You want what now?

[Hon'ya-chan]

So I ring out this customer. Bought a magazine and some candy.

Not a minute after i'm done with her, she yips back asking for a dollar so she can catch the bus. I ignore the first response, thinking she's talking to someone else to do some paperwork. But when she goes "Hey....hey....can I have a dollar for the bus?" do I realize she's talking to me.

I tell her that I will not give her a dollar. I then prepare for her to return the item she bought so she can get some money. She leaves without incident.

Now i'm going to myself if you need a dollar for the bus, why did you just buy something that would wipe out your money?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Because she doesn't need a dollar to catch a bus. She just wanted to see if she could get you to give her a dollar.


What do panhandlers nearly always tell you they need the money for? A bus ticket.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

What do panhandlers nearly always tell you they need the money for? A bus ticket.

And on that note, I once overheard some creepy guy trying to get money out of people at a MAX station (the train) in downtown Portland. He approached two Hispanic girls pushing strollers and latched onto the more timid one, told her this big long excruciatingly boring story about how he needed a bus ticket, only for her friend to jump in and go "She ain't giving you her Pampers money!"

It took all I had not to double over laughing in front of them.

[princess4life]

And on that note, I once overheard some creepy guy trying to get money out of people at a MAX station (the train) in downtown Portland. He approached two Hispanic girls pushing strollers and latched onto the more timid one, told her this big long excruciatingly boring story about how he needed a bus ticket, only for her friend to jump in and go "She ain't giving you her Pampers money!"

It took all I had not to double over laughing in front of them.

I had a guy come up to me the one time with a long sob story on how he was trying to catch a bus back to his home state but he was only $2 short of the bus ticket. He even went as far as counting out his other money to me and yep he was $2 short. So me being the innocent girl I was thought he was being honest and really was just trying to get home gave him $2. He thanked me profusely and walked into the bus station I felt really good about myself. Until 2 weeks later when the exact same guy walked up to me with the exact same story. I pointed out to him I gave him $2 a couple weeks ago and that he should have been home by now.

Well I won’t try to help someone like that out again, now I refer them to the local church, and I donate to charities.

[Banrion]

There is a regular around here, who panhandles for train money inside the subway station ON THE PLATFORM!!! At this particular station, the only way to get onto the platform is to go through the fare collection turnstiles. So the guy has either a) already jumped the turnstiles, or b) paid, but either way he has access to the entire T system, and does not need money to get anywhere.

There is another guy by the commuter trains who is a dollar short for his train home EVERYDAY, and not smart enough to figure out who is there watching his act everyday. The first week I was working here, I felt bad and gave him a dollar, only to see him take my dollar and go to DD's. He still tries to get money out of me about once a month or so, but I call him out on his scam now.

[Andara Bledin]

Ah, the age-old "money for gas/fare/ticket/emergency" scam.

I don't give people money. I will give food, and I've given out free food coupons when I won something at a local fast food place. But I don't give money.

Oh, and I've also been known to hand people bus tokens when they're tring to beg for bus fare. The scammers hate that.

^-.-^

[Tigress]

Well I won’t try to help someone like that out again, now I refer them to the local church, and I donate to charities.

I used to get these people pretty regularly when I was in college. My response was: "Homeless shelter is just down the street."

Now my response is that I don't have any cash. Which isn't a lie, since I usually use my card for most expenses. I rarely carry more than $20 at a time.

And somehow carrying around a tiger backpack seems to make people think I don't have that much to begin with. Paired with my babyface, they probably think I'm just too young to be gainfully employed.

[chainedbarista]

we get that every once in a while; the latest one was incoherent, and sounded like he wanted water.

i know, water, dollar; sounds nothing alike, and yet, when it came from this loser's piehole, it did sound like water...

he left sans water and dollar.

[edible_hat]

I had this once:

moron: "All my stuff was stolen, can you give me $100 out of the till? I'll pay you back!"
me: "I can't do that, but since you say you were robbed I can call the police and they'll help you."
moron: "No thanks" *runs away*

and when I say he ran away, I mean it literally.

[Kogarashi]

I had a lady actually scream at me one time and call me a liar when I told her I didn't have any cash on me. I don't carry cash. I use the card for everything, and around here I can ride the college bus system for free since Hubby's a student. Plus I tend to spend any cash that's in my wallet on snacks when I'm at the store, and I'd rather save my fun money for something more useful (like a video game).

[Arcade Man D]

Ah, I've given money to a homeless gent on one occassion. Because I couldn't remember where my favorite CD store was, and had him direct me to it, so I paid him for his assistance. ^_^

[strawbabies]

I had a lady actually scream at me one time and call me a liar when I told her I didn't have any cash on me.

The nerve!

[earl colby pottinger]

BUT, But, but!

I had a lady actually scream at me one time and call me a liar when I told her I didn't have any cash on me. I don't carry cash. I use the card for everything, and around here I can ride the college bus system for free since Hubby's a student. Plus I tend to spend any cash that's in my wallet on snacks when I'm at the store, and I'd rather save my fun money for something more useful (like a video game).

Right now I have ZERO cents in my pockets, I also have three debit cards, a VISA and a MasterCard. I can buy anything I need with those and still walk around for days without any cash.

It must becoming harder as more people move to plastic each day.

[Jack7957]

It must becoming harder as more people move to plastic each day.

Nahhh... they'll just get one of these.

[Killer Bees]

A good rule of thumb is probably to tell any panhandler, "but I already gave you money last week" even if you've never seen them before.

I usually just say, "sorry, I don't have any money to give you." They never pick up on the fact that I haven't said I have NO money, just nothing to give them. In my country its odd that people would scab for money when the govt is quite generous to the disenfranchised of our society. I also NEVER give money to people who smell like alcohol and/or cigarette smoke.

And I woud like JUST ONCE to walk down the street in the city without some lame arse begging me to support their charity. And when I say no, they give me filthy looks. WTF?