And the number of people that used to tend to do so have decreased significantly due to, once again, our cashless society.
Having busked in Philly in a jester’s outfit (yes, I really did) it doesn’t pay.
Back To The OP
I see all kinds of uncited assumptions from people.
- They’re on food stamps
The government just recently cut off my foodstamps. To qualify, you’ll need a fixed address and a phone number.
-They’re phone/boots/ whatever is nicer than mine.
I upgraded to an iPhone 6 from a cheap little Safelink flip phone that was free from the government a few years ago. My sister had upgraded to a 7 or an 8 or whatever and was going to to just throw out the 6 til she thought that maybe I could use it. For a new sim card ($0.99 plus tax) and some phone calls, I upgraded to an iPhone 6. Last year, the 6 would no longer charge. I asked my family if they could help get it repaired. They couldn’t. But my Mom was terrified I would be without a phone and paid for a new iPhone (I think it’s a 12) and a calling plan. The result was I had a new shiny smartphone that didn’t cost me anything.
They could get jobs
-Without revealing details, one of the women I know from the mental health day program I attend will try to sell her drawings to drivers at lights. She is devlopmentally disabled with a severe mental illness. She is not employable.
As For Me
I always give to buskers. I love buskers and think they make the city a better place. All the bleeding heart liberal social worker types I know, recommend against giving money to the homeless. They recommend instead, as has been said, donating to a vetted charity and giving the homeless non perishable food, socks, toiletries etc. My sister (also a liberal social worker type) used to keep bags of such things ready to give to panhandlers. Florida (or it may have just been Broward County) made it illegal to give panhandlers at lights.
I currently have a job making $15 an hour. As a result (and as I feared) the government has taken a chainsaw to my benefits. I understand that now that I can work, I no longer qualify for disability. The fac that they took away my food stamps even though I still live under the poverty line continues to piss me off. While I would not be on the streets (I’d be couch surfing at various friends’ houses), homelessness is not very far away.
Small aside-I know a bit about buskers and busking, because I was both once homeless and I was in the SCA for a bit. In fact, my first wife ran off to Europe with a busker, and that is the absolute truth.
Whenever some bum asks me for money at the same time I ask them for money. This stuns them for a moment and they ask why they should give me money. I get pushy and say “c’mon, I’m saving for a Ferrari and could really use some help.” As they walk away shaking their head and muttering how they’re not giving me any money I keep calling out “Come on, give me a break. Don’t be like that.”
Needless to say I do not give money to beggars and those selfish bastards have yet to give me any money either,
Bums, beggars and bastards.
How revealing.
I’ll give to beggars from time to time (provided I have something worth giving). I prefer to give food if I have it on hand and this has occasionally elicited negative responses. In one case the response was negative enough that it took me a while to get over it and be comfortable giving again.
Thank you for sharing this. I enjoyed the site and passed it along to a young family member who might be interested in volunteering with a team in Michigan. They have experience doing street medicine with humans, the opportunity to serve pets’ humans sweetens the deal.
This thread was an interesting read. I used to be far more generous with pan-handling/begging but I don’t think it really helps.
Giving to them makes things worse. For them and us.
There are reasons there are “do not feed the animals” posted all over places like Yellowstone.
If absolutely nobody gave money to beggars do you really think we’d be stepping over dead bodies everywhere because they all starved to death?
WTF? The OP title uses the term beggars.
And bum, like tramp, hobo, and vagrant, is a perfectly acceptable informal noun.
This is beyond the pale and unacceptable. The poster just equated panhandlers to animals.
Violates “don’t be a jerk”.
Seriously? You are comparing human beings to gulls and squirrels? Do you not have enough comprehension and/or empathy to be able to tell the difference?
I don’t have enough words to say why this is so wrong.
OK, that’s wrong, I don’t have the right words to use in this forum and I’m not going to waste my time posting in your pit thread.
One of the reasons you shouldn’t feed the animals is because eventually they forgot how to take care for themselves.
The same thing can eventually happen to human beings. Even though your heart may be in the right place you are doing them no favors giving them handouts.
Ya wanna go to your pit thread and we can discuss this? Cause you certainly aren’t important enough to me to risk a mod warning in this forum.
You’re just plain wrong. The reason you shouldn’t feed wild animals is because it counters their natural fear and aversion to humans and may turn them into potentially dangerous pests once they become acclimatized to a primary source of food. You appear to be suggesting that giving money to the homeless will turn them into potentially dangerous pests.
I said one of the reasons, not the sole reason. Your stated reason is also correct.
Do you believe if nobody gave beggars money they’d all starve to death?
I don’t like it because I don’t like having to deal with interacting with someone who is desperate and potentially unstable or a drug addict while trying to manage small children. It’s inherently threatening, even if they don’t mean it to be.
For example, over Thanksgiving break, I was approached by a man asking “for bus change” while we were checking into a hotel. He didn’t look particularly “homeless”. And maybe he was just a guy who lost his wallet, cash, bus tickets, and/or phone. But I didn’t like the fact that he was asking me after a six hour drive while I’m trying to unpack the car.
My wife and I do use such encounters as a teaching opportunity with the kids. Usually it’s someone panhandling on a highway ramp. An 8 and a 4 year old don’t typically understand what a “homeless” person is, but they know that someone standing with a can on a highway ramp is “odd” and they ask about it. We have similar conversations around why they do it and how society could help. But we also discuss it as a cautionary tale as how not to end up like that - study hard, don’t do drugs, make smart choices, etc.
I’m going to lock this topic while i seek advice from more experienced mods.
Moderating:
While pkbite’s opinions may be offensive, I don’t belive his posts violate any rules. The closest are:
On the other hand, this:
is “junior modding”, which is not allowed, and
is a direct insult.
Please take any insults to the pit, and do not insult other posters in MPSIMS