I'm stranded... Gimmie free stuff

[Sheldonrs]

...Similarly, I see many panhandlers with crude signs saying they haven't eat in days, etc. I recently started helping out at a nearby foodbank/kitchen, and was (slightly) surprised to learn this city has over a DOZEN soup kitchens in the downtown area, and not one of them turns someone away empty-handed, or empty-stomached.

This reminds me of an old joke:

Panhandler approaches a well-dressed woman and tells her, "I haven't eaten in three days." The woman replies, "Force yourself, dear." and walks on.

[thatcrazyredhead]

I guess I'm a little bit of a softie on this one. If I actually have any cash on me, which is rare, and the person asking doesn't scare me, I'll give them what I can. If they're fine and it's a scam, I'm out a few bucks at most. If they're actually in need and I don't help them, then I lose a piece of my humanity. Just my take on it.

[raudf]

I was amazed the other day, because I saw a panhandler asking for... a tent and a sleeping bag. If I hadn't lived so far from town, I might have given him/her (I have no idea, long hair, looked female, but...) our two person tent that we weren't using, simply because she wasn't asking for money!

[Kagato]

Slightly related, a little off topic, but this reminds me of an anecdote I heard from a fellow university student that was conducting an experiment for an assignment.

Basically they dressed up in fairly old clothing so they had the look of a homeless person and sat out on the street with a sign, but the sign quite clearly read "I am NOT a homeless person, I am conducting a university experiment to see how many people actually pay attention to signs and how many simply make presumptions from first visual impressions - if you read this sign, please say hi to me! (Money given will be donated to <insert charity here>)" It's kind of surprising how many people didn't read the sign and just assumed he was another homeless bum - By the end of the day, he was able to make a $200 donation x_x (When I first heard about it, I was tempted to try out the experiment myself to see if I could duplicate the results he got, or whether it varied from area to area)

[Teskeria]

There is a woman in Boston who works the streets around Harvard. She dresses for work in nasty dirty clothes and ensures she looks homeless. She makes about a hundred grand a year (the newspapers did a report on some of the 'panhandlers' in Boston one year) and pays her taxes properly.
If you do it right, in the right place, it can be more than a living.

[Sapphire Silk]

I had a guy pull up in his car and tell me he'd left is wallet at his father in law's house, and needed money for gas.

It was quite a long and involved story. http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...highlight=scam

[Jester]

There are people who piss me off, and people who genuinely need help.

First the former: I was coming out of a convenience store one day, and I had a twelve pack of beer I had bought to bring over to the place of a girl I was dating at the time. Outside said convenience store were a couple of twentysomethings, both perfectly able-bodied, both looking kinda grubby. The kind of kids I call street rats: they're perfectly capable of working, but have chosen not to. I have zero sympathy for these people.

RAT #1: "Hey man, can I have one of those beers?"
ME: "No."
RAT #1: "Why not?"
ME: "Because they're MINE."

And gave the little shit a look that said, "Hey, if you want some beer, do what I did, and go get a job and earn some money to buy yourself some damn beer."

And now the latter: I was driving through the South, probably in Tennessee or Georgia, and saw a shabby looking man hitchhiking. I pulled over, asked where he was heading. He was trying to get to his kid's place, I think in Savannah, and he'd appreciate my getting him anywhere near there. As I was not heading there, but was heading in that direction, I him to hop on in, and I'd get him closer.

The dude reeked. Honestly, he stank. And as it was rainy, I couldn't really roll down my windows. But he was nice enough, and without saying it, seemed aware of his deplorable condition, and the effect it must have been having on me, though I didn't mention it. This humble and humbled man offered to do work for me, work on my truck, clean my truck, do landscaping, whatever. He was not looking for a handout or any cash, and clearly felt bad about even accepting a free ride. I told him I didn't need any work done, but thanked him for the offer. He didn't seem happy with that, and kept trying to offer his services for, well, whatever. Finally I told him, "Look, if you really want to do something for me, here's the deal. I helped you out today, and I had no problem doing so. One day in the future, you may run into someone who needs help themselves. You want to pay me back for today, help that future person out. Pay it forward, my friend, and consider whatever debt you think you owe me paid." He thought about it for a bit, nodded, and said that seemed fair. And we rode the next however many miles mostly in silence.

There are a lot of scammers out there. I have no pity or time for them. But there are people who are down on their luck and need help, sometimes from a stranger.

Fuck the scammers.

For the others, pay it forward, kids.

[EvilEmpryss]

Hubby (now a psychologist) wants to put on a suit and stand on a street corner with a sign that says "Grad Student/Need $$$ For/Student Loans/Anything Will Help/God Bless"--because here in the South if you don't have "God Bless" then you're not sincerely humble enough to deserve squat.

We're wondering how fast he could pay off his student loans that way.

As for the "I need gas money" scam, heck, I might need to try that myself. With the price of gas nowadays, I'll happily accept someone giving me a few gallons instead of a few bucks! /tongue-in-cheek

[taxguykarl]

Sounds like one scammer who hangs around the tax office. She is a friend of SM, so banning her is not an option. Well a week or so ago she was trying to bum some gas money off me--never mind that she just bought a large meal from the carryout place around the corner for at least enough for a couple gallons. Needless to say, I turned her down.