Panhandling: what works and what doesn't.

Where my parent live (Kingston, Ontario) one of the local relief agencies runs a restaurant-style place for homeless and low income people to get a meal. They sell coupons at various places downtown, so people can buy those and give them to the panhandlers instead of money. My mother used to buy these quite often and hand them out if she was asked for spare change.

Personally, I almost never carry money around anymore (I tend to use my debit card for everything), so it’s pretty rare that I have any money to give. I wonder how long it will be before we see panhandlers with a cell phone hooked up to a debit machine…

Hehe. Reminds me of something that happened to one of my friends when we were all living in the “student ghetto.” He was approached by a panhandler outside his apartment who started hassling him for money. My friend turns to him and says with a straight face:

“Dude, I live here and I don’t have a job, either. I should be asking YOU for money!”

Tactics that definitely don’t work are hitting on me, calling me “baby” or making comments about my body parts.

It’s happened many, many times. It’s usually something like, “Damn, girl, you sure are looking fine today. If I had some money I would take you out. Got any change, baby?” Or, “You got purty legs, huh huh huh huh. Can you give me a dollar to get some food?” Or, (this was by far the worst), “Spare some change? I want to fuck your brains out.” This said while licking his fingers. When I walk past them without comment or say no, it’s always, “Bitch! Fuck you!” Screw that, you’re not getting MY money by being a sick fuck and trying to intimidate me.

I also find the women-with-children thing depressing. It’s such an obvious ploy. Speaking as a single mom who could easily be homeless one day, the last thing I would ever do is drag my kid out to watch Mom beg for money. I’d sooner go to a shelter for help, where we’d be safer, I would think. It sickens me that their purpose to their mothers is as a ploy to get more handouts. I feel so bad for the babies though.

Yesterday, in McDonald’s, an apparently homeless woman standing in a line adjacent to mine approached me and said she was trying to get a sandwich, could I help out? I told her I’d give her something as soon as I got change after my purchase. So I get the change, hand her a buck and she walks right out of the McDonald’s. Guess she doesn’t like their sandwiches.

By the same McDonald’s some younger kids were asking passerby for money. Wearing Starter jackets and Nike shoes. One kid walked up to me an asked for money. I had around 50 cents in my hand and handed it to him without a thought. He looks at me disgustedly and says, “Don’t you got any more?” I said, “Sure, but I’m not giving it to you.” “Bitch!”

My reputation precedes me.

The City of Boston tried the voucher/coupon idea last year-I haven’t heard of it since, so I guess it failed. the basic idea was good-instead of giving the bums/drunks/addicts cash (which they could spend on booze/drugs). you could give them coupons, which could only be redeemed for food and non-alcoholic beverages. Apparently, most of the fools at city hall never took economics 101. Of course, within days, a resale market in discounted vouchers developed-some wino entrepreneur found out that he could buy up the coupons for discounted cash. So the bums could still buy their wine/crack etc., only there was another intermediary in the transaction. A better solution would be to give the “homeless” credit cards, so that they could charge their meals-and not bother the rest of us!

I live in Denver also, but unfortunately I am not of the same generous spirit as Carina42. I NEVER give money to panhandlers. Here’s what goes through my mind when I see one. (No, I would never, ever say this aloud to the panhandlers.)

First of all, that’s MY money and I worked hard for it. I need it, too. Secondly, why don’t you get a job instead of standing on the corner? I know that McDonald’s hiring. Or is it that you could get a job somewhere, but they will only pay you minimum wage, whereas, standing on this corner begging strangers for money pays you more than that? Third, if you’re so homeless and hungry, how come you’re so fat? Why are you wearing jewelry? A nice warm Tommy Hilfiger parka?

Unfortunately, I am very jaded on this subject. I figure that either they are standing on the corner because they make more money there than McD’s is paying (I figure they gotta make at least ten bucks an hour on the corner), or because they are lying. Either way, I’m not giving my money to them.

I used to live in Highlands Ranch, a nicer suburb of Denver, far outside the city. The panhandlers have taken to standing at the highway ramps with signs until the police chase them away. One morning on my way to work, I saw a guy at my regular exit with a sign that said something like "Have job in Boulder tomorrow a.m. Need gas to get there. Please help!" Which made me think, hm...at least he's got a job. But no, I didn't give him any money. I saw him again that same day on my way home from work. Then, the next morning, when this guy supposedly had a job in Boulder, I ran errands before work and ended up taking a different route to the highway. There he was, not in Boulder, but holding his little sign saying he needed to get there. That REALLY pissed me off. He just moved exits so new people would see him and all the people who gave him money yesterday to be in Boulder this morning wouldn’t know he had scammed them. I really wanted to go stand next to him, holding my own little sign saying “He’s lying!” with an arrow pointing at him. Jerk.

Ok, so I’m a cold, heartless wench when it comes to panhandlers. But here’s something nice that I saw that I will never forget. On a field trip in 7th grade, we were downtown and had brought brown bags for lunch and were sitting on the 16th street mall chatting and getting ready to eat. One of the boys near me was a fat kid who had been complaining for two hours about how hungry he was, when are we going to eat, I’m STARVING! etc. So, as this kid is opening his lunch bag, an older man came up to us and asked if we had any spare change or food that we could give him. We all said no, except the fat kid, who sat there looking at his lunch of two sandwiches, two bags of chips, an apple, a banana, a cupcake and two cokes, and then looking up at this painfully thin, smelly old man. Then he packed his lunch back in to the bag and said, “Here. You can have my lunch. I don’t need it anyway.” The old man opened the bag, saw how much food was in there and started crying and thanking him. The fat kid was embarassed but I thought it was the coolest, kindest thing, that a 13 year old boy would do that.

Ok…um, I think that’s pretty much all I have to say about panhandlers. :slight_smile:

When I managed a restaurant in Boulder if I saw someone with a “will work for food” sign I would tell them to come in - I’d put them to work for an hour or so back in the kitchen or dish area doing whatever “extra” cleaning needed to be done and then serve them anything they wanted off the employee menu.

Maybe 1 in 8 took me up on the offer.

Oh man, that’s classic. I’ll have to try it sometime.

There was one panhandler that really impressed me. He stood by the requisite busy offramp holding a sign that said: “ALL I NEED FROM YOU IS A :)” Yup, with a big happy face and everything.

I never, ever, ever give to panhandlers. But if I hadn’t been stuck in the wrong lane, I would’ve given him a buck or two for originality’s sake alone.

J.E.T.

I can see maybe giving money to someone with a funny sign or something worth my money. I give to street musicians if their music is good, for example.

I have a friend (genuinely poor) who the summer before college (on scholarship) spent an afternoon begging in downtown Chicago. He brought a lawn chair and a book from home and set himself up with a plastic tub for money and a big sign that said something like, “College Graduates are 2/3 less likely to commit crimes.” He made nearly two hundred dollars without saying a word.

Here’s a good test for ya.

Judging by the messages people leave at that site, this would be a good subject either for either GD or the Pit.

Hey, gimme a quarter, and I’ll stand on a panhandler’s head anytime you want!

I don’t give cash to panhandlers, (and Carina’s right: the streetcorner guys are everywhere in Denver). I refuse to help someone commit suicide by drinking and since I have no way of telling who’s sincere and who’s a drunk…

Denver is lucky enough to have a wonderful organization called “Step Thirteen”. They help people get back on their feet, etc. And they take no government money. The founder, Bob Cote is a self-described “ex-Drunk” who’s rehabilitation program seems excellent.

One of the things Step Thirteen does each year is sell coupon books. Each coupon guarantees the bearer a meal and safe night’s lodging at Step Thirteen. I give those coupons out regularly to panhandlers. But I won’t give cash.

Fenris

We have lots of them around here. Regulars. There are some I occasionally give some $$ to, others I don’t. For me, it comes down to polite, articulate requests; polite responses when I’ve refused in the past; no obvious drunkenness; feeling like life has been good to me that day. Give me the right combination of those things, and one of them might get money from me. There is one woman whom I don’t see often, but when I do, I’ll give her money even without her asking. I know a lot about her life and her life story, and she’s a very nice woman. Had bad luck some years ago which made her homeless, and since then many things have conspired to make it hard to go back mainstream (though a portion of it is her personal choice). That’s too much to talk about in this thread, however.

As for working, I don’t believe it’s that easy to get McDonald’s to hire you when you’re homeless. Sorry, it’s just not that easy. Say you’re a McDonald’s manager, accountable to the health inspectors, the owner, the customers… do you want to hire someone with no permanent address, no phone, spotty access to a shower (not to mention thinks like a barber, a dentist, and medical care), and who might also have a history of mental illness? I think even the most kind-hearted (or desperate) of fast-food employers might pause. As for the homeless in my little work neighborhood, a couple of the regulars go into the party store I frequent, asking the owner if there’s anything they can do. He’s very good about leaving some chores undone and then letting them do it (stacking things, sweeping up) for $5 every now and then. I like that.

I actually don’t see too many panhandlers in my day to day experience unless I get downtown. Quite often they hang out at one of the major bus stops and accost people asking for change and cigarettes. More than a few of them have got pissed when I say I don’t have any spare change and no extra cigarettes. I carry plastic and limit the cigarettes I carry to 9 a day.

I was working in the Bahamas about five years ago and there are many panhandlers working the tourist areas. I never gave money to them either until I was sitting on a bench sucking on a Dunhill menthol when I was approached by a middle aged guy who was nicely dressed and very tidy. he didn’t look like a bum.

He told me that he had come to the Island (Grand Bahamas) because he was promised a job that never materialized. He said he was embarrassed to be asking but could he have some spare change or a dollar. He asserted that he was a Christian, wasn’t a drinker, didn’t do drugs, but was simply very hungry and wanted a meal. He told me that he wasn’t a bum and showed me the callouses on his hands that he said came from operating equipment and working on boats. I knew there was a high rate of unemplyment and there is no welfare in the Bahamas so without friends, family, or the generosity of strangers you’re screwed.

So I took him for lunch. Chicken with peas and rice. he dove into the meal like a man who was starving and then apologized for his poor manners. When I left I handed him the five dollars I had in my pocket. He shook my hand and thanked me profusely.

So I left the Bahamas and returned three months later to finish some work. I went into dowtown Freeport and saw my dinner companion standing in the square with some other guys, he saw me and ran and ran up to me. He grabbed my hand and shook it thanking me again for my generosity.

He looked like a bum, he wasn’t as neatly dressed or as clean as he was on our first meeting, he smelled vaguely fishy and needed a shave.

He told me that he had gotten a job with one of the local fishermen soon after I had first met him and that he owed me lunch.

You can never tell.

I “handle” panhandlers in the same way that I deal with phone-beggars (you know those persons who call and ask me to donate money to their cause, or invest with their company, etc…). I tell them the truth:

I’m a schoolteacher.

They get the message: “No money for you.”
This also scares women away at parties.

I would gladly pay them generously for a day’s work at my house, working in my yard, or helping me clean out my garage, etc,… but they would rather stay on the corner doing nothing and make the same money…I’ve actually seen them get in and out of cars and drive away!

Philistine – thank you for the
http://www.pbs.org/weblab/needcom/
reference, that is a great website! Everybody check it out! This is the first time I have ever seen a scientific attempt to study panhandling (as opposed to simple homelessness). No one has studied it, so they assume certain things are true.

I didn’t really get the impression that people are getting all worked up and angry over there, any more than people have been getting angry in this thread. They just have different opinions. We don’t need to go the Pit to discuss this. To quote the three categories at need.com, there are people who give a lot, people who sometimes give and people who never give. And that’s fine! I wouldn’t judge anyone on their level of donations to panhandlers, any more than I would judge the panhandlers themselves. No single individual can solve the problems of poverty anyway. I think all the posts in this thread prove that everyone tries to do what they think is right and socially responsible.

Feynn: I think you are a true hero. At least as far as that one guy is concerned. :slight_smile:

CrankyAsAnOldMan: your point is very well taken. You can’t just go and get a job whenever you want. You have to spend money to make money. For instance, for a job interview you have to spend money on wardrobe and toiletries.

Once I snarled “Get a job” at a panhandler, and I still feel bad about it. Another guy who was there pointed out, quite appropriately, that there was no way that guy could get a job that very night. Just ignore the panhandler, it’s less cruel.

I will give money to street musicians or street performers, no matter the quality of their work. In my mind, they are at least making an effort to earn their money. I will also give money to veterans, because I think they have earned it already. That is, of course, if they are telling the truth about being a homeless/poor vet.

“If a homeless person has a funny sign, he hasn’t been homeless that long. A real homeless person is too hungry to be funny.” —Chris Rock

In the city you get asked constantly for money for a “bus fare home” (BS). If you say no, they will start harrassing you and swearing at you, making you glad that you didn’t give them money in the first place.

On a similar topic, I’ve been trying to think of a simple product that I could employ panhandlers to make, to try help them get a leg-up. Any ideas?

I don’t usually give to panhandlers either.
Living in the Boston area gets you kinda jaded to that sorta thing. Used to go to school at Mass Art in Boston. Right across the street from the projects. Saw a lot of people begging for change.
One of my bigger donations I ever made was to a woman who came rushing up to me on the street in a panic. Something about her “kids were in the car and she needed to get them to the hospital but didn’t have any gas” Reached in my pocket and I had maybe 3 bucks. Gave it to her, appologizing I didn’t have more. Suggested maybe she could call 911 or something?
About a year later, same spot, I recognize the same woman begging for change. She runs up to me, same story, kids in the car, need to get to the hospital, etc.
Sorry. You gave me the same story A YEAR AGO. I tell her.
Oh. She says and turns from me, annoyed.
You really oughta get those kids outta that car! I yell after her. grrrr.

Ironically, it’s the people who say that that bother me most. Usually because it’s said in such a nasty way. Most often I just give a polite “sorry” as I pass. It’s when I get the sarcastic “God Bless!” that it really burns me.
If I’ve had a hard day and I’m being hit up for change sometimes I’ll beat em to the “God bless”.
As in: “Sorry, but God bless, huh?”
God, I’m jaded.