Foiling Panhandler

[TomSeller]

What is the old saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Let me change that to, "Give a man some money and he never works, deny him a handout and he has to go to work or starve."

I'm not very poetic.

RSKY

Maybe not poetic but you can hit the nail on the head

If we can just figure out how to weed out the deadbeats from the truly needy we can solve world hunger,,, well, part of it anyway.

 

[Dftodd]

Let me change that to, "Give a man some money and he never works, deny him a handout and he has to go to work or starve."

I'm not very poetic.

RSKY

Too funny and true :thumbsup:

My middle son tried that with us. Always had some BS excuse why he needed money, but couldn't work. Gave him the boot. Within a month he said he needed to move back home because he couldn't get along with his room mates.

He was told he got himself into that mess, he needed to figure out how to get himself out of it

He got another place, then lost his job. We told him the same thing. Get another job and figure it out. We won't let you starve.

Each week he got this for an allotment of food.

Loaf of bread, Case of rahman noodles, gallon of milk, box of cereal, pound of cheap American cheese, and a pound of bologna. $25 was what we spent on food for him a week. Within a month he got his act together and hasn't asked for help since :cool2::cool2::thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Try that in a train / hobby store and see how far it gets you

Used to fly the redeye from LAX to home back east every Friday morning. Was refueling the rental car when approached with "Hey man, my wife and kids are in the car a block over and the car has a flat tire. Can you lend me $10 to get my tire fixed so we can get home? I declined. Fast forward to the next Friday, same gas station, same time of early morning fueling up the rental car and here comes the same guy. He starts his spiel and I begin to match him word for word. He just looks at me with a confused look on his face and walks away

When working in the Dallas / Ft. Worth area there was a gentlemen panhandling at the end of the exit ramp by the hotel every afternoon during rush hour. He dressed the part except for very expensive highly polished shoes. It was obvious he had more money than I did.

In the 30 years of working in downtown South Bend, IN, I've been approached by hundreds, probably closer to a thousand panhandlers. I've only had one problem, and that's with the hooker that chased me into the hobby shop. And she didn't ask for money, she wanted a ride. It was hot, and she was sweaty.... very sweaty... disgustingly sweaty! EWW! But putting that aside, she obviously had some mental health issues, as well as socioeconomic issues and I shouldn't be making fun of her.

There's just no way I'm ever going to give anyone any money on the street, ever. We'll continue to support our local orgs that can administer it more responsibly and get it to the people that need it most.

 

[MossRoad]

What is the old saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Let me change that to, "Give a man some money and he never works, deny him a handout and he has to go to work or starve."

I'm not very poetic.

RSKY

NO! NO! NO! :mur:

Everyone gets this wrong.... It's:

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, and he'll be gone for the entire weekend.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I donate time and money to a faith based food bank. We know we have scammers and they lie about getting food at other food banks. All the food banks in the area limit giving government commodities more than once a month. We do have a majority of cases of real need. But our faith allows us to give to any in need, no body goes away hungry. I never give to beggars on the corner. I have offered jobs and been turned down. I have offered to take them to a restaurant for a meal, never been taken up on that either. Makes you a real cynic.

Ron

 

[Wagtail]

Here's an alternate story that happened to me a few months ago, right here in little St Helens...

We do have a food bank for those struggling (Thursday mornings) and my Church gets 'end of the day' bread/rolls from a local bakery which we distribute to those who ask after Sunday service (no, they don't have to attend; just show up around 11am).

Well, one particular Sunday there was no bread available. As I was walking out to my ute, there was an extremely disappointed looking young man and I asked him if he was OK. He and his partner + child were transient fruit-pickers and he'd hoped to get a loaf of bread.

Knowing that there was none and not being asked, I simply gave him $5 and pointed him in the direction of the local supermarket.

 

[RSKY]

Here's an alternate story that happened to me a few months ago, right here in little St Helens...

We do have a food bank for those struggling (Thursday mornings) and my Church gets 'end of the day' bread/rolls from a local bakery which we distribute to those who ask after Sunday service (no, they don't have to attend; just show up around 11am).

Well, one particular Sunday there was no bread available. As I was walking out to my ute, there was an extremely disappointed looking young man and I asked him if he was OK. He and his partner + child were transient fruit-pickers and he'd hoped to get a loaf of bread.

Knowing that there was none and not being asked, I simply gave him $5 and pointed him in the direction of the local supermarket.

That is the way to do it. Help those in need but not those making a living begging.

 

[dmccarty]

When I lived in South FLA, the only place I remember seeing people begging for money on street corners was in a certain area of Miami near downtown and a very bad neighborhood. The entrance ramps to I95 zigged and zagged from downtown to the interstate and the people would stand on the corner asking if you wanted your windshield cleaned. At least there was an attempt to earn the money. Eventually it got ugly and one of the local TV news readers had her car window smashed and her purse stolen off the seat.

Only in the last few years has the begging on street corners turned into a huge business in my area of NC. Beggers are all over the place and I see the same people working the same intersection all of the time. One old guy uses the Cane Scam. When he his walking back and forth at the intersection, he LEANS on his cane like he is really in pain and can barely move. I have seen him go "off shift" and it is amazing how fast he can walk and obviously a miracle had occurred because his leg seems to work just fine. He has a nice car too...

The city has an ordinance against pan handling. If you just read the title of the ordinance you would think begging is illegal. However, if you read the ordinance, there is no way to prevent begging. The ordinance went through a couple of revisions of time and at first, begging was banned, but then the ordinance changed, and basically made legal. You really have to ask if the beggers paid off elected officials....

One year I was working with the Salvation Army during the holiday and I had an interesting talk with one of their officers. While some of the bell ringers are volunteers some are paid to collect donations. This surprised me at first but after thinking a bit, it does make sense since so few people have time to volunteer or just refuse too... The Salvation Army was having trouble getting even PAID people to stand and ring a bell. :confused3: Really, that is hard work? It was shocking to listen to them talk about getting some of the paid people to actually do anything. :shocked:

The bell ringer that brought in the most money was a professional. He worked the street corners pan handling and he was very good and raised the most money. This guy had to be raising money for the Salvation Army because he wanted too help them get money during the season. He could make lots of money at that time of year and likely did but he still worked for the SA. The officer I was talking too said the guy simply did not want to live like other people, like to live on his own in the woods, and made plenty of money pan handling.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Five to ten years ago, a coworker was asked for money at a gas station. I can't remember the exact details but a woman was asking for money and then help to getting the gas pump to work My friend is/was an older guy and not in the best help which is why I think he was asked. He declined to give money or help since the situation was sketchy. He finished filling up and went inside to pay by walking around the front of the woman's van. The back of the van was open and a man was standing there. He thinks if he had gone back to help her they would have assaulted and robbed him. Maybe worse.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

...
Over seas, it's common for parents to keep their young children out of school and send them out to beg. The money they make is more important then allowing them to get an education.

I never give anything to any of them.

Last year we went to Scotland to get on a boat which then went down to Ireland. We making plane reservations we did not know exactly where the boat would be in western Scotland so we figured we would fly into Glasgow from which it is easy to get to the coast by train or bus. We got into Glasgow sorta early in the morning after flying over night and spending forever in Heathrow. After getting a nap we went strolling around Glasgow. We picked a hotel right across from one of the train stations so it would be easy to travel to the west coast so we were in the heart of the city.

Glasgow is really pretty with some awesome old architecture! We were wandering around looking at this and trying to decide on a place to eat. Now this immediately sets us out from the herd of people walking around. They know where they are going. They are walking from point A to B and are NOT looking at the buildings and just strolling around like we were doing. So while we blended into the population we did not blend into crowd/herd.

At some point in the recent past, 10-20 years?, I am not sure one would be walking around like we did in that area of Glasgow. I have a feeling that when the shipping related jobs went away this part of the city went not be a place to stroll around...

Anyway, we were strolling around and a junkie spotted us as different from the herd and came up to us asking for money. He was pretty reasonable and left when I told him no.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and we were strolling around Dublin doing the same thing. Dublin is loaded with beautiful, ancient churches and we had spent a few hours in a Protestant church. We found St. Paddy's church which is hard to miss because it is so huge but we did not have time to go inside since we were looking for another church that has a family connection. Instead of using our cell phones to look at the map we were using a paper map. Remember those? :laughing::laughing::laughing: Using a paper map made us stand out from the crowd. We were leaning on wall of the church figuring out how to get back to our hotel on the north side of river when I noticed this guy jay walk across the busy road and making a bee line for us.

The man was holding hands with a boy about 6-8 years old and they walked up to us and handed us a piece of paper that said in English that they were refugees from Kosovo. Yeah right. Pretty sure they were Roma's, aka Gypsies, and they were simply begging for money. It is one thing to beg for money but it is another thing to use a child to get money and teach a kid to do beg. I told the man no in a not happy voice. He asked for money again. I told him no in a more forceful voice. Then her really did it. He moved too close to my wife and asked her for money. I had moved to keep him away from her when he was crossing the street so when he moved around me to get too close to my wife and ask for money again I was beyond a bit peeved. I told him to LEAVE in no uncertain terms and pointed down the street. In the opposite direction we were about to go. I think he understood English just fine and he knew he had crossed a line so he moved on to better pastures.

Using a kid like that is horrible but I have seen stories with photos of this being done in London so it was not a surprise. A disappointment but not a surprise. At least in the US, I have never see the beggers using children.

Later,
Dan

 

[teejk]

Five to ten years ago, a coworker was asked for money at a gas station. I can't remember the exact details but a woman was asking for money and then help to getting the gas pump to work My friend is/was an older guy and not in the best help which is why I think he was asked. He declined to give money or help since the situation was sketchy. He finished filling up and went inside to pay by walking around the front of the woman's van. The back of the van was open and a man was standing there. He thinks if he had gone back to help her they would have assaulted and robbed him. Maybe worse.

Later,
Dan

I think your friend's instincts were right...some of these people want more than a dollar...

 

[mark02tj]

Dayton Ohio has a panhandler's ordinance that makes it legal - as long as you display your permit! SHEESH!

A couple of years ago, Sweetie, her son and I were leaving a movie. As I was getting in the car I was approached by this guy and his two sons (about 8 and 10 years old) carrying a gas can. "Out of gas", "wife at work", etc. I offered to call the wife at work and to get them gas and he walked away. He, along with the boys, approached an older couple getting in a Cadillac .... and then they got in it!! We followed them up the road to the gas station. We saw the couple pass them some money and the man and the boys got out. They left the gas can at the pump and went inside to "pre-pay". They waited inside until the couple in the car left and then they came back out, picked up the empty can and headed back down the road to the movie theater. By this time, we were into it! LOL! So we headed back down there hollered at them. He headed over to his car, acted like he was putting gas in it and then they packed up and headed out.

Of course, we followed them!! And we called the cops. They headed to another shopping center and we managed to interrupt them trying to get money from a family in a pickup truck. They started walking quickly across the parking lot - we're back on the phone with the cops - and the guy and his boys end up hiding behind a dumpster at a Panera. Finally, the cops get him as he's coming out of Target and "have a talk" with him. Unfortunately there wasn't much they could do, but we had fun for about an hour and made his life miserable at the same time. Echoing someone above's sentiments - it's a shame that he's teaching his kids that this is an OK thing to do.

I was in downtown Atlanta last week on business. I was waiting outside of a hotel to meet my client for a drink and a bite to eat. I was approached by a guy about my age (mid-50's) dressed in a security guard uniform. Asked me if I had a spare couple of bucks so he could get on the MARTA to get home. Showed me a MARTA card and a credit card and claimed that he'd picked up the "wrong debit card" that morning as he'd left for work and there were no more rides left on the MARTA card. I told him that I didn't think that that the machines took cash but he insisted they did. I thought for a second, reached in my pocket and pulled out my own MARTA card and gave it to him. I told him there was one ride left on it. His eyes lit up, he said THANKS and then made a mad rush towards the MARTA station entrance. I don't know if I was scammed or not - but it was only $2.50.

 

[Redneck in training]

I used to live in Rome about 30 years ago. There was an article in local papers about beggars preying mostly on tourists. A reporter followed a family of beggars and found that they lived in a castle near Rome and drove Rolls Royces.

 

[mjarrels]

I've spent many years living in the Philippines, never saw so many beggers, mostly small kids. Once outside a Mcdonalds, I offered to buy this kid a burger but he declined, figured he was begging for his parents.

mark

 

[teejk]

Dayton Ohio has a panhandler's ordinance that makes it legal - as long as you display your permit! SHEESH!

A couple of years ago, Sweetie, her son and I were leaving a movie. As I was getting in the car I was approached by this guy and his two sons (about 8 and 10 years old) carrying a gas can. "Out of gas", "wife at work", etc. I offered to call the wife at work and to get them gas and he walked away. He, along with the boys, approached an older couple getting in a Cadillac .... and then they got in it!! We followed them up the road to the gas station. We saw the couple pass them some money and the man and the boys got out. They left the gas can at the pump and went inside to "pre-pay". They waited inside until the couple in the car left and then they came back out, picked up the empty can and headed back down the road to the movie theater. By this time, we were into it! LOL! So we headed back down there hollered at them. He headed over to his car, acted like he was putting gas in it and then they packed up and headed out.

Of course, we followed them!! And we called the cops. They headed to another shopping center and we managed to interrupt them trying to get money from a family in a pickup truck. They started walking quickly across the parking lot - we're back on the phone with the cops - and the guy and his boys end up hiding behind a dumpster at a Panera. Finally, the cops get him as he's coming out of Target and "have a talk" with him. Unfortunately there wasn't much they could do, but we had fun for about an hour and made his life miserable at the same time. Echoing someone above's sentiments - it's a shame that he's teaching his kids that this is an OK thing to do.

I was in downtown Atlanta last week on business. I was waiting outside of a hotel to meet my client for a drink and a bite to eat. I was approached by a guy about my age (mid-50's) dressed in a security guard uniform. Asked me if I had a spare couple of bucks so he could get on the MARTA to get home. Showed me a MARTA card and a credit card and claimed that he'd picked up the "wrong debit card" that morning as he'd left for work and there were no more rides left on the MARTA card. I told him that I didn't think that that the machines took cash but he insisted they did. I thought for a second, reached in my pocket and pulled out my own MARTA card and gave it to him. I told him there was one ride left on it. His eyes lit up, he said THANKS and then made a mad rush towards the MARTA station entrance. I don't know if I was scammed or not - but it was only $2.50.

Seems they all drag the kids around with them as props. When I relocated from NY I spent a lot of time on I80. Seems the truck always needed gas at one particular oasis in Ohio. Ran into the same guy with the same kids a few times...always "out of gas and needed $$$ to get home".

 

[PJSprog]

...And immediately thought about the Ruger 380 sitting in the safe at home...
... (I was thinking about the Ruger still at home in the safe).

I very rarely ever leave the house without my .38 snubby these days. Like MossRoad, I'm of the "say no and walk away" philosophy. Unfortunately, that doesn't always get it done. Sometimes you have to be more stern in your reply, and that can risk escalation. I certainly hope I never have to use it. I also hope if I ever do, though, that it's not at home in the safe.

I used to work in downtown St. Louis for many years, and even lived there for a short while in the mid-'80s. Experienced a lot of panhandlers. I once had a guy follow me along a sidewalk trying his best to get me to "help him out a little." When I stopped in front of McD's, I told him I'd be happy to buy him lunch. He declined, saying he didn't want to be a bother. I told him it was no bother at all, as I was going in there anyway. He still refused. I bought an extra cheeseburger while I was in there, and offered it to him when I came back out. He scoffed and walked away. I took it across the street to a quiet, obviously homeless older man, and told him I bought it for someone else who didn't seem to want it. He shook his head and said, "That fella's messed up. Dope got him all messed up." He thanked me for the burger. Next time I was down that way, I gave him a $20 bill. The appreciation in his eyes was genuine.

It can sometimes be hard to tell genuine need from genuine sloth when you're new to an area. After a short while, though, they becomes pretty obvious.

I don't think I've ever been in a situation where a panhandler made me feel unsafe. But having someone pop around a gas pump certainly does get your blood flowing.

 

[dmccarty]

...

I was in downtown Atlanta last week on business. I was waiting outside of a hotel to meet my client for a drink and a bite to eat. I was approached by a guy about my age (mid-50's) dressed in a security guard uniform. Asked me if I had a spare couple of bucks so he could get on the MARTA to get home. Showed me a MARTA card and a credit card and claimed that he'd picked up the "wrong debit card" that morning as he'd left for work and there were no more rides left on the MARTA card. I told him that I didn't think that that the machines took cash but he insisted they did. I thought for a second, reached in my pocket and pulled out my own MARTA card and gave it to him. I told him there was one ride left on it. His eyes lit up, he said THANKS and then made a mad rush towards the MARTA station entrance. I don't know if I was scammed or not - but it was only $2.50.

I have been thinking about this since I first read this discussion.

When I was a kid we lived in Atlanta and I remember my dad's story about a beggar asking for money for coffee one morning. My dad offered to buy him a cup of coffee instead of giving the guy a quarter. The beggar just walked off in a huff.

Later,
Dan

 

[kcflhrc]

In Kansas City they would have just shot you without even talking to you and took what they wanted. Careful who you piss off. You don't want to wake up dead.

 

[TheMan419]

I read all these stories about confrontations with pan handlers..... why? Say no and walk away. If they escalate get in your car and leave. Why open up to the opportunity for something bad to happen.

Even if you are carrying walk away. If you shoot, even if you are 100% in the right, do you want to put your fate in the hands of a jury?

That all said, we should all feel empathy to those less fortunate. Donate to your local food pantry or homeless shelter and let the experts vet who really needs the money or services.

 

[TomSeller]

You don't want to wake up dead.

Once I die, I hope I can wake up.