If I’m in my car, never - it’s too awkward to hold up traffic at the intersections where they hang out while I paw through my purse for my wallet. If I’m on foot, I will frequently give to buskers. Sometimes they are really good and they are working for their money, so why not? Usually I won’t give to other beggars, but once in a while I do, even though I know it’s not a good way to help, just to create the occasional human connection.
I will be haunted forever by a scene that happened in Harvard Square around 1979. It was kind of late and the streets were pretty deserted. I was walking home with my date in the cold New England weather when a girl who seemed younger than us (probably late teens) asked for cash. We walked by without acknowledging her. She gave a sob and howled, “Can you please just LOOK AT ME and acknowledge I exist?”
Since this was Harvard Square and her presence was kind of atypical, it was probably just somebody’s psychology experiment. (I rather hope it was, since it was so tragic if it was real.) Still, that moment stuck with me. Every since then I have tried to at least look at people and give them a smile or nod even if I don’t give cash. And I don’t veer my path to give them wide berth, I pass them normally just as I would any other person on the street.
Pretty much most of the beggars I see around have better jackets and/or shoes than I have. It’s pretty much a scam. There are “pimps” that take them to their corners and give them their signs. They have territories and get a cut of the money they make. So yeah streetwalking without the sex.
There’s a group in my area that have been working two off-ramps for years. They work shifts. When they aren’t on the ramp, they hang out at Walgreens or McDonalds. Everyone in the area knows who they are. With the advent of Nextdoor I’ve gotten to know more about them. Many people have tried to help them but they prefer what they do. They aren’t homeless, they have a house in the neighborhood. They apparently make pretty good money. That surprises me because I wouldn’t think there were enough people just passing through this area who would fall for their scam. But obviously, some do.
I remember passing them once and thinking I’d much rather work than stand in the freezing cold all day, you’d have to be crazy to want to do that. Which made me realize they probably do have mental problems. I feel sorry for them but this is how they’ve chosen to live.
I don’t generally have any money and there aren’t a lot of beggars around these parts, but I’ve given money to beggars in the past. I’ve never been self-righteous enough to give them food or whatever I think they need, though.
I’ve never given money to a busker. I envy their musical talent and that makes me feel bad. Why would I pay them for making me feel bad? They’re got their musical talent, what have I got? They should be giving me money.
I bought a copy of The Big Issue once, just out of curiousity. It was terrible. For those that don’t know, The Big Issue is a magazine that was founded to get a big company a share of the begging money. It’s sold exclusively by homeless people, and sells only because people want to help the homeless sellers. The company that prints the magazine gets two thirds of the money.
I wouldn’t give money to homelessness charity, they’d just fluff their endowment and pay money out to their executives. And no-one who has dealth with social services would listen to a social worker.
I give money occasionally. And I don’t care if they want it for drink or drugs. I figure their existence is pretty fucking miserable, and why should they be denied some solace when the rest of us will treat ourselves whenever we fancy it.
I’m tired of this idea that because someone is struggling, we treat them like children.
In my area, panhandlers get rather aggressively confrontational, so I avoid them as much as possible. Getting into my personal space and trying to issue commands is NOT a good way to get my cooperation, especially if you’re then going to call me foul names if I (honestly) state I don’t have any cash. Being a shortish middle-aged female with lousy eyesight and occasional mobility issues (arthritic hips), I tend to feel rather vulnerable in situations like that.
My husband and I were once taking a short trip with a friend of ours, in her car. She’s a softie, so when she spotted one of the sign holders claiming to be hungry, she took over some food she had in the car. She got cursed at for not giving cash. Doesn’t exactly convince me that the sign is truthful.
I live in a rural area of Missouri just off I-70, so there are often folks asking for money etc. at the top of the exit/entrance ramps. I sometimes offer some cash. During the winter I carry small zip top bags with several pairs of good socks with a few dollars included. I’ve also donated gently used sweatshirts or light weight jackets. The socks seem to be appreciated quite a bit.
I’m not inclined to give any money but, also, it’s a rare day that I’m carrying cash (unless it’s a $20 I got out of the ATM for a direct purpose). I sometimes wonder this about all the collected people looking for a hand-out/donation/sale from stuff on the street – it feels like everything from begging to selling candy bars for a band trip should be a lot less profitable than it used to be in our debit card and payment app world.
The title of this thread is “Beggars with Signs”. Do you consider buskers to be beggars?. The open instrument case is often more like a +1 button than a solicitation for money. Even it’s the latter, it is voluntary payment for a service not a request for charity.
Purely by whim; once in a while, not as a constant thing. There are genuinely needy people and there are “pros” (and begging has been a carefully calculated science since the beginning of history).
ETA: I wonder how I’d do with a sign that read “Booze and Drugs do Nothing; Need CHOCOLATE”.
I do not give money to beggars as, like others are saying, it discourages them from getting real, formal help. However, I do not ignore them or treat them as non-humans, either. I will look at them and nod or waive or whatever to acknowledge them. If they ask me for money, which I rarely have on me anyway, I do not say “I don’t have any” which they will suspect as a lie. I simply say “I can’t help you” and that usually halts that part of the engagement and allows me to carry on my way.
There is a man I see regularly along one of the bike trails here in town. He is fairly clean-cut and not dirty, and his belongings are neatly stowed in a Radio-flyer-type wagon. I have seen him on a park picnic table and occasionally when I go out early he camps under it. I think he just waits for darkness and then just crawls under there, throws a tarp over the table and his wagon and just sleeps there until daylight, then moves along so as not to attract any unwanted attention as a camper. Anyway, one day he was sitting on the table so I stopped to talk with him. I asked him how he was doing and if he needed anything and we exchanged first names. He told me a few things he needed (a can opener, stuff for someone living outside, etc.) and mentioned he is not a drug user or alcoholic (but then sheepishly tried to hide a large can of beer). I motioned that does not matter to me and I would be back sometime with some things for him. I went back a few days later and found him at the same table and gave him some toiletries (soap bars and shampoo from hotels, extra unopened toothbrush and paste from the dentist office, can opener, an old pair of hiking shoes with some life in them, etc.). I also included a few bucks in there. He looked it all over and accepted it and was very grateful. Sadly, the table he hung out at was removed shortly after that encounter and I have not seen him since.
Anyway, I wont judge anyone and anything you give them, money or supplies you cannot make any assumptions or cares about what they’l use it for. That guy may have sold all that stuff I got him to buy beer. So what.
Same here. Last week my brother paid me back for something (in cash), and when I went to the grocery store their entire debit and credit card system was down. I had to pay in cash. If he hadn’t given me that cash, I would not have been able to buy groceries.
So… another reason not to give out cash. (While I don’t need it often, when I need it, I need it.) I heard there’s a few beggars using Square card-reading machines now. I’ve used those machines two or three times at various businesses before and I have found them to be trustworthy.
I am sure the answer to this for most people is “it depends” on how compelling a case the beggar makes. One day last year I saw a woman in her 20s begging and pleading for help, but she was blaming people for not helping her, so nobody gave her money. She was at a good intersection for getting cash.
The same day I got on the train system and I saw a woman in her 30s carrying a baby. She approached some people silently and simply held out her hand. Many people donated. She did not approach me. I believe she was approaching randomly, and she might not have spoken English (she was white, in case that’s important, but Europe has many countries where English is not so widely spoken). Afterward she got off at the next station and waited for the next train. Clearly she put thought into this.
Usually when we have beggars on the train they ask everyone, and you can see people tense up as the beggar approaches, or trying to not be noticed. Then the beggar will usually open the door between cars (something that personally drives me up the wall) to ask for money in the next car. They don’t get off until they’ve gone through the entire train.
Oh wow. That’s crazy. I hope no one here does that. It seems like a perfect way to get your card info stolen. Even if Square itself is safe, there’s no way to know if this person is using a hacked scanner.
There is a lot of truth to that, BUT I’m talking about basic rules like not fighting with staff or other clients, or bringing illicit drugs into the facility.
I’ve also heard that a nearly-universal zero-tolerance rule for domestic violence shelters is “Do not contact the abuser”, and this is actually the most common reason for kicking (usually) women out. I once worked with a woman who had briefly lived in one in the Phoenix area in the late 1990s, and if someone did that there, not only did they have to leave, but this shelter would not provide services to them for 6 months. Yes, I know DV is a very complicated thing that can be extremely hard to extricate yourself from, but don’t make it harder than it already is. Plus, the shelter’s resources were limited and they wanted to use them for people who would actually benefit from them.
Both of these things. I often give. I’ve been dead broke in my life, although I never panhandled, and it sucks. This is NOT an easy way to survive. I don’t care if I’m “helping” them. Who knows what constitutes help anyway? Maybe one act of kindness helps that person today or for the next five minutes. I also don’t care what they do with the money-- that’s none of my business. Just like if I give you a present and you throw it away or re-gift it-- out of my hands.
Speaking of signs, I saved this picture years ago, and I’ll never have a better opportunity to share it. In case you can’t follow the imgur link, the guy’s sign says: