Panhandlers........
William81
Member Posts: 25,352 ✭✭✭✭
If you are truly down on your luck then there is help out there.........
Tonight I took my bride out for a bite to eat and to get a few groceries for the week... As we drove through town there was a newer Kia Van with a man, a woman and 4 small children sitting on little chairs by their van.
They set up in a parking lot owned by a church on the main drag of town...Big sign they were holding said,
"NEED GAS"
I have seen the same family in another town set up near a Walmart...they were here in our town last year near Walmart for three days until they were no longer allowed to panhandle there...the difference this year is they have had another child since then. So there they sat in 95 degree weather just like last year...
I guess I want to believe they do not know how to read a gas gauge, but I fear they are willing to use their their children as pawns to live out of other people's pockets... It makes me angry to see people do things like this...
RANT OFF
Comments
We frequently pass panhandlers who look clean, etc. Obviously they have a place to stay, wash up & clean their clothes. Funny thing is that they're not far from a business with a help wanted sign.
I saw a guy at an intersection at the end of an interstate exit ramp holding a sign. It was about 10am on a Sunday morning. The sign read " I need golf lessons real bad"
If you're hurting or in need, ask me I'll help you. Scam me, shame shame.
lots of them any more been around for years making a good living most towns you have to get a permit to "beg" just that alone tells me most are doing better than I was making a living
also by the interstate ( about 12 miles from us) in the wally world parking lot not uncommon to see them some with kids to really pull at your heart strings need money for food or gas to get home to see ?? some just a sign homeless down on my luck need $$ I have not seen the old will work for food sign in many years , I guess to many offers to work came up LOL
wife told me a couple years back at another shopping center her sister and her use to shop at it was well know young gals ( always in pairs ) working the parking lot asking for gas money from the women shopping but also asking the guys for gas money but offered favors to the guys for cash .. and no I never made to the shopping center not that would .
"So there they sat in 95* weather just like last year" and they expected you to feel sorry for them 🙄, the ones that deserve respect and pity are those many Americans that actually do hard labor out in the 95* heat, I've done it myself many days over my lifetime.......so my motto is screw lazy / sorry people....let'em walk.
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee
One of the last times I gave to to a beggar . I gave this guy a donation and said get some food with this... he looked at me and said he was getting crack and hos. I made my last donation.
many years ago ( at least 45 ) we were doing the out door theater by the river scape the 1st stage of it in Dayton Oh a older retired ( air force ) fellow had a room in the YMCA a huge old building on the river , any way he would come down sit on a park bench every day some times fall asleep or pass out maybe both 🙄of course we made buddies with him hard to avoid . he was a friendly old guy like to yell elbows and "buts" boys get at it ( not his word but I got in trouble on here for the A word so I do not use it ) every day he would have a drinking buddy along and at least two maybe three bottles of cheap wine may have been whiskey its been too long ago . we ask him one day about his daily life style
said he was single lived at the Y had a single room apartment and got xxx$ each month from the military in retirement now the funny part said xx went for rent xx for this or that, and xx amount for booze each day ( he had some set limit on how much each day ) when he finished one us ask but you said nothing about food ? his reply was something like, very loud and stern "FOOD I GOT NO MONEY TO WASTE ON FOOD " LOL but he was a good old fellow never begged or bummed just enjoyed the park bench and all the people passing by and of course getting drunk every day
Here a while back, I got stuck in traffic, in town. Never been in that area, at that time of day. You could tell that this area would have a delay in traffic every day, but on this day a street light had gone out, the police were there, and it was causing a REAL BAD delay. After about 20-30 minuets of being stuck in traffic, this lady came up to my window. She was panhandling.
You could tell from her speech, manner, and language that this is what she did for a living, Since I wasn't going anywhere for a while, we had a short conversation. she was Intelligent, articulate, and thoughtful. I always carry some hard candy in my car and offered her some, since I do not carry any cash anymore these days. She accepted it.
This was the one time I really was sorry that I do not carry cash anymore. I would have given her whatever I had. She was hopping from car to car on ONE LEG. I had to admire her determination and perseverance for doing what she was doing.
I see panhandlers on street corners all the time. I Ignore them.
With our benevolent and greedy government willing to tax those of us to death who work for a living and redistribute to the indigent, I fail to see the need for panhandling.
Thus panhandling is like having an extra or part time job. There should be laws preventing people who panhandle from receiving welfare.
Like everywhere else we have them, often at the entrance/exit to shopping centers with a traffic light.
Not my place to judge, but as noted sure are plenty of places offering work. And most people with a legit situation would probably qualify for some type of aide. I've driven by some and I've given a few bucks a time or two.
There is an urban legend that a professional mooch in New York City can knock down $100k+ per year....tax free.
Never been there, but that is what I hear.
I saw a man standing in front of the Salvation Army building yesterday holding a sign saying, "Family needs help"! Thought it was a bit ironic. He got nothing from me.
Brother owned an agricultural equipment installation company . He tried to hire a couple of the guys here in town. Offered $10.00 an hour cash ( this was 65 years ago He had no takers . They all said the made way more than that an hour . One guy admitted tha most days he made $ 150 to 200 a day not working .