What would you do if you saw this .

[lacrosse_lady72]

The only people I give any money to is the people who are doing something. I don't really care about what it is but if someone is playing a guitar or doing that standing still while painted a single color thing, I will give them a few dollars. They are entertaining me, so I feel good about giving them money.

Now people just sitting and asking for a handout... idk. Scammers are everywhere and if someone is really hungry I'll go buy them food but I am not going to be their supply for their bank account when mine doesn't look so hot. And I most certainly will not be the alcohol/drug money supply.

 

[SelfEmployedDebtFree]

In the my city they once ran off all the beggars, because they were trampling all the greenery between the medians (honestly, they didn't care. They just trampled all of it, even the bushes). The city had spent LOTS of money for landscapers to plant all this stuff to beautify the area, and they were destroying it faster than it could grow. Within a few months the beggars were all gone, and lots of groups of black students, mostly cheerleaders and "rising basketball stars" were out begging for the same money.
It was always the same thing... "Raising money for basketball camp" or "Help us take our (insert son/daughter's name) to the finals". Oh, and they trampled the flowers and bushes also. I'd rather have the beggars. The groups of kids would weave in between cars and caused traffic delays asking any person who happened to have their windows down for a handout. They were REALLY pushy. At least the beggars didn't disrupt the traffic flow and were more "safety conscience" on a very busy street, and they weren't pushy. They would just hold a sign. No door to door crap.

As of a few months ago the cheerleaders and basketball stars seem to have disappeared, and the beggars seem to have taken back over the market.

 

[Rence]

Years ago, I was down in Orlando watching the local news. They did a series on the "Will Work For Food" crowd. They decided to test this out.

The TV crew (with hidden camera) went around to these folks and showed them four bags of groceries brimming with food. It would have easily fed a family of four for days if not a week or more.

They told the person holding the "Will Work For Food" sign that they had a small 10 by 10 foot lot that needed to be raked. It was just a few blocks away. They asked the sign holder to meet them there in an hour, all they had to do was rake the lot and all the food was theirs.

They did this to person after person after person and of course not one showed up to rake the lot. Later they tracked down some of the guys and asked them why they didn't show up and most of them confessed that they were doing it for cash, not food.

 

[Piecey]

I'm wondering where all of you live that you see this sort of thing on a regular basis? Are you near very large cities?

The two areas that I reside in throughout the year, I have never seen one single panhandler.. The one time that I got "scammed" was at a job - in another city.. A co-worker who claimed she had cancer and needed treatment in another state.. Everyone kicked in some money, the scam was uncovered, she was arrested, and is now in jail..

Maybe that's why my answer is different - we don't see people walking around with signs like that..

I don't live in a big city (I live in West Virginia- so you can imagine how big the area where I live is)... and I see it pretty regularly. The amusing part to me is when I see them start packing their crap up and hightailing it out of there.. and then I see the cop. That pretty much tells me they're professionals at panhandling.


I think the most irritating one to DH and myself was when we saw a guy with a sign that read "Disabled Homeless Vietnam Veteran, please help."
... then 3.5 miles later we passed a sign that said "Veterans Hospital" and an arrow.

The VA doesn't take great care of all the vets BUT they do receive disability if disabled (enough to eat off of) and the VA hospital will put them up for the night. The one in Clarksburg WV said they have regulars that come to the ER just to sleep.

So.. that was irritating to DH and I. If he really wanted help, he'd go the 3.5 miles to the VA hospital and get it.

 

[Mrs.Reese]

Unfortunately, I see beggers every single day at multiple intersections. I don't give anything. We had a story on our news here about how the police try to direct them to aid and it's just about always turned down.