Tried to Hire a Homeless Man Today

I didn't go through the thread, but I can contribute.

Just around a half hour ago or so i watched, on fox news believe it or not.

John Stossel's Special called "Freeloaders" explained the condition behind The OP's event.

Found a link to what i believe to be a summary or cliff notes.

Anyways some of these freeloaders can make more than minimum wage easy just pan handling.

One lady lived a few blocks (whatever) off a highway and did it by the off ramp.

The link does have some info about it.

stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com...

Does Hard Earned Credit men anything anymore???

I never give homeless money, if they are hungry I offer to buy them some food.

I believe there's genuinely being homeless, but then there's those who've been in the 'game' long enough to know how to exploit the system to its advantage. They have no interest in working shifts or for the 'man' only to see 80% of it returning back to the bill collectors and banks, when what they make on the street singlehandedly stays with them (unless of course they get mugged in which case they just start over again anyway.) Roma families have been doing this for aeons, its only us idiots who think capitalism is the way to go who can't see the tree for the woods.

Would you work for $20 a hour theoretically knowing at the end of the day in full-time work you'd only see at the most $3 of it in reality. After bills, Taxes, and National Insurance.

You're just asking for trouble when you bring one of these guy's to your home to perform cheap labor. Next thing you know... one of your kids are missing. Most of these homeless have a screw loose or they wouldn't be in their situation. Haven't you people learned anything from what happened to Elizabeth Smart??? Sheesh.

Originally posted by quantumdragon
I didn't go through the thread, but I can contribute.

Just around a half hour ago or so i watched, on fox news believe it or not.

John Stossel's Special called "Freeloaders" explained the condition behind The OP's event.

stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com...

Does Hard Earned Credit men anything anymore???

edit on 9-4-2011 by quantumdragon because: grammer

Wow. Is there a chance this whole thread was started by someone working for FOX, as a way to attract attention towards their special?

Wow.

You people are so wonderful. Wow. I'm not a Christian. But I know Jesus would be so proud of you.
It takes real courage to dehumanize dysfunctional people. It's so wonderful that you can scapegoat and find the real cause of our civilization's moral decay. We should send the poor and mentally ill to camps. We'll give them showers. Clean up. Make them work. No welfare for the lazy and desperate.

Save the welfare for the corporations. Who needs to be used and manipulated by street people? Not you!! We should only admire our business owners and our success stories. Who needs to reward failure? We need to support good citizens and good people, remember corportations have the same rights as persons, (but you can't send a company to jail- shut up) because they create jobs. Unlike those lazy bums that don't want jobs. General Electric is a benevolant power that needs your tax dollars and charity.

GE paid no taxes last year.
They actually got tax credits.

Your scapegoating of the lower classes is Facism at it's finest.
You would have made good SS officers.

Carry on.


Did I forget to say that we should only admire our celebities, the rich, the famous, our sports heros?
Charlie Sheen is your new messiah.

Originally posted by incrediblelousminds
Wow. Is there a chance this whole thread was started by someone working for FOX, as a way to attract attention towards their special?

Do I work for fox or any news agency's??

NO

Sorry to change the vibe of the Thread, I just had something i wanted to contribute.

Personally I Think CNN is just a little better myself.





Plus It was very informative, Coming form John's mouth and not FOX news

reply to post by onehuman


idk how my story relates but there's a homeless man outside our grocery store asking for money, really nice guy, so instea,d i let him go thru my groceries & take what food he wanted, he did so very gently & kept asking "are you sure?' he politely took maybe $3 worth of stuff.

reply to post by quantumdragon


Actually, I was referring to the OP, since he started the thread. No you, who merely provided the info i based my 'theory' on.

once I ran a fireworks shop (was 18 at the time and pretty cold hearted). We hired a homeless guy for 6 bucks a day + a 6 pack of beer. We made that guy work his arse off, from endless carrying of boxes, display, etc. We were also exceptionally verbally abusive to him (it felt good I guess).
At the end of the season we decided for a laugh to have a real conversation with him...he was actually a damn good worker (was just a drunk bum when not working...not talking like mission housing homeless, we are talking tent in the woods type).

Seems he was a mechanic, then his wife and daughter died in a fire...he sort of lost the plot and will to live, then everyone fell apart. former marine, now just a guy in the woods.

We immediately put him to work fixing up a few cars paying the going rate for mechanics. we felt like total asses when we realized he was a real person whom simply gave up (due to some pretty intense stuff). rough life lesson learned, its a unpleasent feeling when you can't look in the mirror out of disgust at the person you see...what is sad though is that it took me to hear his story before I even considered him anything but some drunk slave.

Thought I'd share my story regarding this matter. When I would get laid off from construction in winter, I would get a cheesy job at a Mr. Submarine downtown in Chicago. There was a homeless lady that stood outside (sometimes sat) we called her princess, she didn't make as much as 20 an hour but 10 an hour was definitely more than what I made, she would come in after her "shift" to exchange her coins for bills. I often talked to her, and she told me that 99 percent of the homeless get a check each month, all they had to do is tell the government they hear voices etc... she said to pay attention, on the first of the month or whenever they get their checks, nobody is out begging except her, because she doesn't get a check, she said she realized it was her drug addiction that put her in the place she is now, she used to work at a corporate level for some company, ha d a college degree and what not.

At the time it amazed me that she was making about 10 an hour!

As I mentioned before, I worked in construction. Have you ever been approached by someone walking around with a gas can asking for money to get gas because their car ran out of gas? well this one particular time one of those guys wandered by and asked us for money, and the foreman, decided to tell him "well we have gas for our generators, lemme get your gas can" the man got angry and refused and angrily walked away.

Not all are greedy, ignorant beggars, one man that sometimes stood outside the walgreens in my neighborhood, used to ask me, and I never liked just handing out money, I told him what he needed money for, he said for milk for his kids and to get something for himself to eat, and I said ok. I went in bought one of those pre-packaged heroes, and a gallon of milk. The girl at the counter even asked me if I was getting that for the man because she knew my routine and had seen me talking to the man, and I said, yeah as a matter of fact I am, and she said aww that's so nice, and I said eh it is what it is, I may be in the same position as he one day, so I'd like to think that someone may help me out . Anyway, I gave the man his sandwich and milk and he thanked me and walked away.

I guess yeah, the large percent of the beggars are scoundrels, but there are one or two that are genuinely on hard luck. I say, if a homeless person really wants to improve their life, and have simply hit a hard point in life, they won't be on the streets for too long, if you see one on the same spot every day for months or even years, they are probably just lazy bums literally.

reply to post by onehuman


Here in my area last year, there was some undercover cops that caught several people that were driving into town,some in very nice cadillac's and such.
They changed into their homeless people cloths,(costume)and went to their corner with their signs.
.

Sometime after they were caught,many were being interviewed on the local news,and most seemed very proud of there con,and talked of how much money thet made in one day.

There was also a very young couple that used to set at an off ramp around here,with their truck, and the sign read," traveling,truck broke down",they were there off and on for 4 months.
I don't mind helping people who are truely in need , but there are so many scams going on,it's hard to know if the one your helping ,has a house and car, but are too lazy to work.

Cant believe some of the posts I am reading here.
Maybe we should all go stand on the corner and take hand outs.
It's easy and it's safe !

These people irritate me. They can be rude if you do anything BUT just give them money.
I have offered food many times and got a cold shoulder.

Last year at Comic-Con, Cartoon Network had people handing out coupons for a free slice of pizza and a soda for the pizza place around the corner.
We grabbed many and I took the kids over and it wasn't some cheap pizza either. They were the regular slices you would normally pay for.
I saw some homeless guy sifting through trash and handed him one and explained what it was.
He turned it down and asked me for money instead ...

Originally posted by fairytale
reply to post by onehuman

 

idk how my story relates but there's a homeless man outside our grocery store asking for money, really nice guy, so instea,d i let him go thru my groceries & take what food he wanted, he did so very gently & kept asking "are you sure?' he politely took maybe $3 worth of stuff.

Reminds me some years back, I was wandering through London...a man came up to me and my new wife at the time...basically begging for a couple pounds so he could get a cheeseburger...he was feeling a bit desperate.

I tossed him a couple and my wife called me foolish, that he would just go spend it on booze..like I care, but she was a bit put off by my general trust in homeless people.

About 10 minutes later, we were walking slowly down the street, and sure enough, this guy almost bumps into us, we see him emerging from a McDonalds with a cheeseburger and small fry, thanking me again as he has a mouth full of fries. I chuckled, gave a look to my wife of "see" and then gave him a 5er for being honest...I told him to get a beer later on and stay honest.

Not saying all homeless act that way...most would be using money on drugs or drink, but its nice to see someone honest now and then.

Originally posted by Robin Marks
Wow.

You people are so wonderful. Wow. I'm not a Christian. But I know Jesus would be so proud of you.
It takes real courage to dehumanize dysfunctional people. It's so wonderful that you can scapegoat and find the real cause of our civilization's moral decay. We should send the poor and mentally ill to camps. We'll give them showers. Clean up. Make them work. No welfare for the lazy and desperate.

Save the welfare for the corporations. Who needs to be used and manipulated by street people? Not you!! We should only admire our business owners and our success stories. Who needs to reward failure? We need to support good citizens and good people, remember corportations have the same rights as persons, (but you can't send a company to jail- shut up) because they create jobs. Unlike those lazy bums that don't want jobs. General Electric is a benevolant power that needs your tax dollars and charity.

GE paid no taxes last year.
They actually got tax credits.

Your scapegoating of the lower classes is Facism at it's finest.
You would have made good SS officers.

Carry on.


Did I forget to say that we should only admire our celebities, the rich, the famous, our sports heros?
Charlie Sheen is your new messiah.

edit on 9-4-2011 by Robin Marks because: (no reason given)

could not have said it better.

yet another example of people filing up just like sheep to attack an easy target.Also, its amazing how contradictory so many are. "John Stossel"? really? Why not have a discussion on the ocean and quote sponge bob square pants? What is a chair used for? How many of you said for sitting, you over generalizing schmucks.

I once gave a couple of bucks to a homeless-looking guy begging in front of a church.
That afternoon, I saw this same fellow walking out of the local Walmart as I was walking in. He had a couple of bags so I watched this man walk away, all happy with myself that I had helped him buy some food for his hungry belly...
and then I watched him climb into a nice-looking SUV and drive away. That was the last time I ever gave money to a street beggar.

If you want to help the poor, give to a worthy charity.

reply to post by onehuman


Panhandling has become a business for a lot of people, I remember going to California when I was very young. We where going though Oregon near the Sea Lion caves, and a man had a sign that said "out of gas". MY dad told me when I said hey let's help him out, just to watch. And the man pulled out a huge stash of cash, probably at least a thousand dollars maybe more. That was my first lesson in not trusting everybody you come across. You tried to do the right thing just ran into a bad seed. Some people use the naivette of others and the kindness of others to abuse that good nature. That being said, there are a lot of people that would have accepted that money, as a possible start to a new life. But, I do applaud you for trying to do the right thing and it's a shame you ran into one of those bad seeds.

oh, and some helpful advice for someone wanting to help out without fear of being scammed...

Donate to a foodbank or shelter..homeless people can get sandwiches and whatever else there verses begging on the side of the road.
If someone down on their luck is needing some daily work...chances are there is a daily work/pay area nearby...you can go through the service the right way, or just drive up to the place and call out what you have and how much it pays..a truely needy person will quickly snatch up the leave raking or whatnot.

Ya, the guy on the street may be making more money out of kindness of passers than if he spent a day away from his corner raking leaves for 20 bucks, then try to get back...also, keep in mind, homeless people (especially young homeless females) are at risk. if they disappear, nobody will really miss them, nobody will file police reports about them, etc...the world is a pretty twisted place when you uncover the madness going on...just to keep that in mind also verses just lose hope for all humanity.

Originally posted by LS650
I once gave a couple of bucks to a homeless-looking guy begging in front of a church.
That afternoon, I saw this same fellow walking out of the local Walmart as I was walking in. He had a couple of bags so I watched this man walk away, all happy with myself that I had helped him buy some food for his hungry belly...
and then I watched him climb into a nice-looking SUV and drive away. That was the last time I ever gave money to a street beggar.

If you want to help the poor, give to a worthy charity.

Why does it bother you when a 'homeless' guy does this. When bankers have been running entire countries into unconstrued debt simply to line their pockets even more of billions which rightfully should be public service funds and amenities. Yet there doing the exact same thing spending it on their pads in the UAE and private Yachts off the Med.

Originally posted by Golithion
reply to post by onehuman

 

Panhandling has become a business for a lot of people, I remember going to California when I was very young. We where going though Oregon near the Sea Lion caves, and a man had a sign that said "out of gas". MY dad told me when I said hey let's help him out, just to watch. And the man pulled out a huge stash of cash, probably at least a thousand dollars maybe more. That was my first lesson in not trusting everybody you come across. You tried to do the right thing just ran into a bad seed. Some people use the naivette of others and the kindness of others to abuse that good nature. That being said, there are a lot of people that would have accepted that money, as a possible start to a new life. But, I do applaud you for trying to do the right thing and it's a shame you ran into one of those bad seeds.

Your a simple one to type out that entire little story. It implies that you only apply that lesson to panhandlers, and I find that very amusing.