O/T Panhandlers

I went to town to pick up some tires today. It was around lunch time so I went to my favorite burger place for a burger. Upon leaving a lady comes up to me and wants 5 bucks. They all have a story. I gave her the money, she went her way I went mine. I got to thinking on the way home this can be anyone, all it takes if a few bad decisions. Anyway, what she does with the money is her business. I didn't feel bad giving up 5 bucks. Stan

A friend of mine worked for the Unemployment Department. He would always give a panhandler his business card and tell them to call him and he will find them a job. He never got one call from any of them.

Decades ago I worked downtown Chicago, the Loop. Used to be panhandlers at both ends and on both sides of every bridge crossing the Chicago River, as well as all over the Loop. One time going to the commuter station to head home, happened to be a panhandler by the train station, said he was hungry. I went into a restaurant right there, bought him a sandwich, came out and handed it to him, he went off on me that he wanted money, not a sandwich. Another time, used to see the same guy every morning, every evening on his corner of the bridge, and if you're a panhandler, you don't setup on another panhandlers space, or you're done. So I see this guy every day, he seems friendly. Christmas bonus time one year, I get a bonus check for over $2,000. Its free money to me, so on my way home, crossing the bridge, I give the guy a $100 bill. Free money to me, so what the heck. I tell the guy get a hotel room and a good dinner on me, and he thanked the heck out of me. Couple of weeks later, he's a security guard in the building I work in. I see him, he sees me, "Hey, how you doing...". That goes on a couple of weeks, and then I see him panhandling on the bridge again and asked what happened. He tells me that he makes more money panhandling. Across the street at the Opera House, there was a guy wearing Marine camos panhandling every day, "Can you help a disabled marine?". They'd bring school bus loads of kids to the Opera House during the weekday for weekday matinee's, and the guy would stand in front bus doors begging kids for their milk money, getting their milk money, and at the end of the day get into a Mercedes parked in a lot over on Halstead St and hit the expressway headed north to the suburbs. One day, he got stomped badly, and when the cops showed up to help him and found out why he got stomped so bad, they left and he got stomped some more. I could go on and on and on.

These days though with the economy being what it is? Hard to say. A judgement call one has to make on their own. Chicago jaded me since I used to see the same guys on the same corners day after day, year after year, when the economy was smoking good for anyone that wanted work and as much work as they wanted. These days as the economy is taking off like gangbusters, so we are now being told? Judgement call. Good luck.

Mark

They're trying to make it illegal in Grand Rapids Mi. Opponents to the ban say it's unconstitutional. We'll see I guess.

yep.. for anyone with an honest problem.. I don't begrudge them.. but I've seen too many panhandle outside a large box store in my area, that same store will be advertising for needing workers.. and the people will stand out at their driveway and PH ?

Story on TV awhile back about em. They would have a route that someone would drop them off at and then at the end of their shift, they would pick them up. They would make $350 or more a day. There is one always on a pretty busy intersection. He always has some pretty nice looking shoes and is well dressed. If you want to see some really sad looking ones, years ago crossing the bridge into Mexico the ladies would sit their with their hands out and the little kids looking big eyed at you. Heard once that they made a pretty good living doing it.

This wasn't a good post and I took it down.

My wife and I were at Lowes a few weeks ago, and when we were leaving a man asked for a few bucks. I never carry much money exept for an emergency twenty and I didn't have any small bills. I said, "Not today friend", and contiued on. I am hard of hearing and I thought I heard him say something. As I was driving home my wife said he called me a redneck. She waited because she knew if I had heard him or was still in the parking lot I would have lit him up. I think I gave him a few bucks last year. "Bums" in New York can make up to $36,000 a year for a few hours work everyday. They have their own territory. And it is tax free. Another guy near the interstate ramp holds a sign that says,"I won't lie, I need a beer". LOL

A few years ago, as a freshly, honorably discharged from active duty, I saw someone that had a sign.

Will work for food, it read. I offered a ride, food, drink, and the chance to cut up a bunch of trees that were felled during a recent tornado.

He said no.

He apparently wasn't that hungry.

D.

Have a Letter to the Editor from local paper on my bulletin board- Something to the effect of "Where's that work for food guy when I need him? Got 500 bales of hay on the ground, and my crew went to the lake. Shoot, I'd even pay him AND feed him. But he must be at the lake, too."

1999 I took dad on a march get-a-way to florida. we had reservations at a rv park in tampa. at the bottom of the exit ramp was a guy, bearded, dirty, wearing a checkered shirt, limping, arm in a sling, holding up a sign that said "HUNGRY". I was about to throw all the loose change out the window when the light turned green and I had to move. I felt bad for him.
That night, after setting up at the rv park and making dinner, dad went to sleep and I went for a little walk. A block later, I saw the same guy on the other side of the street. dirt washed off, limp gone, sling gone, walking down the street sith a spring in his steep, whistleing to himself, making a bee line for the bar. lost a lot of simpathy for beggars after that.

Spokane Valley outlawed them last year....it is refreshing!!

My wife and I were at a TB the other day and a guy came in chatting with the crew..said he got tomatoes on his taco the other day when he asked that they hold the them...and what was their policy. They said "We give you another one". Then he hangs around jabbering about how he used to work at TB, out of work, etc...I think he snorted something before he came in. Anyway, he knew how to work the crew, probably just came from getting a freebie at MickyD's down the street.

Big time in Bloomington Il out by the Interstate and Rt. 9. Van comes by in the morning and drops them of with a sign and a lunch, then comes back in late afternoon to pick them up.

I always ask em what time the van is coming by, but all I get are dirty looks.

call the local tv station and report it, maybe you can get them some bad free press.

Mark = Your incorrect on one thing, USED TO BE. They are out there everyday at the bridges, in at every intersection around the train stations, in front of Walgreens across from the Tribune Tower. All hard luck stories, same ones all the time. The ploy now is someone walks up and needs money for a train ticket to go home, you ask them where they are going, and after they tell you, you then ask why are you walking north when the train station is south? They get upset and stomp away. One sits in front of the train station with her kid, another walks up asking to help feed his kid, 4-6 yr old boy in tow. You feel bad as you dont know if they need help or just the same old line.

I've been approached several times recently at the larger gas stations while I'm pumping gas. An unkempt man will come up and beg for money to fix his hard luck situation. One time, I got back in my vehicle after pumping gas and stayed there just to watch the panhandler approaching all the other folks pumping gas, too. Folks gave him money. I've never given money to panhandlers because most of them are fakes trying to make money as most of these other posts testify. The way I feel, do some work and make some money. Simple as that. Funny, panhandlers never seem to be begging for work to do.

I hear they can make $2-300 dollars a day, in Annapolis. That's more than me. When they come up to my window, I asks them for a loan! I hope our governor is in the same position, next election!

few years back we were heading home from work fellow was standing at the edge of overpass with a sign hungry&homeless we proceeded to mac donalds got a bag of hamburgers and a drink, gone probably 10 minutes, he was gone when we returned so we headed down the ramp to the interstate toward home noticed a blue tarp hung in the trees and enough empty beer cans lying around it to buy a couple of meals kept going didn't bother to deliver the food we learned a quick lesson from that

I tell 'em to take a hike ever since the time I gave four bits to a guy hustling me at the convenience store. Told me he was 'hongry'. Didn't even say thanks, just walked to the next car and made the same pitch. I waited around and he hit three or four more customers before he collected enough to get two quarts of Bud. I got out of my truck and expressed my disappointment. He stared at me for a minute and then agreed that he was indeed a worthless piece of schiess.

Another time one approached me downtown, said he was trying to buy a bus ticket and needed a dollar. I told him that if a dollar was all it cost to get him out of town it was well worth it.

Check this out.
Will Work for Food

I remember my mother telling stories about the hobo's that rode on the Railroad during the depression and knocked on their door to ask for something, anything, to eat.

That to a great extent went away between the 30's and the 2000's when our economy was booming. Sure there was homeless and panhandlers in the big cities but most were mental cases or druggies.

Today there are genuine hungry people with no job, very little hope and not much for prospects.
Unfortunately, after a while they get frustrated and turn to stealing and petty crime, then there is no going back.

We should have thought this through better before we shipped our jobs overseas and let our financial system go wild and get itself in trouble.

I got approached years back by a guy in a gas station, he was living out of his car. He asked me for $5 for gas. I started to say no, then realized that I knew him. He was the CPA that had done my taxes a few years before. He actually never finished my taxes that year, I finally had to go to his office and get my records back, and finished them myself. I asked him what happened, he told me that a divorce and the stress of trying to go to law school to become a tax attorney got too much for him. He appeared very nervous, so I didn't push him on it. BTW, I gave him the $5. As far as I can remember, that's the only time I've ever given money to a beggar. There are all kinds of folks out there, and all of them have a story, they are all god's children.

Yes people are falling on hard time , and our gov't could fix our country quite easily if they would listen to common sense. some of you older fella probably remember the CCC. This country needs something like that again, the hell with all this foreign aid ,take care of our own first . A lot of landowners would be more than happy to let their tax dollars pay for workers to clean up woodlots ,tear out brushlots cleanup gullys etc .Never been there but I have been told in Europe there is no fallen trees and messy countrysides. Damn it lets make "America the Beautiful" the best place on earth

Couple of years ago I had just finished an appointment at the Fargo VA and my wife and I were going to eat and do some shopping. Saw a guy with a sign, "Homeless disabled vet, need money for meds". I pull into the parking lot behind him, got out and told him I would buy him lunch and then drive him over to VA and walk him through getting signed up.....he refused help....guess VA don't stock the "meds" he was looking for. He was close enough he could have walked to the VA.

I have 2 sons living in Fargo. One has a guy renting an apartment in the same building where the cheapest rent is 450 a month for a one bed room, thats how that guy makes his money is on a street corner. And these are not a dump!

While I'm sure that there are some people out there who are in fact homeless there are a lot of scammers too.....question is how do you tell them apart?

Rick

Not all people begging for money are suffering. Several years ago in Toronto a newspaper was doing a story on a panhandler only to discover that she was quite well off. She dressed like a poor old lady, walked with a limp and took in a couple hundred bucks an hour. What she didn't know was that they were secretly following her. They followed her to an alley a couple blocks away where she was picked up by someone in a really nice car. She had no limp hurrying to the car. Then she took her outfit off and they followed her home a to another neighborhood. She lived in a nice apartment but obviously wasn't too happy when they knocked on her door with camera's for an interview. She declined but not before they took some good shots of a big screen TV and other items you wouldn't expect a street person to have. I think her son lived with her and that's who picked her up. She ended up getting charged with fraud if I remember right. It was a big story in the news.

Pretty much like what you did- you did the right thing..........offer food. If they refuse...they aren"t hurting, they"re just abusing generosity. Offer food, then walk! Saw the same thing near Ft. Benning, Ga. two years ago when my daughter graduated from jump school..(yeah, SHE made it! fifth paratrooper in our family)..guy comes up to the car when we"re at a restaurant...hard luck story about wife and kids. Bit too much Jack Daniels to believe him. It is lo ciento mucho time!

(quoted from post at 23:21:13 02/16/12) Pretty much like what you did- you did the right thing..........offer food. If they refuse...they aren"t hurting, they"re just abusing generosity. Offer food, then walk! Saw the same thing near Ft. Benning, Ga. two years ago when my daughter graduated from jump school..(yeah, SHE made it! fifth paratrooper in our family)..guy comes up to the car when we"re at a restaurant...hard luck story about wife and kids. Bit too much Jack Daniels to believe him. It is lo ciento mucho time!

Click to expand...

LOL ya know only 2 things fall from the sky........


Rick (Ret Army, Armor.....not a jumper cause you can't airdrop a real tank)

see plenty here also.... only ones I give anything to are the ones that don't ask and just play music, sing, maybe a little show, etc with a box on the ground..... They aren't always hurting but are doing something and just let folks drop what they think it's worth....

Wow your nice.
I get real verbal and almost violent with a-holes like that.

this year in columbus oh. a homeless man,and panhandler was caught on camera paying 700.00 for a new flatscreen tv,...so they followed him to a house where he took it....said he was buying it for friend

I ask them for 2 bucks and tell them things have been pretty tough on the farm this year

I always ask them if they have change for a hunderd.

Don't have too much problem here, but used to see the beggars all the time when I lived near Denver, CO.

The simple solution of "will work for food" was to always carry a supply of fast food gift certificates.

Give them enough to buy a meal, and they just look at you funny. Some even said they want just money so they can eat where they choose and will through the certificates on the ground and walk away. DOUG