Helping Strangers

[sexmaniac]

I guess I must look like a nice guy (which I really am) because alot of strangers on the street seem to approach me for money. If I can see they are cracked out or are obviously just looking for the next high, I say sorry but don't have any spare change. But sometimes, I cave in when someone looks honest guess I am kinda a sucker for the desperate man. So, tonight I am filling up my car at the bargain price of 99.9 - 3.5 cent savings and this guy approaches me with a story. My first reaction is what does this bum want? But he says no I am not a bum, I am a contractor from the Island returning from work and left my wallet in his other truck. Sounds like a line of BS right? I don't know I gave him the benefit of the doubt because sometimes I've been scrambling for bus fare and know what it feels like to need to get somewhere. He says he chugged his last bit of gas getting to the station. I'm kind of thinking why would you park at the pump if you don't have any money but I didn't start interoggating him. I said ok, I told him I don't have a lot of money but I am willing to pay the cashier $5 to help him out.

He thanks me and I say I guess it probably won't get you too far with the high price of gas. He is going to Chilliwack he says and it should get him almost there with the highway driving. I am thinking are you sure??? Then he starts getting personal like where am I from? Seeing as this is pretty general I say I am a local. Then, he offers to repay me sometime and is hinting that I give him my address? I am thinking yeah right he is really going to do that, maybe he is going to come by and rob me later how do I know? Know matter how much I trust he is a stranger and I would never divulge such personal information. So, that was that and I was on my way. Who knows if this was a BS story but atleast I didn't give $5 away for an addict on his next fix.

Ok, I did my good deed for the day. Remember me father when I pray and I'm down on my luck!

 

[yogi]

Worrying that someone might rob you after knowing your address sounds mighty paranoid and irrational ...."Whoa, this dude gave us $5 and now we have his address...he must be filthy rich!...let's track him down, do a home invasion, & rob his millions..."

It's extremely rare that I give money to panhandlers, call me cynical. 99.5% of them are con artists, drunks, & addicts. By giving them money you're just enabling them. If you really want to help, give to the many outstanding charitable organizations that will help these people turn around their lives, if they only choose to do so.

After being accosted for the 20th time in a day, I get pretty surly, don't even want to respond. That really pisses off some of them. They feel entitled to an answer after invading my space.

But what really pisses me off is when these kids have a kitten or puppy they just got, and are using it to tug on my heartstrings ("Please, we need food for the kitty"). I want to confront them and say "I'd never get a pet unless I knew I could support one. I had my dog for 14 years. She cost me over $15,000 to take care of. I could never be so irresponsible as you; you should be ashamed of yourself. Does that pet even have the basic shots?"

 

[gettinold]

IMHO, I think that it was a wise thing to not divulge your information. He could swing by your place, and since he knows your car, he would know whether you would be home or not (if a house) and if not, do what he wants. What about a wife? He could have noticed whether you had a ring on or not. Paranoid, perhaps, but who thought people would go in to your garbage to get personal information and apply for a multitude of credit cards with it. Just for food for thought.

 

[rambler6]

Stranger

By any chance was this guy quite tall and skinny. I got stung by a guy a few years ago. He came into our warehouse and was asking for money as he needed to get to surrey for a family emergency and had no gas, and wallet was at home. Was going to give him a fiver but he asked if I could spare ten. Gave it to him and he promised he would be by the next day to repay me. I figured it was my good dead for the month and considered it writen off.

Well low and behold guess who showed up about three months later. The warehouse was closed so he came into the office to pull the same thing. I was talking to a new employee and he started the same story. I told him he still owned me ten and I wanted it back now right f**king now. He looked stunned. Quite funny. Chased hime out to his car harassing him for the money and he pealed out of the parking lot. The new employee was wondering what kind of person I was swearing at this person walking in off of the street. Once I explained it they got a good laugh.

Just imagine if he pulled that at twenty or forty businesses around me, the cash he made. And to forget that you have already hit up that block and start doing it again.

Count yourself lucky it was only five and you can sleep tonight knowing that he doesn't have your address.

 

[hornydude]

Ha!

I guess I must look like a nice guy (which I really am) because alot of strangers on the street seem to approach me for money.

While I tend to dress well, I look like a fucking asshole. I wear a scowl on my face, I'm big, and I only make eye contact (with other men) so as to give a "fuck off you're walking in my portion of the sidewalk" look.

Still lots of strangers like to ask me for money, too!

I think they simply ask everybody. 9 out of 10 guys begging on the street in this town live in decent apartments and also collect welfare (all you need is an address and a lack of shame!). They are essentially good cold callers in that they ask 2000 or so people a day for $, and they find maybe 20 suckers.

This "cold calling" is just a modus operandi that has become standard because one shit rat has learned the technique from another shit rat down the shit rat chain until every shit rat from Vancouver to Surrey now does the same thing.

 

[Lady Companion]

I think I got the same guy a couple nights ago

Had a little gas can and said he left his wallet at home because he was scrambling to get his girlfriend off to work. Truck ran out of gas, and he had to get back to Chilliwack. Was insistent that he wasn't on drugs etc. and didn't look like he was either. Thin, but coherent, and in jeans and a work shirt.

I gave him 10, and he was grateful and said if I wanted it back to just ask for so and so at some construction company and he would send it back out to me. He did ask where I lived too - though I just took it as him trying to make polite conversation. I just said in the neighbourhood.

Pretty good scam...... sounds like he got a few of us.

 

[Herb_The_Perb]

When I lived in Los Angeles, there was a well-dressed, well-groomed, middle-class and churchgoing-looking black man who ran a similar scam. Many people believed him.

 

[lenny]

I buy them food and something to drink. without fail, they dig right in.

Glad to know at least some of my money is going to a good cause...

;

 

[lenny]

I've been hit by someone who showed me a wallet full of many cards,
who claimed her credit cards were maxed out, her car was damaged,
she was from Chilliwack {or somewhere like that, far away}, and
needed to get back soon for work. She was asking for help with a
bus ticket {via Greyhound, i think}.

Several weeks later saw her again in the same area {Broadway &
Granville vicinity} with a similar story. Evidently she didn't recall
that i turned her down the first time.

Some days later she was begging out in the West End & approached
me a third time.

If inclined i might have gone to the bus depot & bought her a
ticket. But, then, she would have probably tried to sell it, possibly
to support a drug habit. And, as it turned out, her story was almost
definitely BS.

 

[georgebushmoron]

Most times, it seems helping beggars only nourishes their lice. I don't help the young and wasted, the able-bodied but wretched. The few times I give are the times when it appears they truly have no option but to scavenge, like the completely sober old Oriental woman with a shopping cart full of pop cans looking in each trash can for more. I asked her why she does what she does, she says because people throw out pop cans and it's free money. I asked her where her family was, she said her husband is at home and too old, and her kids no longer speak to them. I said, "here's 20 bucks take it". She was astonished and refused it and was embarrassed. I tried again, and she thanked and bowed. She would have kept bowing if I didn't turn and walk away.

Too bad the streets are overrun with self-inflicted losers. It makes it hard to support those who truly deserve help.

 

[Marvin]

I say sorry but don't have any spare change.

Years of dealing with panhandlers daily has made me numb and therefore I NEVER say "sorry" to them anymore ... really, why should I be sorry for whatever misfortune has befallen them?

OK, let's have it from all you bleeding heart liberals.

 

[lenny]

1.Years of dealing with panhandlers daily has made me numb and therefore I NEVER say "sorry" to them anymore ...

2.really, why should I be sorry for whatever misfortune has befallen them?

1. Some days they seem quite annoying, especially when you encounter
about 10 of them with several using their mildly har-assing tactics. Or
maybe it's just the mood i'm in, when i would like to strangle them. On
days when i feel like shit it's nice to have headphones on listening to
music & unable to hear what they're saying, or when they realize
this & don't even bother.

2. I guess it's called sympathy, empathy, compassion...you put yourself
in their shoes & walk a mile or two. Then you ask yourself, in an alternate
universe, what if this was me? And what about karma {payback's a biatch}.
Will i be damned for all time? Is this a test...could i be the only real person
in this universe of illusion or androids made by gawd? Is the whole world
just a stage?

 

[Cock Throppled]

Yeah, it was a scam,sexmaniac. They're all scams. One of the best was "The Running Man", this guy ran everywhere downtown and up on Broadway for a few years. Haven't seen him lately. His scam was, his wife was pregnant and in VGH about to deliver and his car had run out of gas and he needed a few bucks for a cab/gas/bus to get there. He'd run up all desperate and out of breath and if you didn't immediately hand over money he'd run off to the next mark. He approached me a few times and when I'd remind him he's already tried it on he'd just say "sorry" and run off. Once I offerred him a ride and he just game me a knowing smile - and ran up the street.

 

[hitrack]

I don't give money to anyone. If your car broke down you should have BCAA.

Money is something you earn, not give away. Money is the absolute most important thing in the whole entire world, besides your health. With out money you can't do anything.

 

[Ilovethemall]

pigeons

I have worked downtown far too long - panhandlers are like fucking pigeons, throw crumbs on the ground and they will eat them up. Unfortunately, we don't have Darwinism anymore, once upon a time these fucking punks would have been eaten by something larger than them.

 

[lilirockson]

I have recently moved downtown, and having a dog, I need to take her out for walks on a regular schedule. It is so bad in my area (Hornby&Drake) that I have had to learn to go on certain routes, that way I know I will not be bothered every half a block. Even if you give one of them money, you still have to say no to 10 others, and the worst part about it to me is when they don't say please, they just demand. Once a week or so I let the bottle collectors in my underground and wait with them while they dig out the bottles from the recycling cans, they always get a full cart and really seem to appreciate it.

 

[wtflmfao]

It depends

Sexmaniac, even it was a scam you're out $5 and it probably won't happen again. No big deal. If it wasn't a scam, I'm sure it was greatly appreciated and you have the satisfaction of knowing you helped someone in need. Good for you, what goes around comes around and you'll likely be rewarded somehow, someday.

I'm not too concerned with the minor scams these folks on the street are playing. Sometimes I give my change, sometimes I don't. I don't worry about it one way or the other.

I was scammed in a much larger fashion by a so called friend. That one hurt, but at least I walk away knowing I was acting out of good will. The $$$$$ aren't that big of deal, the dishonesty of a friend is what hurt. Unfortunately, it has made me a little more cynical and untrusting of people even though that is not my general nature. That pisses me off.

 

[Webster]

Once a week or so I let the bottle collectors in my underground and wait with them while they dig out the bottles from the recycling cans, they always get a full cart and really seem to appreciate it.

The IGA has these little coupons that let you make an easy donation to the food bank while you buy your groceries. I don't pay any attention to panhandlers unless it's New Year's Eve when I figure it's a sacred act to help people get hammered.

 

[The Lizard King]

Yeah, what Hitrack said.

When approached by someone suspect, always lead off with "hey man, I can do better than that, I think I can get you a job!", and then see how long they stick around to waste your fucking time.

 

[babyface69]

i remember once, a coworker went to give one of those panhandlers a tray of empties, the guy actually got pissed off and said he didn't want it and wanted cold hard cash, didn't want to bother with it. coworker was stunned.