supposedly homeless guy on a cell phone

The BBQ Pit
1

i am pissed. not too sure if i have a right to be, but here’s the story…

Everyday at about 4:30 or so (attempting to avoid stalkers) I board a GO bus at the corner of Queen & University in downtown Toronto. Everyday, rain/snow or shine, this guy sits on the corner with a sign saying his name is Bill and he has skin cancer, blah blah blah, i’m homeless, yada yada yada, can’t work…no home…please spare change.
Seeing this guy everyday, i thought that i’d spare him $5…boy did i regret that! So from then on, everytime he’d see me waiting for the bus, he come over and strike up convo with me. at first, i didn’t mind the small talk, but then he started telling me what he and his homeless buddies could use to make life easier–socks, matches etc, so if i could keep that in mind…

HUH!!! i give you $5 and all of a sudden i’m your personal shopper? From that point on, whenever he saw me, he’d ask me about the things he asked for. trying not to be rude, i told him i would do so when i had the time. It got to the point where he got sooooo annoying, i stopped using the bus stop if he was there. then i thought that avoiding this guy was just ridiculous, so i wen t back to using it. he would try to talk to me by telling me i had just missed the bus blah blah blah.

So…yesterday, I’m in the Eaton Centre. Going up the escalator, i glance around and i see this guy who is sitting on a bench talking on a cell phone. he looks familiar, but i couldn’t place his face. who is he? the homeless guy. our eyes lock. i am shoked. then puzzled then angry. he quickly looks down to avoid my heated stare. has he been doing THAT well? was my $5 going to his cell phone bill??? i know anyone can get a cell phone these days, but you still have to have $$ to do it and to have it.

i was pissed. but later on i got to thinking whether or not i had a right to be. i figure that i do. but i guess that by sparing $$ to someone, i take a chance on whether or not they will use the $$ to do what they say they .

there are people out there who genuinely need our help. i just wish people like that wouldn’t ruin it for the ones who do.

…sad thing is, i look out my window right now (at work) and there he is with his florescent orange sign telling his life story so that he can take advantage of you…

2

Just to add an extraneous data point, I’ve personally known two people who had a cell-phone or pager while they were homeless. They had to. How else would prospective employers or landlords call them back?

3

Sucker.

It amazes me that you even doubt your right to be angry. Of course, you are right to be angry.

Don’t give money to beggars. Usually, they’re crackheads or juicers who want to get their daily fix, or they’re small-change scroungers too lazy to work. You’re naive if you take their hard-luck stories at face-value. Sure, a guy says he hasn’t eaten in three days, but if you give him a sandwich, he’ll get angry and throw it in the trash. Another guy says he needs to go to a job in another city and just one more dollar will get him there, but next day what do you see? Same guy, same sad story.

Sure, there are poor folks who have lost their jobs and their apartments, but they have families and friends who will help. They find work and they struggle; they don’t stand around on the corner swigging Night Train and hassling passers-by for change.

If a guy can afford a cell phone, chances are he’s a professional beggar who’s taking you for a chump.

4

There are all kinds of scams out there. I used to be friends with a guy who would get his drug money by going up to strangers at metro stops and asking them for money so that he could “Get gas for his car which ran out of gas a mile back.” He would dress nice and even offer a phone number so the mark could get his money back. Some homeless are truly unfortunate individuals. Others are drunks and druggies who will do anything to get your money. Still others are con artist praying on your “good intentions”. My advice? Don’t talk to them, and only give if you truly don’t care what happens to the money. You have no way of knowing whether your “donation” is going to a hot meal or a hot needle.

5

Oh and since we’re in the Pit,

Fuck the homeless.

6

As a an addendum, lest you all think i’m a comletely heartless bastard, I do give to beggars in certain circumstances:

A. if they’re old
B. if thye’re crippled
C. if they’re women

But a healthy man who sits on a corner rattling a Dixie cup in my face gets nothing. If you’re healthy, sane, and all your limbs work, get a job. I’m not paying for your crack habit.

7

Like Matt said, there are perfectly good reasons for homeless people to have cell phones or pagers; the local shelter provides free voice mail boxes to clients for the same reason. I know the feeling of being treated like a rube, though.

I work at the Main branch of the Cincinnati Public Library. Most of the homeless who hang out here have the sense not to solicit people. They either sleep, stay warm, fuck around on the internet, or whatever. No problem.

But there’s a guy who hangs around named William. We’ve developed a friendly relationship over the past couple of years, mostly due to the fact that one of my job requirements is to avoid being rude to people. I don’t think he’s homeless, but he sells Quixtar (bootleg Amway) for a living, and he’s always broke. In the past year, he’s asked to borrow:
[ul]
[li]$6.00 to pay for his dry cleaning.[/li][li]$25.00 to get his girlfriend some roses for Valentines day, which he had already ordered, he just didn’t have the dough for.[/li][li]Innumerable amounts of small change.[/li][li]Most recently, three bucks so that he could pay off his library fines and check out books.[/li][/ul]

That last one really stuck in my craw. That he would have the fucking gall to think that a library employee would pay off some random patron’s late fees out of their own pocket really pissed me off. I’d always simply told him “sorry” before, but this time, I said “William, you really need to stop asking library employees for money.” He got a look on his face like I’d just killed his dog or something. I’ve always been nice to the guy, signed him up for Hotmail when he had no idea how to use a fucking mouse much less an email account, and even gave him html advice for setting up his dumbass pyramid scheme website, and he tries to make me feel guilty for not letting him take advantage of me. Motherfucker.

He hasn’t come around since.

On the other hand, I’ll give change to any street person who doesn’t treat me like a complete sucker. Need a smoke or some malt liquor? Cool, here’s a few bits. Try to hustle me? Take a fucking walk.

8

Where I live, there are any number of guys that stand on a given street corner, usually with a dog, and holding up a sign that says something to the effect of “Will work for food”. As is almost aways the case, nobody ever gives them work to do. They just hand money out to them as they drive by.

One day, I was going into a grocery store. On the street corner was this guy with his “will work for food” sign. I went into the store and did my shopping. When I got to the checkout stand, who was in front of me? The guy from the corner. He had a bottle of wine and a package of dog biscuits. He pulled a roll of bills out of his pocket (mostly 5’s and 10’s) that would make even Mr. Gates envious. This guy probably “makes” more money in a year than I do and his is all tax free. :mad: I guess I’m in the wrong business.

About a week later, I happened to go by the same corner on my way into the grocery store. This time there was a different guy standing there. He also had a sign that he held up. For some reason, I didn’t feel quite as upset towards him. His sign said “Why lie, I need a beer”. :smiley:

9

Hopefully, you will never be homeless. Wouldn’t want your words to “come back to haunt you”.

10

I was thrown out of my house with nothing when I was 19, but I managed to survive. I refuse to beg for money. I had to scrape by for a month and do odd jobs (which are out there, the key is you have to get off your ass and find them). I have no sympathy for the homeless. Sorry, I just don’t. I have my own reasons.

So let me reiderate. Fuck the homeless.

If you ever see me on the street begging for scraps I suggest you tell me to fuck off.

I mean it. If you say anything to me at all besides “fuck off” you leave yourself vulnerable to whatever sob story I can dream up.

Just like Scarlett in Gone with The Wind though, I make the same promise, “I will never go hungry again.”

11

If you want to help the homeless without feeding unsavory habits, pack an extra lunch with you, and hand it out to anyone who asks for money. I had a guy turn my lunch down because he wanted money instead, and you can be sure I’ll never offer it to him again.

At any rate, you can get a cell-phone with no credit card; you just buy minutes ahead of time. It is indeed a good option for someone who doesn’t have a permanent address who is trying to get back on their feet.

And Liquid, I admire you for your tenacity and your ability to work yourself out of a bad situation. But I’m not going to take one anecdote and use it to condemn an entire class of people. By your logic, I could ask my husband (who has great computer skills) why the fuck he doesn’t have Bill Gates’ empire right now. Lazy shiftless bastard!

12

Technically, your husband would also have to sell his soul to Satan as Gates did. There’s always a catch.

13

Cranky I think you’re letting hubby off too easy there…

Yes, there are folks who scam (this is really a news flash?)

But, the cell phone by itself isn’t necessarily proof of it. As has been noted, one of the major obstacles to employment & housing is lack of a means of contacting, and cell phones are excellent for that. So, to me, it was insufficient info in the OP to determine if there was cause to believe the guy’s scamming.

the one I grudingly allow my son to have costs $10 per month.

and, on a side note, I personally have the best response to the scamming ones - I hand 'em my business card (I work helping ex offenders w/ employment issues - not that all of homeless are ex offenders, but since I’m in the ‘biz’ as it were, I can help them access actual jobs) One guy backed away so fast you’d have thought my card had anthrax on it. :smiley:

14

Allow me to interject a small dissenting thought here. IMHO, when you decide to give to someone, it is your act of generosity that matters. In a way, it ceases to be about the giver and receiver and becomes a matter between the giver and (for lack of a better word) God.

15

Most of the homeless people I come across have better shoes than I do, and that, my friends, is one rule I simply cannot break:

Don’t give money to people who have better shoes than you do.

16

I have on hand right now about 4 pair of men’s shoes, damned near brand new, all fairly expensive. They were donated to my program by some one who decided he didn’t like the way they felt. I will be giving them to clients who are homeless, unemployed and don’t have suitable footware.

17

I don’t know if he’s still there, but there used to be a guy outside Vancouver Airport in a wheelchair, holding a cup and a “homeless” sign. Friendly, polite, not pushy at all. Of course, if you ask me, this is a better way to get spare change than other, more aggressive methods.

I was this close to giving him some change one day, when my bus pulled up. He stood, folded up the wheelchair, and got on before me. “Could be,” I rationalized to myself “he’s weak in the legs and is more comfortable in the chair, but strong enough to get on the bus.”

Two weeks later, walking through East Van (all the way across the city), I saw him again. He was folding up the wheelchair, leaning it against a wall, and sauntering into a nearby pub.

That’s the last time I’ve even considered giving money to a panhandler.

18

I keep McDonald’s gift certificates in my car – they’re $1 each, sold in books of ten.

When I see someone with a “Homeless - hungry - will work for food” sign, I offer him two or three of those. Some refuse - those that don’t, I take comfort that at least I know they’re buying food, even exerable McDonald’s food, rather than booze or crack.

  • Rick
19

Actually you can’t make that comparison. The marginal rate of substitution for your husband’s programming skills is increasing at a much higher rate than those of a homeless person. Remember a jump from 0-1 is a 100% increase. The marginal impact of working (earning any income) is so much greater at the homeless level than at the CEO level. So it’s not a fair comparison.

20

Maybe they refuse because they are concerned about their cholesteral…
:wink: