Just An Observation About The "Homeless".....

Question

O.K., to quantify, I live, drive, and have seen every part of Southern California, so I've got the experience & background in dealing with the freeway off ramp "terrorists", so, let's just get that out of the way.

Anyways, so, I'm sitting waiting for the light to change, and I see the typical guy with the multiple signs "Please Help", "Veteran" (yeah, right), with all the other written bulls#!t (usually misspelled, on purpose?) that normally goes on these signs. Of course, the signs are made up of an old flattened out cardboard box they found, and they're next to a shopping cart with all their "possessions", O.K., we get it. Picture painted. Hopefully you're with me.....

Now, these cardboard signs are usually pretty big, and color filled in. So, we're talking maybe 1-2 big fat felt-tip "Marks-A-Lot" or a large Sharpie per sign - and those things are like $7 (and up) a piece! That's like, what, 5-6 meals you could live on for a few days? Maybe even more if you stretch your budget? Plus, those pens don't last very long, and neither do the signs before they fade, so they need to repeat the process about every week or so. And it's not like they're finding a whole felt pen set in the trash. Are they stealing the pens? Do they need to start locking these up like they do Sudafed and razor blades? Or, do they make more in one day than a minimum wage worker makes in a week.....

Anyone else notice or have any thoughts on this?

GimmeMoneyNow · Answer

O.K., to quantify, I live, drive, and have seen every part of Southern California, so I've got the experience & background in dealing with the freeway off ramp "terrorists", so, let's just get that out of the way.

Anyways, so, I'm sitting waiting for the light to change, and I see the typical guy with the multiple signs "Please Help", "Veteran" (yeah, right), with all the other written bulls#!t (usually misspelled, on purpose?) that normally goes on these signs. Of course, the signs are made up of an old flattened out cardboard box they found, and they're next to a shopping cart with all their "possessions", O.K., we get it. Picture painted. Hopefully you're with me.....

Now, these cardboard signs are usually pretty big, and color filled in. So, we're talking maybe 1-2 big fat felt-tip "Marks-A-Lot" or a large Sharpie per sign - and those things are like $7 (and up) a piece! That's like, what, 5-6 meals you could live on for a few days? Maybe even more if you stretch your budget? Plus, those pens don't last very long, and neither do the signs before they fade, so they need to repeat the process about every week or so. And it's not like they're finding a whole felt pen set in the trash. Are they stealing the pens? Do they need to start locking these up like they do Sudafed and razor blades? Or, do they make more in one day than a minimum wage worker makes in a week.....

Anyone else notice or have any thoughts on this?

vanzack · Answer

I have put a lot of thought in to this.As a fellow human, I feel compelled to help.  But I really dont know if giving them money is helping, or hurting.So I carry prepackaged food in my car, like rice and things that are fully cooked and dont require preparation.  Breakfast bars etc.I give these out.I dont know if it is right or wrong, I dont know if it encourages panhandling or not - I just dont know.  But I do think about it a lot.

165yds · Answer

Nobody is starving there are soup kitchens everywhere in large cities where the homeless all live. Most need it for liquor or drugs. Everyone in this forum knows addiction far better than any heroin feign so we all get it. I often give a dollar and always feel worse for it. The older guys all stink like liquor but fuc it let them have a drink for what is a very hard life they have.

I've seen a few in Manhatten with signs of need money for drugs so I always give money. At least they are honest.

GimmeMoneyNow · Answer

See, now we need a survey of how much of your "prepackaged food" hits your back window as you drive away. I don&#x27;t know where you live, but in So Cal, that ain&#x27;t flying, my friend.....Also, not to make this a "racial" thing, but (and I believe I&#x27;ve brought this up before) here&#x27;s what comes up begging to my car window - in order of appearance:White maleBlack maleWhite womanBlack womanNEVER have I seen Hispanic, Asian, Indian, or "other" - and keep in mind I&#x27;m in So Cal - straight up just begging for money. So, draw your own conclusions from that. But @Vanzack - I&#x27;m sure you know as well as I do there&#x27;s other ways to help out other than just handing out $$$$ at a stoplight.....

TheGoldenGoose · Answer

One thing I&#x27;m always asked  for (and I carry two or three extras) is Water.  And yes, Breakfast Bars are a good idea.  Neither is going to bankrupt me and it&#x27;s better than giving cash.

165yds · Answer

Vanzack those prepackaged goods are going in the garbage as they curse your name. I can't believe you would even think of doing this.

Funny you say this gimme if I think about it 95% are white. The women are always strung out.

Slobbasaurus · Answer

I have tons of felt tip markers.  I&#x27;m going to start giving these out.Thanks for the idea Gimme.  I know how it&#x27;s like to want to "wet your whistle" and don&#x27;t have the loot to buy the booze, but then again, high school was a good 15 years ago.  NYC panhandlers make a lot of dough.

Johnzimbo34 · Answer

I don&#x27;t often give cash or change but this was funny...a few years ago I went into my dermatologist and had a treatment done on my face where afterwards you can&#x27;t be exposed to sunlight for a day or two.They give you a cheap brown/ski mask/bank robber mask to wear home, and as I am stopped at the freeway on-ramp there is a guy with no legs in a wheelchair begging. I grab some change and reach out the window, he sees me doing this and starts rolling towards me, then sees my mask and stops dead, thinks for a couple seconds, then continues. I think for a second he was like "this bank robber is giving me some cash he just stole"

StumpTownStu · Answer

What city do you live in, 165?

Midnight1 · Answer

It&#x27;s hard to believe an able bodied right minded person would choose this destination in life. So I rather help those in need &amp; if someone is a scammer, so be it.

Crusher13 · Answer

A good story to share..driving to racebook with baby bro and his buddy to bet this years KY derby...they are both hammered..bro spots old white VET panhandling(although he did look hispanic) and makes me throw dude a $20 from him ...I'm like WTF??..thought he was nutz....

Well we all now how karma works....drunken baby bro hits 8-1 shot for $20 on first race he plays.....true story..

Agree with GG...water best handout..otherwise you're just enabling them....

THEMUGG · Answer

I used to occasionally throw someone a buck or two......years ago. But it seems as though there are panhandlers on every off ramp &amp; grocery store parking lot nowadays.

SarasotaSlim · Answer

Remnants of Obama&#x27;s America......

BWS77 · Answer

Yes Slim...  there were no homeless people prior to 2009.

StumpTownStu · Answer

Yeah, Slim, i&#x27;m usually on your side but that was a ridiculous statement.

SarasotaSlim · Answer

Oh there were homeless pre-2009 ,,just not as many..

ClubDirt · Answer

not nearly the most ridiculous statement is this thread so far though.

GimmeMoneyNow · Answer

While I do like the idea of handing out a bottle of water (especially right now in Cali), my only issue with this is you&#x27;ve now handed over a projectile that can be used against you or your car - you might as well hand them a rock. And right now a breakfast bar would turn to mush if I left them in my hot-@$$ car. Maybe I&#x27;ll try it when fall/winter comes.....Also, where it used to be "do you have any spare change" and a "God Bless" (even if you didn&#x27;t give them any money) as you walked past them, or sat at a stoplight or off ramp, has been replaced with an "aggressive" walking up to your car as you&#x27;re parking, knocking on your window, and asking/demanding $5 - - Five Bucks?!?!? Really? GTFOH!!!!Finally, 165yds touched on it earlier, but it bears repeating. If you&#x27;re legitimately "starving" here in America, in 2017 - that&#x27;s on you. There&#x27;s free food fu##ing everywhere! So, we all know what the $$$$ is being used for - and that&#x27;s the main reason I NEVER hand out cash, but I might try the breakfast bar thing when it cools down.

StumpTownStu · Answer

There weren&#x27;t as many people pre-2009 either. That Obama was so terrible that it made people want to stay in the house and bone.

666LES · Answer

Before it was DIY cottage industry, there were Winos,Hobos,Hippies,and Junkies.

vanzack · Answer

I see the consensus is that most panhandlers are frauds.

Probably true. But what follows is an interesting human dynamic that can be extrapolated to any situation. Health care, welfare, capitalism etc.

Do you punish the unknown few because of the known abusers?

I try not to. So if I hand out breakfast bars or cash to 99 people who dont want it, and throw it out or at me, but 1 does - thats OK with me. Doesn't make me feel stupid, doesn't affect my lifestyle, it is really nothing - but I assume the one that needs help is worth helping.

Kind of like throwing out the whole welfare system because 2% of welfare receipients are abusers.

Just my opinion....

ClubDirt · Answer

you can put me down for not believing most of them are frauds.  there are, in fact, poor and homeless people out there who need help.  i think people latch on to the idea that they are frauds because it makes them feel better about not doing anything to help and not giving a sh*t about them. when i was in san francisco, i lived in the hood initially and my first few days, i would give the homeless some change.  people told me i can&#x27;t do that or they will start to swarm me.  and they weren&#x27;t lying. aftera  week, i couldn&#x27;t get very far without being accosted.  so i stopped giving them change but developed a policy where i would try to take leftover food with me and give it to someone on the street.  not always, but as often as i could.  we do that now when we go out to eat on vacation in big cities.  it&#x27;s amazing how much food is wasted in restaurants.  if all of that food could be given to homeless people, it would make a big difference.  people should consider having leftovers at restaurants boxed up rather than thrown out so they can give it to someone who needs it.

Slobbasaurus · Answer

This is what&#x27;s really going on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWg8SPe8ShQHahahaha

StumpTownStu · Answer

San Francisco is the worst. I&#x27;m glad i&#x27;m an East Bay boy. I grown to love the city but man, i&#x27;m talking human sh!t everywhere. People shootin up everywhere. Sad thing is that the homeless problem has spread into the eastbay as well. They came in like a wave with the gentrification.

ClubDirt · Answer

east bay folks aren&#x27;t tough enough to live in the tenderloin.  too soft.  you guys might make it in pacific heights.

Just An Observation About The "Homeless".....

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