Deep thoughts from the peanut gallery

[Professur]

Walking back to the car after the tour de Walmart,and being accosted by yet another charity seeker, I replied " I gave on the way in".

Getting the kids strapped in, my better half noted that it was just a little white lie. I was dumbstruck by the following


If a lot of little white clouds get together they become a big black stormcloud. What happens when little while lies get together?

 

[Neo]

Guilt.

 

[BigDadday]

You are saved and now can go to the nearest highway and at each entrance sell flowers or whatever!

 

[greenfreak]

That's funny, I was asked for money walking into the 7-11 tonight. I wasn't expecting it and said "On the way out". So I gave him the change from what I bought-a dollar or so.

We typically don't have many homeless around these parts, but there's always at least one. There was one guy that used to hang out in front of the laundromat. Smart, right? People with quarters to spare? But he used to sit and smoke cigarettes. When he asked me one day, I stopped and said, "I'm not giving you money but I'll give you a tip. If you want people to give you money, don't show them that you're going to use it to buy a five dollar pack of cigarettes." He never asked me for money again.

 

[BigDadday]

Probaly was the richest thing someone gave him GF as he probably stopped as you said and people gave him money as he sat there chewing on a toothpick or straw looking hungry.

 

[unclehobart]

It can develop into a stormfront of a lie if the lies are all directed at one particular target. If the white lies are spread out willy nilly to varied targets it will collect nowhere except upon the teller of the lies. Then it all comes down to your guilt tolerance level if any at all.

Lets face it, it was done to cut the confrontation short under the guise of minimizing conflict. The truth would have taken longer and run the chance of turning angered. Sometimes saying ... look... not today... just doesnt work.

 

[BigDadday]

Actually.....

Why they bother to ask when a person is on their way out is rather stupid. It's before they spend any money they should try to hit you up I would think!

 

[unclehobart]

Its a method of thought were they think you are more willing to part with the loose change after you've bought what you came for. People tend to be a little tighter with the cash on the way in.

 

[Winky]

I always shrug my shoulders and say "Sorry Man"

If pressed I tell the truth

I have a Wife and Son to support

It costs me thousands of dollars a month to live.

If I part with my money it's to get something in return

and your not offering me a Damn thing!

Oh I never slow my pace and I only look at them to

be sure they aren't preparing to assault me

Those people PISS me off !

 

[fury]

The lazy homeless people are who piss me off. The people who are homeless but looking for a job/another job due to being laid off or having their house destroyed/repossessed or something aren't so bad, because they are actually looking for money for a purpose.

But the people that just stand there in the middle of the road and say "Hey, gimme some money" and go spend it on a bottle of vodka or a pack of cigarettes or something... *shudder*

Same with people who sit around on their ass all day on unemployment checks and never bother to look for a job.

 

[flavio]

I usually get asked for money at least 2 or 3 times a day walking from my car to work and back by homeless or various out of luck persons. Many of these people I'm sure have legitimate problems and I am never unkind unless someone is too aggressive. I give up a quarter or so every couple days...it's not going to break me.

I'm a little more generous when there is some sort of effort made. For example there is a one way alley behind my building which is a convenient place to park, the farther down the alley I go the shorter the walk is to my office. If I go too far though and there are no free spots I have to circle all the way around the block to try again. There's a guy who is a regular in the alley who points out any open parking spots so I know if I can go down farther. He also will spot you if there's a tight parallel parking job to be done. He is actually very useful and normally warrants a couple quarters for this service.

 

[alex]

I can't stand people looking for a handout that aren't willing to do anything to better themselves. They are nothing but BUMS and will always be BUMS. I would gladly give the guy a little change who spotted a parking space for me or did a little something constructive. As for the charity's, never give. I have heard too much controversy about how much of that money actually goes to the needy and how much goes to line the pockets of the people running the charity. I did drop a $5 bill into a firemans hat at the local store after the 9/11 attacks

 

[wdeep]

Guilt is the most wasted and most unnecessary emotion which we have. We need to rid ourselves of it. When confronted by the folks with the bells (for example), why do we feel we need respond in any fashion at all? I don't. If I don't feel inclined to give something, I don't bother to respond. I simply walk on by. I'm not going to assume someone else's projection of guilt.

 

[greenfreak]

Warning: Long winded post!

My ambulance corps is all volunteer, and we operate solely on the charity of the people who live in the town we cover. Every year we mail out fund drive brochures/envelopes and also do a 'walk' to all the houses that didn't respond. I hate going up to people's doors and bothering them, but since we're in uniform and sometimes have the ambulance with us, most people have been kind. All it takes is someone who actually used our service to tell someone else about it, and that they didn't have to pay for it (as opposed to the Nassau County Police Ambulance who charges you for everything) and we get a nice donation from people.

But....

I've also been yelled at, chased by dogs that people let out in their yards on purpose to deter me from walking up to their door, seen people sitting in their kitchens looking at us but refusing to acknowledge us, insulted and had doors slammed in my face. But where, OH WHERE, would we be if you had a medical emergency? At their door in under 5 minutes, to help them, and possibly save their life.

I had one guy that would yell at me every year (I walked the same route, the same 5 streets annually for 7 years). I remembered him well, and one day we got a call at his house, he had fallen down and broken his leg. I was overly nice to him and addressed him by name as soon as I walked in-then he recognized me. The next fund drive, he answered the door, and said "Are you EVER going to stop coming to my house?" and I said, "No. I'm coming to your house when you are hurt and you need our help. And I'm also coming to your house every year to ask for a charitable donation." He gave me $50. lol

 

[alex]

I did give a $20 dollar donation to my local volunteer fire dept. because they came around house to house telling everyone they had upgraded to a higher level and I was able to reduce my homeowners insurance

 

[Winky]

If we didn't have a gun to our heads every April 14th to give up half of everything we make,
the concept of helping out our fellow man would regain the stature it once held in our society.
Barring mental illness making your way in the first world isn't all that tough.
It's interesting to to see how tribal cultures handle charity and support of their villages less fortunate.

 

[Spirit]

I work downtown so I bus it everyday (parking is about $120.00/month!!!!!). Inevitably, a native will approach every person at the bus stop (mostly suits who also bus it back to the 'burbs) and ask for money.

Just today, two approached me at seperate times asking for money "to help feed thier kids". I could smell the alcohol on thier breath before they even opened thier mouths. So I say to them, "I'm sorry, I can't help you". Because, really, I can't.

However, there are homeless who try. They get these little mini-magazines and sell them for a donation. I don't know how they get them to begin with, perhaps they return unsold copies and pay a certain amount for the sold ones, I don't know... Anyhoo.. these are the people I can and do help.

 

[greenfreak]

There's a community group that helps out the homeless people of NYC and they spend most of their time on the subway cars, walking car to car, giving a presentation. There are two people at either end of the car who do it and I have to admit that it's quite entertaining. The people who do the presentations look healthy and clean and at the end they announce that they were homeless also until they were helped by this organization.

I've checked them out, they're legit. They're smart too-they pick the longest interval between stops so people don't get off an on and they make direct eye contact with you. Each time we go to the city and they arrive on our car, I give them money, as most people do.

 

[Gonzo]

I have to admit, that's one thing about LA I don't miss & have never experienced in Ft Wayne-panhandlers. I lived one block from Venice Beach in 87-88 and it was a nightmare. There were, probably, one percent who were homeless because of true "all hope abandoned" situations. The rest spent more time trying NOT to work. I got to kow several dozen of them & my mind was changed. NO HANDOUTS.

The best story of living there, with the homeless population a block away; we(my wife & I) were at the in-between points of our paychecks (you know too far away to write a check & too far past to have any cash), so we were cooking some chicken on our Smokey Joe, on the front steps-just feet from Venice Blvd-when she went out to put some BBQ sauce on our dinner. When she returned, she said "...the grill was gone". Sure enough, some beggar man/thief had not just taken our last decent dinner for a couple of days, but the SOB stole the cookware too. I laughed & said, if the cocxxxker needed it so badly he carried away a hot grill he earned it. We had PB&J that night.

 

[bitchen]

I ... have never experienced in Ft Wayne-panhandlers.

I know where they hang out in Ft Wayne, Gonz! Used to work there! McDonald's by the Grand Wayne Center.

They'd always order a large coffee with a million creams and sugars and a cup of ice. (Coffee was very hot, and they like it Spirit-style apparently, lotsa cream ).

They could milk a cup of coffee for hours.

I could tell you stories.