Tried to Hire a Homeless Man Today

reply to post by onehuman





You must be blind. The guy told you he can get twenty bucks in a hour of standing there so why should he work? The issue is not honor. The issue is money.

Sheesh.....

Same thing happened here 'bout 10 years ago. Was building a deck and really needed an extra set of hands. On the way home from the lumber yard there's this young, healthy looking guy in the median with a sign reading "WILL WORK FOR FOOD" so...

Me: Hey, I'll pay you $150 plus lunch to help me build a deck.
BUM: No thanks, I'll make more here.
Me: *stunned*...F.U. buddy.

Also I drive through Baltimore everyday on my commute to/from work. All these bums limp through panhandling and looking pathetic but once the light changes they walk just fine getting back to the corner to make the next red light. Once last summer I saw this bum turn his back to the street and break out a wad of cash and start counting it right there.

When I was in Montreal one weekend, it happened to start raining like crazy and my plans got hampered. I had a plane to catch back to Toronto in a cpl hours, and just wanted to go to the downtown parks and enjoy the scenery with a green smoke. Well since it started raining I had no where to roll my smoke.
So I instead walked the downtown streets. I seen a few people with signs.

One guy had a sign that read "Honestly, need money for a joint and food". This guy seemed really down on his luck. Standing out there in the rain. All pale. It was pretty cold and all he had was a dirty T shirt.
I had no money to give him at all. But I had a pocket full of green smoke. I ended up giving him an eighth. I never seen someone soooooo happy in my life after that.

reply to post by onehuman


I am sure there are some homeless people who would love to be working, while others are fine with taking handouts.

That being said. When I was around 19 I was out west and I lived in a communal house frequented by "the rainbow family". They were transient and moved around the country from one house to another, most all had serious drug/alcohol dependencies.

What sucked was that I paid rent to live there. While these 'rainbows' would just show up out of the blue and mooch off my ramen.

Anyways, get to the damn point vermonster!! When drug money got low they would all pile in a hoopty and drive to the nearest city/large town to 'throw a flag' aka write up a homeless & hungry sign.

They would come back with 100's of dollars after just one day.

Some peoples kids......

reply to post by onehuman


This is how I break it down:

Let's say that your average traffic light has a 3 minute overall interval from Red to Red. Meaning 2 minutes of Red followed by a minute for Green is 3 minutes total for each revolution.

Divide that by 60 minutes, even if the individual only made $1 per light revolution (that is I am sure, low balling on what they could truly receive) then they in fact do have the potential to make $20 per hour of tax free earned income.

Go a step further and multiply that number: There is potential to make $160 in an 8 hour day, $800 in a 5 day week, $3200 in 1 month, and finally $38,400 annually. Pretty messed up huh? Or is it ingenious?

Breaking it down like this, has made me re-think what I am doing for a living sometimes, if I could just build the gumption to stand on the corner with a sign I'd be sooooo well off, lol.

Originally posted by Wertdagf
reply to post by onehuman

 

thats why its better to make those people go through a system to get their handouts... and kick them off of the streets begging.

Not to say that the systems perfect... but it puts the deadbeats and the creeps under suppervision where they belong.

This is very harsh, does it show your lack of understanding of such things?

!) Have you ever been so unlucky that you have to go through the system?

2) Have or do you know anyone who has mental issues and no not the fella you met one day, I mean actually know them?

3) It was only a short term solution, and some people can expect a lot for the crumbs they give, no disrespect to post creator, it was a genuine and descent offer.

4) From the person on the corners perspective, he may have felt that he was about to star in the new SAW movie, and just wanted out of the situation.

5) Don't judge someone until you have walked in their shoes. It shows lack of understanding.

6) I would not do it for 20 dollars either. Here is why, I am raking the ladies yard, I go inside and get a drink with her, she slips down and dies, so I take my $20 and flee the scene. Now the police and the law makers are looking for this bum that murdered the nice lady so they can make some profit and justify their existence. I then end up with some corrupt Judge and incompetent lawyer and go to death row, for $20.

I could go on.

reply to post by onehuman


Most people are homeless because they have a mental illness or disease. Life is completely different for a homeless person. He could of been in fear of his life, being droppped in a suburb with no way back, any number of reasons. They are used to be taken advantage of,abused and everythign stolen from them.
It is a constant mind game and he may have felt that 20 bucks wasn't worth getting in a car with a stranger. Look how many videos there are of people beating up homeless people. you are looking at this as someone from a cushy and protected life, for them it is not.

Vagrancy has a deeper societal layer than one can simply write off such people as bums.

They too, were like you and me once - innocent naive kids, with hopes and dreams.

Somehow, along the way, realities of life cut in and destroyed those hopes and dreams. And became a nitemare spiralling a human down that lane whereby he no longer ever love himself, or care about anything else, except for that which makes him happy - perhaps money, alcohol, drugs, etc.

Point is - realities. What were those realities that could hurt so deep and turn a child or an adult into such quagmire, where the only solution to confront it is to delude themselves with money begged off streets instead of working for it, alchohol to burn away a pain deep inside, and drugs to delude themselves into an alternate better reality they wish to live in than the present?

Yes, many can despise these vagrants. Charitably give them work and they tell you to F off or give excuses or tell you they do better doing something else. Those are not the true reasons. The real reasons are deeper, and it is their state of mind.

Perhaps they had been like you and me once, seeking job stability and when faced with numerous retrenchments, they no longer have any faith in keeping a job, or the confidence, and may be even tired of that word. This is no fault of the giver of work, but the fault lays in them.

As they are breathing, they too are like you and I, but unlike us, we had not given up hope, at least not yet, in our struggle to survive not only for ourselves, but our loved ones as well. They had.

And it is not just work they need. They need serious counselling, to help them get their confidence and feet back on the ground. But in our greed filled self centred society, we would rather despise than to offer meaningful assistance, more so with a gov that is hell bent or hell pressed to cut funding for reaching out services.

Throw them a few pennies, or toss a task to them, and if they reject, then our heart is assuaged, and blame them for being choosy.

As you drive by, despise them not for they are human just like you and me, but ask yourself how you as a member of society had left them behind.......

reply to post by onehuman


Well, youre really not offering the guy anything but a one time leaf raking job.
Hes probably right, hell lose a half a day making 20 bucks, doing something that youre to lazy to do,
when he could probably make 4 times that much in the same time, standing on the corner.
So, Id say that he is thinking of himself, using his brains and making economical sense, where as
you could save yourself 20 bucks by raking your own yard.
Whos the smart guy now?

There are some interesting replies on this thread, to be sure. I once was in a rough patch, and the only job I could find was washing dishes in a restaurant for $5 an hour. I was just barely getting by in life, but on Thanksgiving they gave us all a little turkey dinner to bring home. I was riding my rusty bicycle home (I could not anywhere near afford a car, so I rode for miles to and from work) and came across this really pitiful looking guy begging for money.

I figured, hey, I'm struggling, but this guy is even worse off than me, so I stopped and tried to give him my dinner out of pure kindness. He took one look at it and tossed it on the ground, saying "I don't want food, I can get that for free." So now MY dinner, that I couldn't even afford myself, is ruined on the ground. Last time I tried to help anybody begging for money, which sucks, I know, because I'm sure not everyone would have responded that way.

Made me want to follow him around with my own sign saying, "This guy is a fraud, don't give him money." I would have definitely raked your lawn for $20 bucks at the time, OP, but I was too busy washing dishes. Funny how that works.

A lot of them so called "homeless" really do have houses. The even drive cars and park down the street from the corner they work. Do a Google search on "how much do panhandlers make". Some have been know to make over $100,000 a year and do not pay a penny in taxes. Now these professional panhandlers and professional homeless people take away from the real ones in need. A lot of them die on the street for the lack of a few dollars that some professional took that should have been theirs.
$50 an hour tax free

What's all this talk about choice? Who ever would want to be poor and live in the gutter? It's not a choice... it's a social disease, and I'm not talking about these people living out in the streets, I'm talking about the apathetic masses who can so easily point their finger at them and blame them for their problems.

Perhaps if you had a better healthcare system these people could get the physical/mental health that they need, perhaps if you country was a little more generous they could actually get some kind of free education or job training but the fact is that most people don't care at all.

You think these people are lazy? Well, they seem to work much harder than most people I know... I offered a job to three of my friends this week who always complain that they don't have enough hours. One of them showed up but after carrying boxes for 2 hours he gave up... it was "too hard" and he said he had to get up early in the morning for his other job, packing shelves at the grocery store, how much sleep do you need to do that and he was getting paid 12$ an hour. See, people are no different, they want money but they don't want to work for it!

You think a desk job is any better? Sitting there all day typing in front of a computer thinking you're so much better than the homeless guy outside the window with tons of issues but still struggling to survive. It's pretty easy when your family is wealthy and when you haven't been abused all your life. It's also pretty easy to point, judge and say stuff like "They made a choice".

Some people are lucky and some people ain't, that's life... you think you're in control now? Cancer doesn't discriminate, accidents happen and when something happens to you and you're left in the gutter completely broke and broken, well, you might just understand their perspective and you might just be as bitter as they are when a suit and tie walks up to you, all high and mighty, trying to be your savior after you've lost it all.

I have been witnessing in my neighborhood, the power of nonprofit organizations. People have been organizing a rotating homeless shelter in the area churches. The Borough has been fighting back with zoning laws.

The churches have retained the support of the ACLU, to fight the borough. Against the will of the majority of the residents, and the zoning laws of the borough...they seemed to have won the fight.

The rules of these winter month shelters is they transport homless people to the participating church at 9pm then pick them up at 9am, at wich point they return the homeless to their daytime public settings.

The churches are suppose to be on a one month rotation. The church directly across the street from me has had three to sometimes five homeless people living there day and night since December of 2010.

The first year they tried doing this I found needles and baggies right outside the church. Last month I found a burnt spoon with white residue.

I called the police about the spoon, and they claimed the homeless are still not suppose to be housed in the churches. Even with the recent ACLU stuff that went on.

I emailed and spoke over the phone with County officials who claimed to know nothing about this, but also claimed that this was again not suppose to be happening.

But still the people who apear so lazy and only come outside to smoke, are still there. living off donations to the church for needy people. The donations are suppose to be spread out to other churches in this program but instead feed these people alone and the guy who organizes it also uses these food banks to feed his family.

It appears the township has their hands tied and are starting to just look the other way. Homeowners are leaving, and rental properties are on the rise.

The pastor of the church has "yes we can" bumper stickers, who are such lazy people! They go out of their way to not shovel snow. etc... You can see in them that they are a pastor family just for the easy living of it.
(They get a free house, only work one day a week)

Just wanted to share/rant. Sadly I have learned to have no remorse for the homeless.

reply to post by Cocasinpry


Well put. People are so quick to rag an underprivileged person for what ever reason, and begrudge them much of an existence. Yet these same people in their foolishness feel safe because of unscrupulous laws designed to incarcerate for profit. Costing the tax payer a $100'000 or more a year to keep someone in a cage. And the world is a safe place. Bemused is all I feel, the victim gets no real compensation, someone gets put behind bars, the real money is made by the crime empire and who become your judges, the lawyers, and we all know they couldn't cast the first stone. If the same poor person standing on your street corner was George Bushes favorite cousin, they would probably be in charge of the Military by now and you would have called them sir.

reply to post by kdog1982



Giraldo. We'll miss that honest voice.

He could skewer us all but only after turning that scalpel of understanding on himself first.

reply to post by Mailman


My you live in interesting times, and may your God grant you such an experience.

Originally posted by onehuman
Being a cab driver, I cant help but notice a bit of the underworld while driving around town.

For this particular post I will be referring to the guy that stands on the corner with his homeless and hungry sign.

We have all seen them. Some of us donate, some of us look the other way. Some of us are grateful that isn't us, perhaps even a few of us smug about it.

Anyhow, the long and short of this post is the fact that I do see these people every day, same place, same sign.

So, today I decided I wanted to work on my yard, get it ready for spring which has finally decided to arrive. I realized being somewhat hampered, I needed some help. Usually I have some kids around, but today I didnt. So, I thought I'll go see if one of those hungry folks would like to make some money helping me. You know, try and give back to the community, yada yada.....

Of I go in search, too the corners I know. Murphy's law, they weren't around until my last choice. After parking and walking a ways to talk to this fella, this is pretty much how the conversation went...

me: "Want to make $20.00 bucks?
him: Doing what?
me: raking leaves
him: How many?
me: $20.00 bucks worth
him: I can make $20.00 bucks standing here in a hour
him: How big is the yard?
me: Small
him: I don't have to bag them or anything just rake?
me: Yes you have to bag them
him: No Thanks

Now I have to be honest and admit I was wondering what the heck is wrong with is guy? Im offering a honest way to make a few bucks, because after all, he is hungry, ( though Im trying to figure that out too, as he can make $20.00 a hour standing on corner, even if he only did it 4 hours, which makes $80.00. Which if he did 4 days a week, would be $320.00.) How can someone be hungry with that kind of money?

I guess I wouldn't leave my post either. If I put a 40 hour week in doing that I would have $800.00.

Enough on that point, the thing is there were two other guys working the other corners. So I presented the same thing. Long story short, one had a gimp knee,the other one, a bad shoulder. Okay, if you say so, I'll believe.

I will say, I can imagine there may have been a trust factor. I mean I did just walk up out of the clear blue. I could have had my own trust factors being a woman and picking up a stranger as well. I decided to try and get past that. Stupid? Maybe... but I have my senses.

I guess I am posting this because I was shocked in a odd way . I'm not even sure what shocked me more. The fact someone is claiming to be hungry, but wont do some honest work to make a few bucks, Or, The fact this same person makes more then I do standing on a corner.

Can someone tell me what is wrong with this picture?

I was homeless for 20 days but I leanred a lot. First, they do want work but they're careful about where they get it. A lot of them have been that way for a while and are probably more comfortable doing what they normally do than going with someone they've never met before. I witnessed this a couple times. That doesn't mean they don't work. Many have part-time jobs. There was a club where they'd go to find odd jobs in the city. When I was getting a ride to a major city the driver asked me if I wanted to help him with wood at his place for $70. I had never before been to hte major city and my feet were KILLING me (full of blisters from all the walking). I had no idea where anything was in the city and it would have required me using a ferry as well. I declined his offer but told him thanks for asking. He later let me off and it took me a long time before I could finally rest with all of the rides and walkong on my tornup feet and never feeling comfortable. Anyway, I'd not be so judgemental about it. Some of those guys have been through deaths in the family, many health problems, and so on. Some have been tricked before. Just don't go to a random person expecting them to see through all of it.

And you know I'm here at home and if you came ot me here I'd probably help you. But anyway that's not my point. My point is that you're taking this too personally. Although it's true a lot of them pandhandle and that's all they do and that's probably all they'll ever do because they'll have such a short life. I met a lot of panhandlers on my journey. Some of them are addicted to booze and drugs, no doubt. But at the end of the day I could never find it in my heart to blame them. They're so pitiful I felt sorry for them. I sincerely believe they have given up on life.

And btw I never panhandled. It was beneath me. But I was so beatup at first and confused by it all that I probably would have declined you too. I was still figuring things out and too nervous. I recall some people stopping by the club that I had never seen before and asking if anybody wanted to stay at their place. They appeared to be some kind of organization. They were weird, though. I didn't trust em. They might have seen themselves as trying to help, but I was so nervous I would rather have slept in the park (which I did until I found out about share... you do odd jobs for them to have a place to stay at night).

Whne you're homeless sometimes having noewhere to sleep at night except on the street on in a park and only being able to find food at shelters and churches is BETTER than meeting a random person that says they want to help you. Trust me, it can be very scary out there and sometimes you just hold onto what you know. Don't blame them for that. The envirionment thye live in did that. No privacy and no security. Never comfortable so you hold onto any comfort yo ucan find even if it means sleeping in a hole and getting fast food from a dumpster (yes it happens).

Originally posted by onehuman

Can someone tell me what is wrong with this picture?

I can. You can Lead a Horse to Water but you can't make him drink it... I live in San Diego and My GF works at a store near the beach... TONS of "Homeless Vet(s) anything helps god bless"... she told me a man stands outside her store collecting money like other homeless men/women and she attempted to give him something and he said he has thousands of dollars in a pillow case... I used to always give a dollar or two but now I will never feel pity for them... guy sleeps in suites every night but he chooses to stay homeless and dirty looking... mentally messed up? maybe, alot of the ones around there seem to have mental health issues and socially awkward... In my opinion I would only give to homeless people if it made me feel good or I needed the karma but I've haven't been trusting them anymore...

reply to post by JLO1986


Are they actual veterans? If so... they deserve that money more than you do.

reply to post by jonnywhite


You are right, experience is a great teacher.