It’s funny you should mention a traveling homeless person. I once was told a story about how someone saw a homeless person begging for money here in Richmond, but said person telling the story said he saw that same exact man begging while he was vacationing in Orlando. Crazy right?
lol don’t take pics of the bums.
but yeah my friends are so used to it, they just walk passed like it’s nothing. completely unphased.
what makes it more awkward in your situation is that it’s like you by yourself on what probably isn’t a busy street. so it’s like you almost “have” to respond in some way.
try replying “sorry man” and shrug your shoulders. i’d probably give some money myself, but not like everytime. I don’t really have much to give when I go place anyway.
Over here in WA most of the bums are mentally ill or street kids…There is this one guy who lives in the same exact bush, right beside where he begs for money…
I remember a comedian once said something about bums with funny signs dont need money…If they still got jokes then they are still ok…
like i said, that’s a very materialistic view of the world
nope, its makes perfect sense.
I used to catch the bus to work in Downtown Cincinnati and they are everywhere between the bus stop and the few blocks to my building. If they are the sit and hold a sign type, i’ll give them something. Sometimes they are nice enough people to talk to, some of the war vets are cool. If they are the step in your path and put their filthy fucking hands on my nice shirt type, I’ll break their fucking toothless jaws.
In the scenario of them walking up to my car at the drive through or them being in a pack, just say loudly and firmly “I got nothing for you”. If you seem bothered or angry at them, they usually back off. It’s when you start to show some compassion or sympathy that they press the issue. You don’t necessarily have to tell them to fuck off, just insinuate it with body language.
This probably works a little better for me though cuz I’m 6’4".
i used to volunteer at a teen shelter so lemme speak on this…
what you have to realize is homeless people typically have some kind of mental illness in addition to being homeless. they missed some key developmental phase early on in their younger years that leave them unequipped to handle their situation. by the time they are adults, its pretty grim and bleak, so i chose to volunteer at the teen shelter instead.
a normal person who loses everything will be able to figure out a way to improve their situation. so basically, if you were in that situation, you wouldn’t commit suicide. you’d find a shelter where social workers would help you find a job, and provide you with food, shower and clothing so you don’t show up to work smelling like shit. since you’d be a normal person, you’d be able to get back on your feet. the social workers would also work with you and find suitable low income housing for you that you can afford. so on and so forth.
I deal with NYC bums on the train on a weekly basis. If you force your way through what ever they most likely won’t do shit. In the very rare occurrence they try to touch you do the wealthy swat. And yeah, some of them be just fakin.
“Homeless? Fuck it, I ain’t gonna lie. I’m just lazy.”
Bums make a hell of a lot of money.
Living here in Austin (about 3 hours from Dallas), the place has a community for bums! Hell, everyone knows all the bums around the down town area, and some bums become so popular, they’re city events to celebrate days of there birth days, or even go as far as to get them accepted as city counsel and have a large following of joke petitions to let them run (of course, they are turned down).
But about the money, I remember someone researched the gross amount that bum makes on average, and they said they would make about $12 an hour every day, and they would normally stay out collecting cash for a good 10 hours a day.
Talking to one of the more familiar bums I always pass after leaving work, I would normally give him like loose change or whatever, but he seemed happy to get anything, even if it’s like a quarter. Over 3 months passed, and I still see the guy there, and seems to be in good shape. One day while driving by him again, a red light stopped me and I decided to ask him, “how do you go about living like this? Do you con people out of there money?” the bum laugh and replied, “oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m homeless! However, with the amount I make, it’s feels impossible to want to do anything else.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you can make a living off this. I came from living below an underpass, to now small hotel room. They charge a good 35 a night, but the amount I make every day, my wallet is fine. I eat Denny’s every day and even leave tip. In about 6 more months, I should be off and can start living again with the amount I’ll soon have.”
6 months passed, he disappeared.
Maybe not all bums are as lazy as they seem to be, but maybe some get stuck in the position of being a bum, and all they do is buy alcohol and waste life away.
Bottom line: if they beg for cash, tell them to fuck off.
I live in a small town outside of Detroit and there is a bum that has been walking around for years, winter and summer and me and my friends quite frankly, can’t understand how this dude survives. He is the epitome of crack head: one eye open, talks to himself out loud. I don’t even think he would know what to do with money if someone gave it to him. I use to see him all the time when I was in grade school but I usually see him a couple times a year now. I don’t encounter a lot of bums outside of my car so I usually just ignore them easily.
Never go to Portland, OR. They’re everywhere.
If you want to make a difference at a individual level, contribute to organized institutions designed to maximize efficiency in resource allocation to help the homeless. Volunteer at shelters, donate to charities, participate in food drives, etc.
Giving money and food to bums on the street is totally counterproductive, as:
[LIST=1]
[]It gives homeless the incentive to stay on the streets and continue bgging (it’s sort of like feeding pigeons…)
[]A lot of money often goes to drugs and alcohol (as others in this thread have already said)
[/LIST]
That’s why I said in my previous post that you’re doing shit by giving money or food to bums on the streets. Don’t act on sympathy alone. You’re not helping anybody.
If they ask for food/coffee, its better that you give them the food/coffee than the $. Because…
[media=youtube]G6HLi4oCebc[/media]
since i dont usually have cash on me, i sometimes just offer them a cig
True story, one night i was out and about in Cali drunk as shit for my friend’s wedding. A bum approached our group and asked me for money. being drunk and generous i said, i’ll give you an ENTIRE dollar if you give me a cigarette
the bum’s eyes lighted up and said, HOLD ON, i’ll find you a cig! and then he asked random strangers on the street for cigarettes until he finally got one. He gave it to me, and I gave him my dollar.
If you’re gonna give em money, make em work for it.
I can’t stand panhandlers. Fuckin’ liars, over 95% of them. Never give beggars or the homeless money. Just don’t. You’re being played. Give them food.
wat.
…wat
Where the fuck do you live, son?!
Social workers? Specifically for the homeless?! Now I’ve read it all. Dood, I was homeless before and it was due to my roommate fucking me over on our rent (and I had two jobs but there’s no weekly hotels like InTown Suites around here) but man the only way you got a social worker in Nebraska is if it was for State housing, food stamps, section 8, and general assistance. None of them help you find a job. They tell you either you make too much money for assistance or you need to find a job to even get marginal assistance, lol.
The homeless shelters here (two major shelters, a few soup shops, a vegan church along with other churches) don’t provide more than the essentials to the homeless: a place to stay (but you can’t stay all day unless you volunteer for clean up duties), food (donations), clothing (limited times, days, and even sizes) and showers (neither shelter is mandatory unless for extreme reasons). One of the shelters won’t let you stay if you don’t go to “their church services”. The same place provides a van for transportation from Iowa to downtown Omaha, and back. Here, some homeless people look “healthier” than you. Literally, these people never miss a meal. The other shelter feeds the people on average 5 times a day! they have a separate trailer where the true bums just sit, eat, and watch movies on a damn bolted down 60 inch tv (old school model). Instead of helping the people, these shelters are trying to retain as many men and women as possible because without people there’s no donations. It’s like getting paid for having advertisement on your forum but it’s for a homeless shelter.
But they do provide like clinic check ups for people on certain days, but most of the people that actually stay are seniors on meds (they have “med beds” which is like saying “lifer”) volunteers that happen to be homeless and actually, criminals that run the shelter! people who don’t want to serve time for a certain crime can get “rehab” for a year and they live on site (yea, Nebraska love to give people “second chances”[/joke]) . they can’t leave the area unless it’s for AA meetings or church. So, you got pissed of guys telling bums what to do because they mad that the bums can come and go whenever they please, but this guy that beat his wife is in charge of an area that looks like the set from the show Oz complete with metal toilets. I’m not trolling. The only thing missing is the prison bars and guards with guns.
I just can’t fathom the homeless getting more “assistance” than that.
Jesus Christ yo…
also bums do not stick together, its every man for themselves if you seen two “Atlantian” bums trying to work the same train chances are its going down…
I did not intend to sound funny there either…
I guess it all depends on where you live.
As I stated in my large post, bums have there own community where I live, and they all seem to hang around each other in groups and what not (you can see them in packs around the packs and shit. However, they never cause any harm).
a string puller indeed…