I’ve never given to a panhandler and doubt that I ever would. I don’t care what other people do, but I’ve heard too many stories of street beggars actually doing it as a “career” for want of a better word, and that irks me. I prefer to give to organizations that I know directly help those in need.
Totally anecdotal, but some years back, my husband and I watched a couple of guys park their car, take bedrolls out of the trunk, and walk down to a highway on ramp with a cardboard sign. Sorry guys, if you can drive and you can walk a couple of blocks, you can find a real job…
Last winter, I had a couple ask me in the Target parking lot if they could have some money for food. I offered to go in the store with them and buy them whatever they wanted; they asked if I would meet them at the Steak & Shake a block away, which I did, and I paid for their order. They appeared to be very grateful, and I’ll do it again if someone asks.
The main reason I won’t give money to panhandlers is because the ones around here have generally been banned from every shelter in town because they refuse to follow the rules.
I was going to go “I don’t give money to panhandlers, and neither should you” but I can’t quite make myself decide for others - so I went “something else”. I don’t think it helps and I think it wiser to give time to shelters and outreach programs but if someone feels good dropping a buck in a cup, I can live with that.
It’s all an organized scam over here. Any real beggars in Bangkok would get the bejesus kicked out of them by the fake beggars’ handlers. They often run in monthly themes. Sometimes it’s little girls with puppies. Sometimes quadriplegic men. You have to wonder just how a man with no arms and legs makes it to the middle of the pedestrian walkover above a road, but then you notice he hasn’t folded his limbs back behind him all that skillfully after all.
I do recall one ladyboy in Pattaya who got caught begging among foreigners. Carried a little baby that was rented from a neighbor.
About 30 years ago, I saw males standing on the corner in Houston holding signs saying “I will drill oil wells for food”. I never gave them anything. I suspect I’ll start to seeing those signs again.
Yeah, probably my one limitation. I’ll give to most anyone under the right circumstances, but not usually to able-bodied street kids. Though I’ve made exceptions even then.
But no, gender doesn’t really enter into it. More a matter if I feel like I have a buck I can spare.
I’ve never been approached by a female panhandler. I gave money to a famous panhandler once, a couple years after he was supposed to be past all that. I only gave him some change though. I would rather give to panhandlers than guys aggressively walking through traffic collecting money for charity. This reminds me to avoid driving the next week.
I see female panhandlers on the NY subway all the time, usually giving their spiel about having just been kicked out of their home and have to care for their several children, sometimes even carrying around a baby. I don’t believe any of it for a second. The other type of female panhandler I always see on the subway are the singers/musicians. They usually end up getting a couple people to give them money.
Gender isn’t a factor. I give some money to people who ask nicely (I’ve been down & out myself in the past). I give money to people who bother to busk instead of just ask for money.
I don’t like whiny panhandlers. I don’t like panhandlers who lurk around banks and other places where they’ve just watched you obtain cash, that’s creepy.
I have given money to pan handlers. I’ve seen the specials about how some of them make more money than I do, but some of them really do need the help. Since I can’t know the difference, if I have an extra $5 on me when I see one, they get it. I don’t live in a big city though, so I don’t run into them on a daily basis.
Something else. I occasionally give to panhandlers, based on gut feeling. If I’m right, good job. If I’m not, what the hell. I have enough money to waste a little.
I give every so often, and I don’t care how they use my money. Female vs male doesn’t make a lick of difference to me, so far as I can tell. The approach may. If they’re aggressive, no money. IF they do the "collecting signatures for [insert cause of the day], and, oh, by the way, do you have a ‘donation’ " when it’s obvious they’re just making shit up for show, no money. The “I’m a buck short for bus far to Albuqurque/wherever” one also drives me nuts, but I have occasionally given, as I have once found myself in that situation and someone was kind enough to help me out (and I was able to repay them at the end of the trip when I found an ATM that accepted my bank card–this was when bank cards were still tied to specific banks/bank networks.)
I’ll generally give a bit to anyone who asks or looks as if they need a few cents or bucks – I don’t really care if they drink it up or buy Chicken McNuggets.
However, I won’t roll down my car window if a guy knocks on the glass to ask for a handout (in a parking lot, etc). It feels too risky – especially at night. A guy to whom I give a few bucks now and then at his 7-11 panhandling spot did this to me one night; since I knew him I did roll down my window and gave him some moola along with a mini-lecture about not approaching women at night. He seemed genuinely surprised that this could feel threatening to many women.
I didn’t pick one because I cannot ever remember a time when I was even approached by a female panhandler. I always figured it was because a woman panhandler would think that a guy would immediately assume she was offering sex for money (and/or he would just make that assumption regardless!)
It’s interesting for me to see how many people haven’t seen female panhandlers. While men probably outnumber women somewhere on the ratio of 10:1 here in Chicago (at least in my experience), that still makes it a fairly regular occurrence for me. (Until she was killed by a hit-and-run driver, I would see one every day whenever I took the highway near my house, although now there is a new one I see about half the time I’m on that road.) Just doing a quick google, it appears that 17% of panhandlers are women.