It depends on my mood. It also depends where you are approaching me. There was a woman I dated who I would always give money to panhandlers because she was such a softie and I knew she would go back and give him money if I did not.
don’t even think of approaching me in a mostly empty parking lot after 10 pm. Ain’t happening.
A quick search a couple of weeks ago suggested that many of them are pimped out by someone else who gets a cut of the proceeds, if not willing to go the prostitution route if you ask them.
Like the nice middle-aged lady where I broke down and gave a fiver to her a couple of years ago after I initially blew her off. Who then immediately propositioned me.
I don’t understand why you couldn’t just go and get hired to wave an advertising sign on the side of the road instead.
I would have given him a dollar for creativity.
Usually not. But I have given meal vouchers and/or bought bottles water for them. I hate it when they are smoking cigs. Call me judgmental, I’ll take it because I am.
Followed this on a local Facebook “Rant and Rave” page
A few years ago there was a couple at Walmart with signs asking for money for food. Then they moved to the parking along the street by Walmart as I guess Walmart told them to get off the property.
A few people asked for a list of food items they needed as they were getting groceries anyways. The couple said they prefer to do their own shopping. One person followed them after they “closed up shop” and found they were staying at a local campground in a very high end RV. Once they were exposed the game was up. Moved to the next town but due to social media their scam was exposed within a day.
I do not give direct hand outs but suggest local charities/services like Salvation Army and United Way and you can tell by their responses if they are truly in need.
No, I do not give money. Not taking any moral stance, I just prefer to stay in my locked vehicle with the windows up for safety reasons. The most common interaction here is roadside/intersection beggars.
In the extremely rare situation where I’m exposed and out of my vehicle, I carry a few bills in a front pocket to avoid confrontation. It’s easier to hand a few bills to a threatening or intimidating beggar than triggering them by ignoring or walking around.
I have to say in the last 35-ish years, I’ve never encountered a threatening or intimidating panhandler. Quite the opposite-- they’re usually sheepish, embarrassed, and hang back. I used to work in the heart of downtown and was regularly approached. Not saying there aren’t any. Maybe because I’m a woman, I dunno.
One time I came out of my office building on my way to the ATM in the next block for lunch money and a guy approached me. I told him to wait, that I’d be right back. I got an extra $5.00 for him and gave it to him on the way back in. I think he was pretty surprised. 
That was in the early 80s. Today I’m more likely to give $20.
Not that I’m wealthy-- I’m most decidedly NOT. But I’ve been broke, and it’s not going to make the difference to me between whether I eat today or not. If they’re scamming me or use it to buy booze, I don’t care. (God knows I put away a TON of cheap wine back in the day…). I give for ME, not for THEM.
When I was in college, there was a homeless guy who begged in front of the Duane Reade around the corner from my dorm. I used to buy him a sandwich or a can of soup when I passed by. Very sweet man; we would just chat for a few minutes about whatever, and I would try to remember a new joke for him each time.
There was another guy in the neighborhood I saw a few times, who had a sign that said “I NEED A MIRACLE”. I couldn’t give him a miracle, but at least I could give him a sandwich.
Question for everybody including me: Would you be more, or less inclined to give $$ to someone holding this sign?
“Will Beg For Money”
Seen many years ago: Will Work For Less Food.
I saw a man and a woman yesterday at the intersection (with traffic lights) of a very busy highway. The other street runs past the grocery store. This is a favorite spot for beggars. I was 3 cars back from the light. The guy was at the window of the first car. From what I could see the driver gave him some money but it was all change. The beggar had to bend his sign to carry it back to where the woman was sitting on the concrete median. He dumped out the change and it went everywhere. So the two of them were scrounging around on their knees trying pick up all the dimes and pennies. His now bent up sign said “Stranded - Need $600”. I immediately thought of the previous posts about how some are out there begging for a pimp. What a life.
I would depend on their appearance. If it was an old panhandler or a young child, probably. Someone young and mentally sound, would need to be more clever.
Hell, yes I’d give them money.
I live in Chicago so I see them every day. The sign holders in the usual spots are professionals, I assume there’s some sort of panhandling code the determining who gets which prime begging location for the sucker tourists.
I don’t run across too many aggressive panhandlers although I try to avoid walking by convenience stores between 11 and midnight. Chicago doesn’t allow the sale of single serve alcohol after midnight. The ones near the 7/11 across the street from the Sears Tower are particularly bad. I’ve had a few cross the street to come at me.
The worst are the ones who play lost tourist and then try to give me a sob story. I’ll give directions to anyone. I know the skyscrapers can mess with phone maps and Wacker is a weird street anyway. But, if I start to hear the sob story, I move on
Are there any studies comparing the number of people who say “I would rather give to agencies that help the homeless” to the number of people that actually do contribute?
How do you buy anything? Restaurants make better food than me. Their talent makes me feel bad and they should be paying me for some reason. Farmers grow better food than me. Airlines fly better than me. The water department is able to supply better water to millions of households than me. Ford makes better cars than me. Colgate makes better toothpaste than me. Firestone makes better tires than me and I’m envious and they should pay me. If you don’t want to drop a couple bucks into the saxophone case, fine, but your weird justification is weirdly weird.
Yeah, I don’t mind buskers and it’s weird to feel guilty that they’ve got more talent than you do. I’ll often give them money.
However the ones in Chicago red line underground subway stations are the worst, the acoustics are so bad. I get that winter weather sucks for busking but it just sounds like noise
Panhandling sociopath hijinks. People with new cars pretending to be homeless.
I was approached at a gas station once by a man with a pregnant woman in his car and he asked if I could buy him some gas so they could get to where they were going. He stated that he was trying to get ahold of a friend he had in the area but was having no luck. I said I would, and he took my name and address and said he would send me money. I figured it was a scam, but by the time I filled my truck up, he said he had gotten ahold of his friend and didn’t need it anymore. He couldn’t stop thanking me anyway.
For some reason, I’m not offended by this. I doubt it’s an easy way to make money, and if “rich” people want to do it, more power to them.