Beggars off interstate exits, etc.

pips · Post by **pips** » 11 May 2006 19:11

What do you think of those beggars that sit on the side of the road near an interstate exit with some kind of sign asking for help?

I can't really stand them. If they need a ride somewhere, they might as well start walking where ever they are going...they aren't making any progress just sitting there. And if they need money/ something requiring money, they need to get off their lazy butts and apply for a job instead of sitting there begging.

I hate how I think about them (I'd really feel bad if I found out some needed help for real), but maybe I just don't see something they do in their shoes. I don't know. I just can't imagine how they can't help themselves that bad that they have to sit off the side of a road all day begging for help.

I see a few regulars (yeah...I see them every time I drive by...) off a few exits I am familiar with, and I hate getting the red light beside them...staring me down like I am supposed to be nice or something. They make me want to scream, "Go get a job!" out my window or flick them off, but I'm too good of a person to actually do it.

One day, I saw this girl at my exit. I was gone all day. I came back later that night, and I saw her walking away from her spot with a guy and a case of beer. Geez. Haha. I don't know what the point of that was, but yeah. There was a point to it, but I don't remember the whole story anymore. I also noticed two guys take shifts on a set of exits. Maybe my point was that they are obviously fakers when you notice them daily. Are they bored out of their minds and have nothing better to do?

What do you think? Am I a jerk, or do you feel the same as I do?

Zeb Jackson · Post by **Zeb Jackson** » 11 May 2006 19:15

they do this near a walmart kinda wear i live...it bugs the holy crap out of me when your at a stop light and they ask you for money...i keep thinking to myself

if you would stop standing around, and find a decent job (minimum wage at best) and get off your a&* you would be a lot better....

that my opinion..

brinard · Post by **brinard** » 11 May 2006 19:18

man, grifting makes good money. if you have 15 ppl give you money, and youve spent the whole day out there, youve made a profit for standing.

i dont like ppl asking for money at all. i lock my door, and roll up my window. what if they reach in? fuck that.

i live in the biggest city in my state, and its littered with bums. everywhere i go, less than 5 mins out of my car, i get hit up for cash.

i hate people who would rather mooch than do it themselves. fuck them. fuck their ways. im tired of that shit. and yeah, its always the same people.

i live 5 mins from an interstate exit, and those guys just walk to the other exit (30 min walk) the other half the day. bastards.

caseyweed · Post by **caseyweed** » 11 May 2006 19:20

Heh. My friends mom always gives them food. She'll give them a sandwich or some crackers or bread or something. They always look so disappointed. Gives me a chuckle.

JoFa · Post by **JoFa** » 11 May 2006 19:22

I believe there's a lot more to it than just begging. Some of the guys in Austin are pros, staying in the same spots for months, and some have been begging for years. I'd be willing to wager that these guys are making PLENTY of money off of the puppy dog look as you eat your breakfast on the way to work. After weeks on one corner asking for money, I would be so sick of standing there I would get out of there ASAP. But these guys stay! Why? Well I'll tell you one thing, it's not the warm hospitality of nearby drivers, or the peaceful ambience of whooshing cars and loud motors - it's the CASH.

brian relly · Post by **brian relly** » 11 May 2006 19:27

Memphis is definitely the biggest city in Tennessee.

BainbridgeShred · Post by **BainbridgeShred** » 11 May 2006 20:09

"Go get a job!" out my window or flick them off, but I'm too good of a person to actually do it.

Right... Much too good of a person.

Iron Clad Ben · Post by **Iron Clad Ben** » 11 May 2006 20:27

I grew up in a crappy neighborhood outside Boston. I knew a kid who used to pan handle because it was easier than working, he had no shame and a strong knack for looking pathetic. He would sit outside the subway station and beg for change. After about an hour he would have enough money to buy some McDonalds and pokemon cards.

I went to college in West Philly. I couldn't even walk 2 blocks without being hassled for change. By sophomore year you tuned it out to the point where you didn't even notice it.

I took a criminology class. The said the average beggar makes $100 per day.

There is nothing wrong with feeling animosity towards beggars. You are by no means obligated to give them anything. You are not obligated to feel sympathy for them. Some will take the money you give them and buy them food. Some will buy booze. Some will buy meth.

Give them food. Give money to organized charities instead.

pips · Post by **pips** » 11 May 2006 21:45

brinard wrote:man, grifting makes good money. if you have 15 ppl give you money, and youve spent the whole day out there, youve made a profit for standing.

Haha. Yeah, that and cancer (standing in the sun all day)...not a job for me with melanoma running in my family.

BainbridgeShred wrote:Right... Much too good of a person.

What's that supposed to mean, and look who's talking...

Iron Clad Ben wrote:I grew up in a crappy neighborhood outside Boston. I knew a kid who used to pan handle because it was easier than working, he had no shame and a strong knack for looking pathetic. He would sit outside the subway station and beg for change. After about an hour he would have enough money to buy some McDonalds and pokemon cards.

I went to college in West Philly. I couldn't even walk 2 blocks without being hassled for change. By sophomore year you tuned it out to the point where you didn't even notice it.

I took a criminology class. The said the average beggar makes $100 per day.

There is nothing wrong with feeling animosity towards beggars. You are by no means obligated to give them anything. You are not obligated to feel sympathy for them. Some will take the money you give them and buy them food. Some will buy booze. Some will buy meth.

Give them food. Give money to organized charities instead.

That's crazy how they can make so much like that. Didn't Shredzilla say something about them making thousands a day in D.C. somewhere else in this forum?

I heard that they get pretty upset when people just give them food since they probably wanted money for something else. Tehehe.

max · Post by **max** » 11 May 2006 22:47

They've taken this a step further in France. A lot of Eastern Europeans immigrants have a begging INDUSTRY. They are very well organized. They use kids (i.e. the weeping mother and her 2 yr. old) and they beg at stoplights also. But they'll have the whole kit: crutches, a tailored limp etc. You'll see them gruesomely limping looking miserable from car to car when the light is red, and then once it goes green, he'll just calmly walk back without a limp....

Yes, all of this is well documented, and they manage to bring back a fair amount of cash to their communities.

smokefree · Post by **smokefree** » 12 May 2006 07:04

I realize that a lot are faking and some just want cheap vodka or crack, but I still always try to reach out and give at least some change or a dollar/two or whatever. There are some people really down on their luck, and do it in earnest need for survival, I ain't doin shit with that dollar but buyin a soda that rots my teeth or something. So fuck it.

hackeysnacker · Post by **hackeysnacker** » 12 May 2006 09:14

ben:

I went to college in West Philly. I couldn't even walk 2 blocks without being hassled for change

in downtown Philly u can't walk more than 1/2 a block w/ out someone asking for something.. do they really need cigarettes? These beggars rarely ask for food and usually look overfed.

I can't really stand them. If they need a ride somewhere, they might as well start walking where ever they are going...

the beggars who are actually homeless often have painfully unhealthy feet because of the lack of adequate footcare/support.. although i'm sure they can afford enough change to take the bus.

BainbridgeShred · Post by **BainbridgeShred** » 12 May 2006 10:08

What's that supposed to mean, and look who's talking...

What is that supposed to mean? You were talking about how you always want to tell them to go get a job or flick them off, but then you said you never did because you're supposedly "too good of a person"? You really think you're a better person because you didn't do the act, even if you were thinking it and wanted to? You might as well be real with yourself if you're going to make a topic talking about how you dislike beggars.

pips · Post by **pips** » 12 May 2006 10:29

I think about a lot of bad things and don't do them. That doesn't make me a bad person.

BainbridgeShred · Post by **BainbridgeShred** » 12 May 2006 11:06

You didn't just think it, you said you wanted to do it.

I don't care, I don't think you're a bad person. I never said you were. You clearly aren't a good person though, but who is? All I took offense with was that after a statement where you said you wanted to do something insulting to a homeless person, you then followed up by saying what a good person you were. I didn't take issue with what you felt towards the beggars, I took issue with how you felt towards yourself. I took issue not with your morales, but with your honesty towards yourself.

Bander87 · Post by **Bander87** » 12 May 2006 13:56

There was this guy around my area that would stand outside a plaza with some signs, "Have 2 kids, will work for food". Sometimes you would see him pop up at an intersection right by the mall. My Dad asked him why he couldn't get a job and he said that he couldn't work because he had a bad back. I would imagine most beggers arn't like this though.

Seath · Post by **Seath** » 12 May 2006 14:05

I have no problem with it, if it works for them, more power to them. I don't give them money because i can't gaurantee that I would support what it will fund. I have offered food to bums and i even gave one a beer

I'm a good person

pips · Post by **pips** » 12 May 2006 15:32

BainbridgeShred wrote:You didn't just think it, you said you wanted to do it.

I don't care, I don't think you're a bad person. I never said you were. You clearly aren't a good person though, but who is? All I took offense with was that after a statement where you said you wanted to do something insulting to a homeless person, you then followed up by saying what a good person you were. I didn't take issue with what you felt towards the beggars, I took issue with how you felt towards yourself. I took issue not with your morales, but with your honesty towards yourself.

Maybe I didn't mean to say, "want" in my explanation. Maybe the beggars just make me think about it...it's just something that quickly passes through my mind. I don't know. I am not always as clear as I want to be when I try to describe things.

Bander87 wrote:There was this guy around my area that would stand outside a plaza with some signs, "Have 2 kids, will work for food". Sometimes you would see him pop up at an intersection right by the mall. My Dad asked him why he couldn't get a job and he said that he couldn't work because he had a bad back. I would imagine most beggers arn't like this though.

Those are the people that I'd seriously feel bad for and try to help, but I can't tell them apart from the fakers.

pips · Post by **pips** » 12 May 2006 15:34

Oops. I screwed up on that last quote/ reply.

BainbridgeShred · Post by **BainbridgeShred** » 12 May 2006 15:51

Jesus Christ teaches that the thought is as bad as the action. Even if you're not a Christian, I'd ask you to understand the plight of the homeless. Whether or not you want to give them your money is entirely your decision, but atleast understand that they're people too.