This won't be popular but it's my opinion. (stop begging!)

Hi.

I just have to ask why or how people think they can live by begging.

Are they so messed up on drugs or an addiction they have lost all sense of reality?

Why I bitch.....

On most mornings I leave my apartment then proceed to the neighbourhood 7-11 which is about a block away. During my walk I smoke a cigarette and often times at least 1 or 2 people ask if they can “bum a smoke”.

As I approach 7-11 more often than not there’s at least one person waiting outside the store begging for change. (wth?)

I take the bus and usually at the bus stop there is a person who asks if I “have change to take the bus”. (I doubt they use the money for bus fare.)

I am so tired of telling the above people “NO”. I feel like printing t-shirts that say “Don’t ask me for money or smokes!”

Why do people think begging is a profession? Find a job and support yourselves!

(If I offended any members then I guess I apologize because that was not my intent.)

a reply to: minusinfinity

Careful there amigo...

Arrogance and Karma have a nasty way of teaching us a lesson in humility.

"There but for the Grace of God, go I"

a reply to: olaru12

I have been in some baaaaadddd places in my life but I have never begged and I never steal.

I would starve to death before I begged for money.

Considering the economy and job market in western countries is gone down the toilet people are doing what they have to in order to survive .. you will see more of it as the economy there gets worse ..

We have beggars here too though in most cases its severely disabled people since there arent the social programs like what the west has .. on the times see them will either give them some money or get them a meal ..

A friend of mine living in Texas is recently homeless.. she doesn't do drugs or have any issues like you mentioned, the person she worked for owned a small chain of mini-mart type stores and was arrested for selling drugs out of one of them.. as a result, the chain was shut down and she was out of a job.. she then had her car break down and used what little savings she had to get it fixed, but couldn't afford to pay for gas or rent anymore..

Sometimes people are just victims of circumstance to no fault of their own, it's kind of cruel to criticize a person when you don't know what got them to that place.. Yeah some of them no doubt drank their money away, or went down because of drugs.. but that's not all of them.

There's also the con artists.. I've seen video about one "homeless" man who makes his living entirely off begging, he was doing so well at it that he quit his job and now begs full time.. he has a nice house, a car.. everything.. and it's paid for by begging full time. There was another woman that pretended she needed crutches to walk, all hunched over.. she was caught on cam later standing up and getting into a car..



And this guy makes $100,000 a year doing it.. he fakes being mentally handicapped

originally posted by: Expat888
Considering the economy and job market in western countries is gone down the toilet people are doing what they have to in order to survive .. you will see more of it as the economy there gets worse ..

We have beggars here too though in most cases its severely disabled people since there arent the social programs like what the west has .. on the times see them will either give them some money or get them a meal ..

There are always exceptions. I'm talking about healthy 20 something's who are either too lazy or too stoned to find a job.

Some goes to the street to beg, others goes to the bank, the ones going to the bank are usually also those who end up on the street.

a reply to: minusinfinity

By the way, where I'm from you have to have a license to panhandle.. if they bust you without it you're in trouble, that's to help cut down on the people like you see in the videos I posted above.. that would weed out the fakers at least.

I don't think anyone WANTS to be homeless and begging legitimately but their circumstances put them there and until you know what those circumstances are, it's really horrible to place judgement or make assumptions about them being a drunkard, druggy or just plain lazy..

a reply to: miniatus

Sorry to read about your friend but thanks for posting the vids. The con artists are what this thread is about, not people who need help.

It's frustrating.

originally posted by: minusinfinity
a reply to: miniatus

Sorry to read about your friend but thanks for posting the vids. The con artists are what this thread is about, not people who need help.

It's frustrating.

Absolutely infuriating.. the guy in the wheelchair makes more money than I do and I've been busting my butt since 1998.. I'm a software developer/linux systems administrator, a beggar shouldn't be earning more than me.

a reply to: minusinfinity

When someone asks me for money or cigarettes, I generally say no. If I was at the bus stop and someone was asking for bus fare, I'd offer to buy them a ticket, no money though, just the ticket. What if that person really did need to catch the bus for an interview? What if you bought them the ticket and they ended up getting the job and were then able to pull themselves out of the hole they're in, all because you helped them out with a small bus fare.

I try to see the best in people, not everyone begging is a drug addict, many of them have mental and physical disabilities that are untreated. I also believe in karma/dharma, what goes around comes around.

Solution:
Make them do something degrading for your change or smokes. The next day, even more degrading. The next day... and so on.... eventually it won't be worth the effort/embarrassment for them.
(Is he kidding? I don't know)

Welcome to the joys of capitalism, otherwise known as dog eat dog, survival of the fittest, don't get sick and if you do get sick, die quickly.

What part of this scenario isn't an easily seen outcome of the banks and government stealing $700,000,000 from the people in 2008, wars and military bases all across the planet, and no one saying that maybe we could be spending our money better than keeping Lloyd Bankfein and his ilk in their several million dollar bonuses and the Pentagon constantly busy?

What part of the terrorism isn't actually being levied on that person waiting outside 7-11 for a handout?

a reply to: minusinfinity

Recently there was a story about a man...nice house in the suburbs...nice car...would get up each day, and go to a freeway entrance park his car aways away, put on ragged clothing and stand there with a cardboard and pencil sign reading "HOMELESS, hungry.. Any donations accepted "

He claimed to make around $40,000 a year that way. More than he made working.

originally posted by: minusinfinity
a reply to: olaru12

I have been in some baaaaadddd places in my life but I have never begged and I never steal.

I would starve to death before I begged for money.

I too have been in desperate situations and I never had to beg or steal but currently I enjoy enviable circumstances.

I don't judge and I feel fortunate that I'm able to help my fellowman that may be down on his luck.

Even drunks and junkies get hungry and after I contribute; what they do with the money is none of my business.

"there but for the grace of GOD go I"

Olaru12, I don't think your comment is relevant. Didn't seem arrogant and what does karma have to do with helping people who aren't needy but wanty?

a reply to: Jennyfrenzy

You're right.
The way to go is to just buy the bus ticket or buy the person a meal. Not all people are bad or just scamming.

Just saying there are a lot of people who just beg. (don't be naïve.)

Really??? NEVER beg? You would rather die? I'm sorry, I find that very hard to believe. By the way, begging and stealing are NOT the same thing.a reply to: minusinfinity

originally posted by: lokin
Really??? NEVER beg? You would rather die? I'm sorry, I find that very hard to believe. By the way, begging and stealing are NOT the same thing.a reply to: minusinfinity

I never said begging and stealing are the same. Without looking I'm sure I said beg "or" steal.

(whatever your point is I missed it.)

originally posted by: Antipathy17
Olaru12, I don't think your comment is relevant. Didn't seem arrogant and what does karma have to do with helping people who aren't needy but wanty?

You are much more perceptive than I am. How do you tell the difference?

"Judge not lest ye be judged"

btw, I'm not a religious person but these biblical cliches seem appropriate somehow.