Do you give money to the homeless?

[Majyk]

I encounter a few homeless people at my work(The Beer Store) and there have been both negative and positive confrontations. These are just a few encounters I've had with the homeless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last summer we had a team of homeless men that would sit at opposite ends of the mall and panhandle for change. One would be beside my store and the other beside the bank. As soon as they scrounged up $5.50 for a bottle of Black Label Supreme ,which is a 40oz bottle of 8% alcohol, they would come in (smelling very unpleasent) purchase it and return to where they were sitting to drink and panhandle some more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around the same time another homeless guy came around our store. This guy was very aggressive when it came to asking for money. He would hang outside in the parking lot and when a person exited the store he would ask for a beer. He would go so far as to follow our patrons back to their car and bang on the window asking for change. Little old ladies didnt want to leave the store. And anytime he came in to the store he was always hammered and would start singing whatever song was playing on the radio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are some homeless people who arent so bad though. We got this one guy that comes in on a regular basis who pushes a grocery cart and rarely wears a shirt. He goes around and collects empty beer bottles and cans and returns them to our store for the deposit. When he gets the money he politely thanks me and leaves. I used to ask him if I could get him a refill and he declined. He doesnt drink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some people choose to be homeless and some are forced into it. An example of someone choosing to be homeless would be a neighbour of mine. Her name was Mel, she lived a couple blocks away from me with her mother and brother. She lived in a nice house with a very nice mom. Her mother made enough money and always had a lot of food in the house big screen tv, and never hesitated to buy her daughter something when she needed it. In any case, everyday Mel went downtown and begged for money since she was 14. She would smoke weed, do ecstacy and drink all the while hanging out with her homeless friends begging for change. She disappeared a long time ago, I have no idea where she went or what happened. I still see her mom every once and awhile and she is just as clueless as I.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My buddy was in town for the weekend and he wanted to go downtown to shop so we did. We were walking by a restaurant and we see some homeless guy sitting behind a sign smoking crack. On our way back from the store we were in about 15 minutes later there are police dispersed throughout the area and a crowd gathered. We take a peek and ask some people hanging around what happened. One of the people we asked what happened told us that some crazy crackhead tried to rob some girls that were walking by him. Turned out to be the same guy smoking crack we saw earlier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So in conclusion my answer is NO! I will not give money to homeless people. My reasoning being because I have mostly seen and had negative experiences with them.

[Sk4terpunk90]

May i make a suggestion to anyone one who feels they should share any wealth with the homeless

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do not give them money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You want to know why? Because they 85% of the time will not buy useful things. They will run out and buy booze or drugs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instead of giving them a few dollars give them a bag of chips, or anything useful for them.

[zaquierming]

I'm yet to see 1 homeless person in my city. Although, if I did I would most likely buy them food instead of giving them money for reasons already mentioned.

[dangeresque]

its usually their fault they are homeless so why should i help them...granted not all homeless people r homeless because of themselves but that is rare

[jimi2424]

yeah uh i was on vacation in madrid and i gave a homeless guy a loaf of bread

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i guess that counts

[____]

He never started out homeless, he proberly got a guitar and then lost everything except that guitar, now he is working for money.

There's a lot of street performers in the Queen Street Mall in Brisbane.

 

 

 

Out of the few hundred I've met, about 10 of them are actually homeless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What strikes me, is that the people who have gone out and gotten a permit (homeless or otherwise) to be able to perform in the mall are some of the most plesant people you'd ever meet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the ones which just drift around or sit there doing nothing and the ones I like to avoid.

[Youaretheman]

I don't usually. Sure I can feel bad for them. But if they were in my shoes, would they be greedy or would they help? It's not my fault they got to that point. Now don't get me wrong if their parents were very poor and he didn't have money for an education, that's not his fault. But if it is their fault, then no I wont give anything. I don't see many anyways but I never do, once you give some they keep asking for more. As bad as it sounds, I doubt they'd do the same for me if I was in their shoes.

[lawrencekill]

Thats not really a good way to think of it... Its not always their fault, how would you like it if you were one of those people?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If i ever have change and see a homeless person i always try and help out :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But for most of them, it is their fault.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I have some spare change, and I see they aren't drug addicts, why not?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You cannot always tell if a person is a drug addict or not. For some people, it is impossible to tell whether they are on drugs or not without one of those drug tests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't believe in giving anything to anybody who didn't work for it. I am a completly selfish person, so no, I don't give any money to homeless. A few years back before I started (trying) to follow these morals I still didn't give money to homeless. I saw a group of about 6 of them sitting on the side of the street one day, all with trashbags over their legs. At that time I felt sorry for them, and was possibly going to give them something. My dad who went around that area a lot (he was a mailman there) told me not to. One of them wasn't homeless at all. He drove a Corvette, he made a ton of money begging. At one point or another he has seen under their trashbags, which are there to cover up their $100 Nikes. So yeah, even before I became selfish I still never gave money to homeless. I am not saying all of them are like this, but you never know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I'm wondering is how they can make so much money from begging? If homeless people made that much money why couldn't they dress to impress for a job?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't usually. Sure I can feel bad for them. But if they were in my shoes, would they be greedy or would they help? It's not my fault they got to that point. Now don't get me wrong if their parents were very poor and he didn't have money for an education, that's not his fault. But if it is their fault, then no I wont give anything. I don't see many anyways but I never do, once you give some they keep asking for more. As bad as it sounds, I doubt they'd do the same for me if I was in their shoes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, how can you tell if it's their fault or not? You can't without asking a bunch of questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well in the USA, in my opinion, most homeless people can get a job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few weeks prior to when they get their welfare checks, they should do some job searches, most libraries have computers so ya...They get their wellfare checks, use some of that money to buy some decent new cloths and rent a few nights in a motel. Clean up and appear at job interviews you found, try to find ones with short response times, stay in the motel so you have a delivery address (maybe a phone). Wait and if your lucky you got a job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or in reality it pans out differently?

[transcript80]

NO. Like in RS, I do not give any money to beggars, homeless or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to work for it, so do they. GET A JOB!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Furthermore, if I ask to give them food instead (just to make sure the money doesn't go to drugs or booze), they "are not hungry at the moment"....yeah right!

[Aus_Fighter]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7RGSkUK ... ed&search=

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In melbourne there are not alot of homeless people that roam the steets... When i went to sydney at the start of this year i was shocked at the amount of homeless people i saw, Makes you sad when you see it and you wonder what was so so wrong for them :-k

[BlueLancer]

I don't usually. Sure I can feel bad for them. But if they were in my shoes, would they be greedy or would they help? It's not my fault they got to that point. Now don't get me wrong if their parents were very poor and he didn't have money for an education, that's not his fault. But if it is their fault, then no I wont give anything. I don't see many anyways but I never do, once you give some they keep asking for more. As bad as it sounds, I doubt they'd do the same for me if I was in their shoes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not a matter of "would they", it's a matter of "would you". Quite frankly, I don't care about these hypothetical situations. I personally want to help them, and if they aren't even asking for money but for a baguette or something, why wouldn't I? Sometimes, it can feel nice to be different from other animals (though there are exceptions) and actually stay and help another person with human feelings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm asking you and everybody else, what do you lose? I gave some pennies/food to poor people since I was like 14 or 15, and I didn't even have an income back then. Heck, if you're a religious christian/muslim, both of the holy books advise you to give a small tithe to poor people (somewhere around 1/40th of what you have).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't do it because of some religion or because I want to please some supposed God. I do it because I don't lose ANYTHING by making a poor persons day better by spending a few minutes of my time and possibly a few measly dollars. I would say those drunkards and drug abusers are not even a majority, at least I've seen few of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just saying "it's their own fault they're so dumb loll throw them in 2 jail rofl" is another way of signaling 'I don't give a crap'. Fine. You're entitled to your behavior and opinion. Still, rather than being cocky, I see helping people less fortunate than me as a blessing, simply because I can help them. I know not many people will help them, so why not? Does it make me weird or filthy or 'ridiculous' that I fed somebody who possibly can't afford his/her own food?

[Zorro]

Not really.

[jackattack]

no there beggar noobs asking for PHR33 ST00F PL0X!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

actually i do.

[assassin_696]

I'll give money to any busker. I'll buy the Big Issue but won't give money directly to homeless people because you simply don't know what they're going to do with it.

[amoeba_009]

If i ever see a homeless person askign for alms i NEVER give them money. I however take them to the nearest diner/fast food joint buy them something. I refuse to give out money not knowing where it goes to. I however love to help anyone. :)

[krunkthemonk]

What I don't like is when they try and get you to sympathize with them to give them your money. About 3 months ago I saw a homeless man with a sign saying he was willing to work for food or money. My dad offered him a job at his work and the ungrateful man declined. Sure it wasn't high paying but it's a steady job that a monkey could have done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then again, why would you want to work for minimum wage? If you manage to find an intersection of your own you can easily make over $20 an hour just asking for money. This was on T.V about a year ago but I can't remember the show :wall:

[insane]

What I don't like is when they try and get you to sympathize with them to give them your money. About 3 months ago I saw a homeless man with a sign saying he was willing to work for food or money. My dad offered him a job at his work and the ungrateful man declined. Sure it wasn't high paying but it's a steady job that a monkey could have done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then again, why would you want to work for minimum wage? If you manage to find an intersection of your own you can easily make over $20 an hour just asking for money. This was on T.V about a year ago but I can't remember the show :wall:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think you might be thinking of this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(she made over $50/hr)

[lawrencekill]

 

What I don't like is when they try and get you to sympathize with them to give them your money. About 3 months ago I saw a homeless man with a sign saying he was willing to work for food or money. My dad offered him a job at his work and the ungrateful man declined. Sure it wasn't high paying but it's a steady job that a monkey could have done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then again, why would you want to work for minimum wage? If you manage to find an intersection of your own you can easily make over $20 an hour just asking for money. This was on T.V about a year ago but I can't remember the show :wall:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think you might be thinking of this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(she made over $50/hr)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OMG. That's nice. So that's why some people panhandle instead of getting jobs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although jobs are more stables and some pay way more than a panhandler could ever make.

[Mistymaple]

I buy Big Issues, the magazine that some of the homeless sell.

 

 

 

I don't tend to give money if they're just sat there. I've heard dreadful stories about how they just use it to buy drugs and tobacco. Apparently its a better idea to spend the ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã1 you just gave on a sandwich, and give them that.