Beggars

What is your take on beggars? If you see someone on the streets with a sign asking for money or if someone comes up directly to you asking for money will you give them money? Will you walk past them and pretend you did not hear them or will you just stop and tell them that you do not want to give them money?

It really depends. But usually don't give money. I'd rather pay for a meal. If they say they're hungry but don't want that then I have to figure they might not be so hungry afterall. Sometimes you know it's a scam other times you really sympathize.

CeCe wrote:It really depends. But usually don't give money. I'd rather pay for a meal.

Done that. And since beggers can't be choosers she just said "thank you very much."

The last beggar who asked me for money said he wanted it for coffee. I walk past them , but this time we were headed to Dairy Queen, so when we finished I bought him a cup of coffee and made sure I took some sugar and cream. He was so grateful I started to wonder if he really just wanted coffee.

For the most part I won't give any money, I tell them "sorry, I don't have any money" and keep it moving. There's a lot of drunks in this area, so I'm positive they'll use it for booze.

Too many of them where I live. I would go broke if I gave them all money. I did once give some homeless kids some leftover food I had from a restaurant. They were really grateful. I felt so bad for them. I could really see they were hungry. But there are so many "pretend" street kids, I don't trust most of them.

Some cities have vouchers you can give beggars they can use to turn in to participating restaurants for food but many of these people just throw them away because they want the cash for drugs.

Cheaps wrote:For the most part I won't give any money, I tell them "sorry, I don't have any money" and keep it moving. There's a lot of drunks in this area, so I'm positive they'll use it for booze.

When I was in Indianapolis...there was a guy on the corner outside of the mall with a sign that read, as this is verbatim:

"Can you please spare a dollar? I'm homeless and jobless.

P.S. I ain't gonna lie, I'm just going to use the money for beer"

I gave him two.

Depends. Sometime I'll ignore them, but more often than not....I'll toss them a dollar or two. Regardless of what it's used for, it's a hustle. The blatant scammers though, I don't give anything. I can usually tell the difference.

Nystyle709 wrote:

When I was in Indianapolis...there was a guy on the corner outside of the mall with a sign that read, as this is verbatim:

"Can you please spare a dollar? I'm homeless and jobless.

P.S. I ain't gonna lie, I'm just going to use the money for beer"

I gave him two.

I remember you posting that awhile back, gotta give him props for honesty.

Nystyle709 wrote:

When I was in Indianapolis...there was a guy on the corner outside of the mall with a sign that read, as this is verbatim:

"Can you please spare a dollar? I'm homeless and jobless.

P.S. I ain't gonna lie, I'm just going to use the money for beer"

I gave him two.

You see that all the time in Portland. Asking for beer money or booze money. They get pretty creative. I'm waiting for someone to have a sign that says "Can you spare a dollar for opera tickets?" or something more outrageous.

It was 100 degrees in Chicago on my 16th birthday when a friend and I were walking down Michigan Ave after just getting some gelatis. This scary looking old women who had all of her stuff in trash bags came to me and asked us for our ice cream. I gave her mine, my friend didn't. The woman said, "Bless you child". I kid you not that it felt like some sort of supernatural test. I went to McD's and bought her food over the next couple days--- then on the third day she was gone. But her stuff in trash bags remained. All i thought was that I killed her with all the fat/grease in the fast food! LOL

The matter really hasn't come up around here.