Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've never understood why people are so hostile towards panhandlers. I mean, I'd do a number on the panhandlers who are aggressive (they'd be out of my face in a big hurry), but why are people so upset over how they make their money? I hear people complaining about all the money panhandlers make. Well, if it's such a lucrative job, then go out and panhandle yourself. If it's something you would never do, then shut up about it and be content with what you already do for a living.
So what if panhandling is an industry? People should consider it a job they would or wouldn't do and let that be the end of it. Then they could move on and find something else to get their panties in a bunch about.
I can't remember where I read this, but yes panhandling has become an industry. Some of the people you see at intersections with their cardboard signs have a boss. The boss assigns intersections and takes a cut of the donations.
Maybe I'll Google later to find some links.
Yup. There was a guy in my old neighborhood, I had heard him called Jarryl. He had a 4-5 girl (20’s) group that worked for him in shopping center parking lots. They would go from person to person with the “out of gas” line.
Honestly, I think the out of gas line works in a lot of neighborhoods due to some insinuation that “If I give them money; they will just go away”.
Anyway, Jarryl would hangout on the sidewalk or just inside the store & the dude had eyes in the back of his head, I swear. He seemed to have a rapport with store employees; shaking hands, “What’s up, bro” type of stuff. The employees, including managers, appeared to be clueless. Odd, because I saw what he was doing the first time I saw it happening, in the time it took for me to park my car & walk into the store.
He had a system of hand signals that he used to direct the girls from mark to mark. They watched him like a hawk, too. I saw him get pissed at one because a mark got past her & she looked truly upset. I’m positive they were all opiate addicts. A crackhead will rob you at gunpoint. A tweaker will hack your credit cards. Opiate addicts & sometimes alcoholics; panhandle.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they were doing it for trade, meaning drugs.
There are a few around here that get dropped off in the morning by this woman who drives a Mercedes Benz & then picked back up 6-8 hours later. This crowd is much older (50’s-70’s) & all have an obvious physical disability. I don’t quite have this one figured out yet.
Then there are the “independents”; the old-timers. You know; the ones that say “God bless you, ma’am!” They don’t work for anybody. These are the hard-core alcoholics who will be going into the DT’s if they don’t make enough in the next few hours. There are two younger ones in that crowd that have always interested me because they DON’T ask me for money.
I have an invisible target or arrow over my head that only panhandlers can see. Everybody asks me for money. Except them. One looks like he lost his way back to his mom’s basement. Young, overweight & bearded; you can just see him in front of his dual monitor gaming system yelling “Maaahm! Where’s my sandwich?” The other one is a dead ringer for Capt. Jack Sparrow & he is quite literally insane. 99% of the time he appears stoic & anti-social but about once a month he parades to & fro, laughing hysterically with a maniacal expression. In both states; he completely ignores me.
Those guys are not employees but the first two examples are. It’s basically a new form of pimping.
I once stopped at an intersection where a panhandler stood with a sign saying "Veteran of the [x] war". I happen to have personal experience with that conflict, so I rolled down my window and chatted with him a bit while waiting for the light. It was obvious that he was NOT in that war as he couldn't answer very basic questions. So yes, I think most of the panhandlers are fake.
In my area, there's some very crooked panhandling going on. I'm used to seeing at various times of year, some volunteers trying to drum up some donation for a local charity. I think local firefighters would try and get donations to a local children's hospital. It is obvious who they are (due to their uniform) and they collect money in a big fireman's boot or something. They aren't pushy or anything. I'm ok with that.
However, now every other week there's people dressed similarly to the firefighters out there with their own "boot." But these people aren't firefighters and are more aggressive about getting donations. I've asked what the donations are for but they are a bit dodgy about it. I just figured it was a group of guys that are exercising some "entrepreneurship." But, it turns out it is even more troubling than that.
There's a local church that sponsors a homeless shelter. And they send these guys out to get donations a few times a week to various intersections. They only get to stay in the shelter if they meet their quota. That's from someone that volunteers at the shelter (they help with the cooking).
I've never understood why people are so hostile towards panhandlers. I mean, I'd do a number on the panhandlers who are aggressive (they'd be out of my face in a big hurry), but why are people so upset over how they make their money? I hear people complaining about all the money panhandlers make. Well, if it's such a lucrative job, then go out and panhandle yourself. If it's something you would never do, then shut up about it and be content with what you already do for a living.
So what if panhandling is an industry? People should consider it a job they would or wouldn't do and let that be the end of it. Then they could move on and find something else to get their panties in a bunch about.
I actually considered panhandling for a day or two, just for the hell of it. I figured I would give the money to a real charity. The problem with able-bodied people panhandling is that there is a real possibility that the money put in a panhandler's hand could be better used going to animal welfare charities or cancer research. Another problem is that some of the panhandlers are sitting by a street intersection or a freeway exit with a dog. It is possible that the dog is there for sympathy and no other reason. Regardless, there are better, more humane ways for a dog to live than to sit alongside a highway for six hours every day.
Maybe it's just me or where I live but over the last five years I have seen a lot more panhandlers than before. Every high volume intersection in my city (Columbus, Ohio) seems to have a panhandler. Sometimes I wonder if they work in shifts. I write this now because I just got back from shopping at a Meijer department store and was hit-up in the parking lot by a woman who drove up alongside me as I was walking. She proceeded to give me a sob story about how she needed money because her car did not have much gas and she had to travel 50 miles to care for her sick, pregnant sister who was alone. I had heard almost exactly the same story, nearly word-for-word a few weeks earlier from a different woman in a different parking lot. Neither got my money. You can thank all of these people for your reading this post.
As a homeless person myself (who even looks the part) even I get panhandled. I've had someone insist I had something, but he obviously had more than me. (he had a car and I'm walking). I ended up giving him his last penny.
I've also dealt with people who would come up to me with some kind of sob story. It is so funny, because they go into elaborate details and it often involves someone doing them dirty, then them making it right, then someone else they know doing them dirty. Their mother is sick, then their mother gets well, then they get sick, then they get well, and then they make money again, then they get mugged again, etc.
The fact that they go on and on and on about it is what gives it away.
If any of you panhandlers are reading it, just ask for money. There is no need to go into a 1000 page audio book about how your dog's pet chihuahua robbed you at gunpoint. A lot of people don't care, some people will help you, and some people won't. It doesn't matter what or how. If they see a need, they are likely to meet it.
I read a biographical book of a homeless person in Austin, his years on the streets. He never, ever resorted to panhandling as there was no need for it. Only the laziest panhandle, particularly for food.
He astounded me with the treasures he'd find dumpster-diving every day, his best catches around college dorms, as many of these students come from middle/upper class families and they're always throwing away things of value, particularly at the end of a school term, when all gets thrown out, even liquor!
He'd even find pharmaceutical drugs thrown away, which he sold to other homeless people for extra money. He'd go to pizza places after they closed and find uneaten pizza's thrown in the trash, or to 7/11's where, at the end of the day, sandwiches would be thrown out. Completely safe to eat!
His take on the panhandlers was a good number of them used the money for drugs/alcohol. But never get fooled by those that say they're hungry, starving.
i am on the same page as this homeless man in Austin. I never thought to panhandle. I did accept some help, but I make it a point to work for my money and food. However, I don't necessarily knock anyone who does panhandle. I don't know their story.
One was interviewed that worked the freeway offramp in upscale Bellevue, WA, with face blurred on the TV news. He claimed making an average of $300/day, tax free. I pass 15-20 a day in Seattle, and most of us that work in the area ignore them, but the summer tourists and cruise passengers often give them money.
I wonder if some of these stories about begging being an “industry” are lies and urban legends used by people to justify their contempt for the poor and unfortunate.
When I see beggars I’m reminded of the story of Saint Martin of Tours. Christians should think about it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
