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The choosy beggar

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  • #16
    Oh sheesh I got one guy...apparently he had lost his bus ticket and desperately needed to get back home.Ah as it was,I was able to help.He looked at what I had given him and said 'What's that'?
    'That's my bus ticket.I don't need it any more,so you can have it.Now you can get home'. Apparently,he didn't want that,he wanted the money for the ticket...
    A genuine case would have snaffled it up and been extremely thankful.
    A genuine case also would not have tried the same line the next day not realizing that he'd asked me before....
    The Copyright Monster has made me tell you that my avatar is courtesy of the wonderful Alice XZ.And you don't want to annoy the Copyright Monster.

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    • #17
      Quoth Kit-Ginevra View Post
      A genuine case also would not have tried the same line the next day not realizing that he'd asked me before....
      I had one of those ages ago, back when I started my current job. I was walking to one of the restaurants in the city for lunch, when a guy approached me, asking me if I could spare a few dollars. He said he had just been released from the hospital, and hadn't had anything to eat all day. So I gave him a few dollars and went on my way, feeling good for helping someone out.

      A couple of weeks later, I was walking somewhere to get lunch again, and the same guy came up to me with the exact same story. This time, I mumbled something about not having any cash, and walked away, as my faith in humanity took a huge tumble.
      Sometimes life is altered.
      Break from the ropes your hands are tied.
      Uneasy with confrontation.
      Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right

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      • #18
        There used to be a guy around here in filthy scrubs who would just stand at the corner mumbling "change for a cuppa coffee". Sometimes he'd try to get food money off of a mark. Most of the food places (Dunkin, Bucks, Panera, etc) kicked him out because while he technically did have money, he reeked and would try to get freebies or a deep discount whenever he could. If anyone asked he claimed to have just been released from a nearby hospital after surgery...

        One summer my goal was to get him to give up (or overhear) enough info that I could check with the hospitals ("hey, just thought you might want to know that a patient is wandering around downtown harassing businesses and people for money, might want to pick him up") but I couldn't make that happen.
        "I am quite confident that I do exist."
        "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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        • #19
          I was filling up my car one morning when a vaguely sketchy-looking guy came up saying he needed a couple gallons of gas. I was like "Noooo....I don't have cash" and he was all "No, legit, I'm not one of those people, my van is there and you can pump the gas right in." So then I was like yeah okay and I went and pumped some gas for him so he could get home. Too many people here scamming with the gas cans begging for money for me to offer straight cash, though.
          Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

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          • #20
            I can't decide if this was mean or not. A co-worker and I were out taking a smoke break and as usual, someone came to ask us for a cig. As usual, I only had the one I was smoking, but my co-worker pulled out a pack of Kools. (Menthol cigs) and offered one. The cig mooch said he couldn't smoke those and left.

            I asked my co-worker about it because I knew that she smoked the same non-menthol brand that I did. She said that if someone really needed their nicotine fix, they would smoke one. If they weren't really jonsing, they would find someone else to ask. She had bought that pack in December, so I guess it worked.

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            • #21
              I've helped out a few homeless people, I guess I'm lucky cuz I've only ever encountered nice ones.

              One was when I was at college. I was in the town for my lunch heading towards the Burger King, when I saw this girl who was obviously homeless sitting outside. Most people ignored her, some were making passive aggressive remarks. I asked her if she wanted a burger; she gratefully said yes, I went into the Burger King and bought her a meal along with a drink. I ate my meal with her, she shared her burger with her dog and then I said that I'd look after her dog if she wanted to go inside and have a wash. She did so and I held her dog's lead while she went inside.

              Another occasion; more recent. I saw this guy with a pure white Alsation sitting with a sign so I went and bought him a meal, and a bag of dog biscuits. He thanked me and we chatted a bit. This was after the death of David Bowie and we talked about him. The guy also said that he never asked for money, cuz he wanted people to know that he wasn't a panhandler.
              People who don't like cats were probably mice in an earlier life.
              My DeviantArt.

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              • #22
                Quoth Slave to the Phone View Post
                She said that if someone really needed their nicotine fix, they would smoke one. If they weren't really jonsing, they would find someone else to ask.
                If I'm bumming for a smokey treat, I'll smoke anything with a filter. (I prefer full flavor, however...reds, if you will.)

                I can't tell you, though, how many coworkers will want to beg a cigarette off of me, but when all I have to offer them is one of my mine, they whine about how they only smoke menthols and then pout for forever.
                Unseen but seeing
                oh dear, now they're masquerading as sane-KiaKat
                There isn't enough interpretive dance in the workplace these days-Irv
                3rd shift needs love, too
                RIP, mo bhrionglóid

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                • #23
                  Some years back I read about a guy whose coworker was always bumming cigarettes. The coworker:

                  - HATED menthol
                  - had a habit of rolling the cigarette between his fingers between puffs

                  In order to get back at the coworker, the guy bought a pack of Camel Crush. The coworker found that his first puff was fine, but the further he got into the cigarette, the more menthol it became. Never figured it out, but stopped bumming cigarettes off this one guy.
                  Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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                  • #24
                    Busking is a skill, and to even start busking you need to develop some sort of entertainment skill.
                    (Yes, I know some people will get a busking licence and then not actually busk, just stand on their designated location and beg. I'm not including them as actual buskers.)

                    I view busking - genuine busking - as a way to improve the life and vitality and live-ability and beauty of a city. Especially if the city planners provided places where buskers could work without disrupting the traffic (pedestrian as well as vehicular).

                    I also view busking as work - genuine work, and no less deserving of pay than any other sort of work.

                    Any busker who entertains me gets something, however little, from me.
                    Seshat's self-help guide:
                    1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
                    2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
                    3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
                    4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

                    "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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                    • #25
                      People turn down cigs? Geesh I could make a fortune at my downtown bus stop by buying a pack (I don't smoke, btw) and selling them for a dollar apiece. The people I see down there (don't know if they're homeless or just scruffy and broke) are so desperate that they'll dig cigs out of the trash. They beg for cigs / ask to buy them off others all the time.

                      As far as busking, we have street performers on the 16th street mall (a pedestrian area) here in Denver and some are amazing, but some need music lessons. There are actually pianos down there that some of the performers use, and there's one guy that's amazing and really should be playing in a concert hall rather than on the street.

                      There are a lot of beggars in that area too, and I found out by accident that the best defense is to have someone in a wheelchair with you. Nobody has asked for anything when I have Hubby with me. He's gotten a few salutes too (he's not a vet but looks like he could be...we correct anyone who actually says anything but it isn't worth it for a one-second gesture).
                      Last edited by WishfulSpirit; 04-28-2016, 02:20 PM.
                      "I try to be curious about everything, even things that don't interest me." -Alex Trebek

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                      • #26
                        What's interesting is when Mr. Turtle and I are together: People usually approach him and ignore me. Now, I'm a redhead with what I've been told is a "don't mess with me" look in my eyes, whereas Mr. Turtle looks like a young Santa, and apparently people see him as a pushover (he's not.)

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                        • #27
                          I don't mind buskers.Some of them are brilliant-I look at it,if they went into the local hall and performed as a concert,then you'd quite happily pay money to hear them.
                          The Copyright Monster has made me tell you that my avatar is courtesy of the wonderful Alice XZ.And you don't want to annoy the Copyright Monster.

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                          • #28
                            I don't have money; I work in retail, for chrissakes. But, if I ran into a person that was genuinely hungry and really needed food (not money for drugs or booze), I'd treat that person to the dollar menu.

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