taking food from a church food bank, that just goes with the territory, but I imagine most people who do this, are truly in need.

And as for the ones who take food, and are not really in need.....there's always that thing called karma.

 

[SaraJayne]

After living in the San Francisco Bay area for decades nothing surprises me about aggressive panhandlers. I would NEVER EVER EVER give a penny to someone on the street begging.

Now I'm in New Orleans - I can't think of once that I've ever been approached by a panhandler after almost 40 years of visiting this city.

NOLA was full of beggars the last time I visited there...and that was when the economy was good!

I can't imagine it's gotten better in recent years.

 

[Hoodie]

In DC, begging is an art. I see the same guys (and woman) every day. The woman was asking for $20's one day. Not "any spare change?" but "can you spare $20?" Um, no.

One guy was standing outside a bank, waiting to hit people up after they went to the ATM. I brushed by and said I didn't have anything small and he offered to make change! He took out a HUGE wad of cash and tried to break the $20. He must have had close to $500 in his pocket - certainly a lot more than I had in mine!

My favorite guy is one on New York Ave who carries a sign "Why Lie? I need a Beer" He rakes it in. I watch him while I sit in traffic and watch at least 3-5 people give him money per 45 second traffic light. Even at a dollar each, that would total about $300/hour.

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

In DC, begging is an art. I see the same guys (and woman) every day. The woman was asking for $20's one day. Not "any spare change?" but "can you spare $20?" Um, no.

One guy was standing outside a bank, waiting to hit people up after they went to the ATM. I brushed by and said I didn't have anything small and he offered to make change! He took out a HUGE wad of cash and tried to break the $20. He must have had close to $500 in his pocket - certainly a lot more than I had in mine!

My favorite guy is one on New York Ave who carries a sign "Why Lie? I need a Beer" He rakes it in. I watch him while I sit in traffic and watch at least 3-5 people give him money per 45 second traffic light. Even at a dollar each, that would total about $300/hour.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

They are horrible here near Atlanta, they are pretty bold too. Creeps me out.

I've been to DC and it's worse here in GA. They will follow you around sometimes in Walmart and make you feel very uncomfortable.

 

[lakelandgal70]

I had someone approach me in the parking lot of a grocery store an ask for money, I said sorry, I don't have any cash. The person said, "You can get out some cash with your debit card in the store!"

And then last week someone INSIDE a store asked if I could spare $5 for her to buy "just one thing." (She had this lacy lingerie set in her hand that did not cost $5.) Again I said sorry, I don't have cash. So she said, "Could you just put it on your credit card?" As I said no and walked away, a store employee came up behind me and apologized profusely and said they were waiting for security to come talk to her.

Wow. That really takes some nerve. I feel sorry for people who truly need help but people like this are probably scammers.

 

[kaytieeldr]

So we were standing outside the Mirage waiting for the volcano to erupt. A young man came up and ask for money for the bus to get out of town. I figured it was a scam but with the kids there i thought it was better to give him a $1, but I did ask if he had a job, he claimed he did but spent his paycheck.

That right there would have turned on my "scam" alert. He has a job but is getting out of town for some/any reason? Really? Call me a cynic, but...

 

[HM]

I live in Durham NC. In our county, you have to have a permit to panhandle, and there are rules for where you are allowed to do so. They pay something like $5, fill out a form, and get a reflective vest and they are allowed 'to work'.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I see several every day on the 2 blocks from the train station to my work.

Last summer there was a young couple who pulled the scam that they were stuck in the city and trying to get back to Maine and needed train fare. My boss told them that he knew they had been saying the same thing for several weeks. The man threatened my boss.A week later I saw them outside a CVS a few blocks away saying the same thing. They were very aggressive and police were called.

There was a young man who last year and this year tried to get money from people waiting for their commuter train. He claimed he was shut out of the local shelter and it was the coldest day of the year so if we could donate he could get a ticket to a shelter in another city. I know that on the coldest days the shelters turn no one away and will drive them to another shelter if need be so it was BS. He had the same speech both years so he wasn't even changing it up.

This guy is still around, I saw him two weeks ago. Now that the weather is warmer the story is that the shelter in the city is full. The panhandlers in that station are very persistent.

People like this remind me to be grateful for the blessings that I have.

I used to work at 100 Summer Street. One of my coworkers came back from lunch one day and said a woman had come up to her on the street with a story about losing her wallet and needing $20 to get home on the train, so my coworker gave her the money. Then she told me the same woman had approached her with the same story a couple of weeks earlier and she gave her the money then, too. She asked if I thought it was a scam.

 

[bettymae1121]

Well I'll tell you a story.

A friend of mine when she was in college had to get around on crutches for about a year due to a bad knee injury. At the time she went to school in downtown Chicago, she lived in the dorm there during the week and took the train home to the burbs on the weekend. One Monday morning she takes the train into the city. Once at Union station she gets off the train and while trying to walk with the crutches and carry her school bag (books, laptop, papers, etc.) she trips and falls flat on the floor, stuff and crutches flying everywhere. Nearby were a few homeless guys (they all hang in the station in the cold weather, to stay warm and beg from the commuters). While all the well-dressed-well-off commuters ignored my friend sprawled on the floor, the homeless guys came over, helped her up, picked up her stuff, and made sure she wasn't hurt (and no, they weren't trying to steal from her, pick her pockets or anything like that).

Were they begging? Yup. Were they using most - if not all - of the money they begged on alcohol or drugs? Most likely. But they stopped and helped where others couldn't be bothered.

On her way back through Union that Friday (on her way home for the weekend) she saw the same guys. She stopped at McD's and got them food. They remembered her and thanked her for thinking of them.

So my thought is that if I have a spare buck in my pocket, it's no skin off my nose to give it to someone else. Maybe it helps, maybe it doesn't. Maybe the person I give it to is the type that would help someone like my friend, maybe they aren't. But I have no way of knowing, and I don't need the dollar. I can see not giving to an agressive begger (that would bother me!) but a person with a sign and a cup? Sure.

 

[pilesoflaundry]

I live in Durham NC. In our county, you have to have a permit to panhandle, and there are rules for where you are allowed to do so. They pay something like $5, fill out a form, and get a reflective vest and they are allowed 'to work'.

They do that in FL also. All over Tampa on every median and corner there are people with reflective vests. I don't know about other counties.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

the city where I have been asked for money the most was Paris.

At Notre Dame Cathederal, I sat outside for about an hour waiting on my family to come out. This was super interesting to me. An elderly woman beggar in a long dress and bonnet was carrying around a cup, begging. she appeared to be so old, hunched over, could barely walk. the police came by and told her to get lost. She left quickly but as she bent over to pick up her things, i saw she had on new expensive athletic shoes! As she left, she wasn't hunched over at all - walking perfectly fine. I don't think she was actually an old woman. About 15 min later, a different " old woman beggar" appeared. Same exact outfit in a different color. Do they all work together? Don't know.

 

[Planogirl]

Zombie thread!

I did skim it and saw a post by C.Ann. I still wonder about her sometimes.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

DH just came home from the grocery store. He said a woman approached his car and asked for money to buy food. He handed her a $5 bill and she thanked him. He began to roll his car window up when she abruptly stopped him and said, "Hey wait! I need 35 cents more to pay the tax on my sandwich with the $5 you gave me". DH laughed and said someone else would have to pay her tax and drove away. This floors me that someone would ask for *more* money from a total stranger. Oh well...

Isn't that basically what sales people do? Close 1 deal, try for another.

 

[Disney Doll]

Had a guy come up to me outside a local grocery store. Asked for $. I literally had no cash and told him so. He then commented that I should dye my hair because my gray hair makes me look old.

I said "I look old. You're begging for money. I'll stick with looking old
Since I can support myself without begging. Even with my gray hair I'm still better off than you".

Here's the thing. I have been known to give beggars money. But don't get nasty with me when you're a beggar.

 

[Magpie]

My mum taught me to always "choose your beggar". In other words, look, keep your eyes open, get to know the people around you. Decide who you'd like to give money to, and give a few coins to that person whenever you see them. This way, you're helping someone and you don't have to feel guilty about saying no to all the rest.

She was particularly deliberate about this while working in Romania, where there are a lot of organized begging rings, some of whom will resort to really ugly tactics (abusing or even maiming women and children). My mom's beggar was a woman whose baby was - unlike all the rest - healthy, bright eyed and alert. She talked to her and found out that she refused to drug her baby, even if it meant she was harder to handle during the day. My mom saw her every day, and at one point even had me ship over some second hand winter clothes for the baby.

I have to say, I was delighted to discover that my husband has the same philosophy as my mom. Once, when visiting him at work, he took the time to introduce me to a man sitting on the pavement by his building. This was "his beggar", and he knew him by name. Knew that alcohol and mental illness were his demons.

My husband was really concerned when the man disappeared one winter and never returned.

 

[mom2rtk]

If I was hungry, I mean really hungry, I would do desperate things to get food. Especially if it involved my kids.

But I bet if you were desperate and given $5 you wouldn't spend it all on one sandwich.

 

[Wishing on a star]

I don't EVER give to panhandlers.
They are just on the take....

We used to see this guy in the same spot all the time... needed money for food (near an interstate Cracker Barrel)
DH used to laugh and say, we ought to pull up and throw him a can of tuna fish...
We called him the tuna fish man!!!!
Said his Lexus was probably parked right around the corner....

 

[Wishing on a star]

If there are those of you who think you are helping kdis/babies....
Give to local Food Bank and child/family charity programs in your community.

Lets just say, that there is just the very slight chance that a pahnandler is actually a parent in need.... I would not want to enable a child to be kept in a situation with no food, housing, and parent out begging. Giving to Panhandlers is the worst approach. 99.9999 they are just mentally unstable, or on-the-take. And, I would not want to choose to enable that.