Hey, seriousart, isn’t there a homeless guy on the Plaza who’s a millionaire or something?
–Tim
And here I thought this thread was going to be a list of Doper-suggested methods of panhandling.
When I started actively juggling in high school, I learned in a surprising manner that juggling in public is considered panhandling in Minneapolis. After having that pointed out to me a few times, I decided to do it for extra cash while in college.
Two friends of mine and I tossed a floppy hat on the ground, propped up a sign saying “We don’t want to have to do this all our lives – help us pay for college” and made a few hundred dollars a day. Unfortunately, it started to adversely affect our studies, and we had no real way of knowing when we needed to add more and more elaborate tricks to our routine. We stopped after a few months.
The best part of it was a few years later, when a different set of friends and I were walking to Fenway Park and someone commented on “those jugglers that used to be around here a few years back”.
I try to give money to panhandlers when I can, but as a starveing student, that isn’t all that often. But, I figure, if I have money to spare, then I am obviously living a life of excess, and ought to share that with someone so that they can simply live a life in general.
In the end I don’t really care if they are “real” or not. To spend your days begging on the streets, you have to be something. It is not for me to judge people in need.
The funniest panhandler I ever saw was on a San Francisco street corner. He was very nice to people approuching, saying “Bless you” and that sort of thing, but when they passed by without giving him money he would curse them with “hope your house burns down”, or “hope your mom gets cancer”, in the same jovial voice.
Good ol’ Jerry the Bum.
Kansas City celeb. Made it into the local papers for making a decent living, harassing people outside of Barnes and Nobles. Begging for change and being a homeowner to boot!
Jerry’s since left town, but I know some people who bumped into him in San Fransisco, chatted a bit. He stayed in Denver for a while but moved on to CA. That’s where he “works” now. Guess the weather’s better for begging.
He certainly was no millionaire, but he wasn’t the most in need of your pity either.