So close! Wednesday’s the correct answer. (Otherwise if I was born on Saturday I could say that it was four days from Tuesday).
I figured it was clever enough that she deserved a buck for it. If more panhandlers had smartass gotcha puzzles, I’d give them more money.
Daniel
Nope. I don’t mind them. Occasionally I give them some change, usually I just say, “No, sorry.” (And DDG, I say sorry 'cause my momma raised me to be polite. Generally, when people ask me for help and I can’t or won’t help 'em, I say “No, sorry.”)
Once in a blue moon I’ll ask one of them outside a local grocery store if I can buy him (it’s almost always a him) something to eat, then bring dinner to him on my way out of the store. I get thanked, and I feel happy to do it.
Of course, I don’t get hassled by many aggressive panhandlers, who I do find annoying when they make you dodge them to get out of their way, or want to argue about whether or not you’re going to give them money. My technique there, though, is pretty much to keep walking.
Well, I suppose that’s what it comes down to. For some people, a shred of dignity is all they have. I was humbled because I prejudged the intent that this man had. And yes, I was probably right. However, I didn’t even allow him the dignity of letting me know what it is he wanted to talk to me about.
If he showed me one iota of rudeness or aggression, then all bets are off. I will be rude and condescending without remorse. However, I don’t think it was right of me to look at this guy and say “bugger off” on the basis that he had something to say to me.
As much as I don’t like being approached for money by a street person, I’m sorry for them that they find themselves on their side of the equation. I have to think that they have not chosen that for themselves.
So for failing to allow a fellow human being a dignified conclusion to our transaction (it still would have been no), I pit myself. Fuck Me.
qwest, I get what you are saying. It is one of those cases where, at least for me, I am sorry to say that I get to a point where I stop seeing street people as people (although to be fair the same can also be said in my case for the petition signature gatherers, Girl Scout cookie sellers, street musicians and so on), and start to see them as obstacles that stand between me and the efficient completion of the task that I am attempting. . It seems that every time I go outside, I am continually approached by these people that want something from me.
Yeah, give me *something * for my money. We have one guy here who sings (pretty well too, in kind of a Sam Cooke way), and I’ll give him change from time to time, and another guy who plays a trumpet (badly, but at least he’s trying) and I’ll toss him a few bits too).
Not to mention the idiots who jump out when you stop for a red light and squeegee your windshield for you, expecting you to be so grateful that you will gladly pay for this service.
I would give to panhandlers if I knew which ones were legitimate. I’m not likely to give money to anyone but the very old and the obviously disabled, just because I know there are a lot of punk kids from the suburbs who drive in on the weekends to beg on the South Side of Pittsburgh while wearing clothes they bought at Hot Topic (and I know that’s where they’re from, because my ex’s sister has all the same clothes). Not to mention the college kids that panhandle. I had a roommate my freshman year of college who freely admitted to panhandling on the streets of NYC because she spent her last thirty bucks on a Dave Matthews ticket and didn’t have the money to get back home. Her dad was like an investment banker or something and could have wired her the money easily. So no, I don’t have anything against people who are actually physically or mentally disabled and have no other option, but I do hate the punk college kids who panhandle because they think it’s cool. Which would describe maybe 90% of Pittsburgh panhandlers.
So how do you guys feel about buskers?
I busked today for the first time ever, and made $27.34 in just over an hour.
I happened to be downtown for a lunch meeting, and had my guitar with me, as I’d just come from the studio prior to the meeting. It was nice out, so I decided to sit on a bench on State Street and pick a while. Within five minutes, people were throwing money in my case, and I had quite a crowd after a while.
Now I’m thinking about going downtown an afternoon a week to pick. I figure I’ll be doing it at home, so why not get paid for it?
Of course, I never actually ask for money, people just throw it in the case, and I guess that’s the difference.
I got so sick of the panhandlers in Chicago I was tempted to buy a baseball bat to carry around with the word “NO” painted on it. If some poor dude is sitting on the corner passively asking for change, I might flip him a quarter or two, but these bastards in Chicago jump right out in front of you, right in your face. Try to sit on a bench in the park and enjoy the blossoming trees and flowers for five minutes, nope, here he comes.
Here’s the best (worst?) Chicago panhandler story I heard. I knew a guy that worked downtown and every day there was this lady sitting out by the front of his building with a young female child. The child would cry and the mother would play that angle to panhandle. One day my buddy saw the lady being arrested. He asked one of the guards at the building what happened? Apparently the lady was in the bathroom of the building scolding the child for not crying hard enough that day.
Now that I will contribute to. Like spoke- said…give me something for my money. My wife is a sucker for panhandlers, and gives me hurt looks when I blow them off at a stoplight. But give me a good act, or at least an honest effort, and I can usually find some change, or a few bills. 
I may get a baseball bat to deal with those guys, but I wouldn’t use it as a sign.
For the last few months, I had a great reason for not giving these guys money: I was earning about $90 per week and they were probably making more than that. So on top of the annoyance, I felt like I should’ve been getting money from them. I didn’t want to waste money making a sign and my clothes are too nice. Anyway, there’s something like 1 panhandler per 300 sq. feet of sidewalk in downtown Evanston - maybe more if you count people selling Streetwise - so I’ve long since had the impulse to be charitable drained out of me.
genius. Just freakin genius. Well put, Sampiro. Bravo. [golf clap]
I contribute to street musicians very happily. There was a guy parked out on the sidewalk on 5th Avenue one day, playing percussion on a bucket, some pans, and an oven rack. The guy was absolutely amazing. I could hear and see him from my office, but he wasn’t on my way to the train station. I still took the extra time to walk up and give him a few bucks, because he definitely brightened my day.
That, and you’re providing something for the money.
BinaryDrone, I suspect that you and I work in the same office building, 'cause I know exactly who/what/where you’re talking about. I’ve got it doubly bad, because not only do I have to run that gaunlet if I want to go out for lunch, but my walk home takes me right through that same crowd a second time.
For me, the worst are the clusters of ‘street’ kids that congregate in the area, smoking, spitting, blocking the sidewalk and hassling passers-by. My feeling? If they spent a little less money on tattoos, body piercings, and cigarettes, maybe they wouldn’t need to spend their time begging for money.
I confess, I ran out patience with panhandlers a l-o-n-g time ago - especially the ones who claim that they need the change for ‘bus fare’. How did they get down here in the first place? teleport? flying monkeys? If they took the bus to get here, why didn’t they notice (at the time) that they didn’t have enough money to return?
If flying monkeys took me downtown, I’d probably ask for bus fare to get home, too.
Daniel
First I want to say I adore Sampiro with all my heart and am glad to share the same state (Leeds, Alabama heah!) with him. Bra-vo!
I have pretty much had it with panhandlers, as well. Luckily, since I changed jobs to another town, it’s not so bad as it was in downtown Birmingham. I particularly remember one woman who ran (yes, ran) across the street to bum money off me one day.
Her car had broken down, she needed to get back home to her kids, was out of gas, Lindberg baby had been kidnapped, George Wallace for President, Eat at Joes’s…lalalalala…and not having any money (plus she scared the crap out of me running up to me so suddenly) I politely declined.
She whirled around and went flaming off after another passerby.
This same woman did the exact same thing to me another four times to me the same week. Same exact hasty entrance, identical story line. I mean, the least she could do was pay some kind of attention to the people she was trying to bum from. FOUR times??
Later on, after the last time she “rushed” me, a woman I work with told me she was one of the crackheads that lived up at the homeless shelter and had been around town for about six years. She even knew her name. I guess I’d just not been lucky enough to have made her acquaintance before then.
Blush…
I have two good friends [a lesbian couple] who just moved to Leeds. (They’re the ones I mentioned somewhere on here who want to have a baby with me, which I waver about.)
I respect panhandlers more than folks who live on welfare. Panhandlers ask me for money, which I respect. On the other hand, people on welfare do not ask me for money; instead, they ask the government to force me at gunpoint to fork-over money to them, and this I (obviously) do not respect…
You can’t panhandle and be on welfare?
Anyway, check out the “Socialist USA” thread in GD, they could use another target in there.