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If a homeless person approached a shoe store or a Panera Bread or a store that sells mattresses and said, "I want to apply for a job," what are the chances they'd get that job?
Nonsense.
Whatch a movie called “pursuit of happiness,” Chris Gardner was a homeless single father living out of subway restrooms during his internship that finally landed him a job.
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Life is a struggle for single father Chris Gardner (Will Smith). Evicted from their apartment, he and his young son (Jaden Christopher Syre Smith) find themselves alone with no place to go. Even though Chris eventually lands a job as an intern at a prestigious brokerage firm, the position pays no money. The pair must live in shelters and endure many hardships, but Chris refuses to give in to despair as he struggles to create a better life for himself and his son.
No one said it would be easy. But you need to grab your bootstraps if you want to get something. Most homeless folks wouldn’t make HALF the effort Chris Gardner did to get out of their situation. They would’ve walked as soon as they heard the word intern.
And what's so wrong about them spending it on drugs or alcohol? As down in the gutter they are, they're not entitled to some pleasure?
Some of them have mental health issues, so even if you denied them drugs or alcohol, it's not like they'll "magically" find a job that can allow them to rent an apartment. Many mental health facilities have already been shut down.
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Originally Posted by athena53
There's another version of panhandling where I live: kids who appear to be on some sports team collecting for vague purposes. The kids were on the median at traffic lights, with signs saying, "Fund raising for travel expenses". No other details, Always an adult in the area somewhere. It must work because they're out there most of the weekends when the weather is nice, but I ignore them. I really don't want to teach kids that if you want money you stand out on the road median with a sign.
Perhaps, but others see this as seeing an "opportunity and taking it". In the end, money is money. It's no different than your typical business that's managed to get their buyers to depart with their hard earned money.
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Originally Posted by RomaniGypsy
I never give money. Rather, I ask what they need, and if it's something I feel like buying (such as food), I'll buy it and bring it to them. The ones who aren't legit will scoff at the notion of you buying them food.
If they're smoking, I won't ask what they want. If you can afford cigarettes, you can afford food or rent. If you refuse to stop smoking cigarettes when you're homeless even though they're being given to you for free, sooner or later you will spend some of your scant money on cigarettes instead of food or rent. I know that there's something to be said for people using their addictions to help them forget about their realities... but for now, I need to have at least some idea that you are legitimately on hard times and doing your best to rise above them to give you help. I don't make much money either... I don't want it wasted on some stranger's addictions, especially since it will go to some inhuman large company that will spend part of it on psychological campaigns designed to get more people addicted to the drugs they're peddling.
Cigarettes are also addictive. Literally. I wouldn't be surprised if it truly is hard for some of them to quit, considering those who aren't homeless and well off have had difficulty as well.
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As for giving up cigarettes for rent and food, last price on a pack of cigarettes I've got is $8. Assuming you smoke 1 pack of cigarettes a day, that's only $240 per month. I guess you could find section 8 housing, but those aren't always available. Otherwise, I'm hard pressed to figure out what you could do with $300 a month. Plus, if you're in an area that's fine to be outdoors, saving the money by not having to pay rent can go a long way.
Last edited by ackmondual; 09-17-2018 at 01:58 AM..
And what's so wrong about them spending it on drugs or alcohol? As down in the gutter they are, they're not entitled to some pleasure?
It's wrong because you are giving them substances that most likely got them into the gutter in the first place, or at the very least is keeping them there.
Would you advocate giving good old recovering alcoholic uncle Charlie a drink because he's entitled to some pleasure?
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
26,699 posts, read 41,733,093 times
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Originally Posted by Jimmyp25
When you see a Homeless person, Do you give to them or ignore them?
If so, why do you give to them?
Do you think you made a change?
If not, why do you not give to them?
Do you think that they will just go buy drugs or alcohol?
Go!
I ignore them. I face this when I go to Baltimore all the time since it has a high homeless population that frequently panhandles. I just cannot stand or feel safe with panhandlers.
I'll take that as a disagreement.
In Atlanta the "homeless" were collected every evening (by expensive vehicles). They turned over their money to their "boss" in return for food, housing, clean clothes.
Big scam/rip off.
When you see alot of these homeless people smoking cigarettes, most of the time, they are not actually buying packs of cigarettes. Homeless come around to our stores and look thru the ashtrays to find butts that were put out early, that still have alot of cigarette left, Ive seen people fill up bags of cigarettes from the ashtrays that have only had a few puffs taken on them.
It may sound gross and disgusting, but its what they do in order to smoke.
Plus, in many of our stores, the manager will allow a homeless person to do some odd jobs around the store, like changing trash cans, sweeping the lot, etc, something that takes about 30 minutes and then offer them either food or a pack of cigarettes, whatever they want that is equal to about $5-8.
When you see alot of these homeless people smoking cigarettes, most of the time, they are not actually buying packs of cigarettes. Homeless come around to our stores and look thru the ashtrays to find butts that were put out early, that still have alot of cigarette left, Ive seen people fill up bags of cigarettes from the ashtrays that have only had a few puffs taken on them.
It may sound gross and disgusting, but its what they do in order to smoke.
Plus, in many of our stores, the manager will allow a homeless person to do some odd jobs around the store, like changing trash cans, sweeping the lot, etc, something that takes about 30 minutes and then offer them either food or a pack of cigarettes, whatever they want that is equal to about $5-8.
Outside the train station in Newark, NJ, there hang a lot of old men, some of them vets, either homeless or just hanging out there because that's where they congregate.
When I used to smoke and went back and forth to meetings in Newark and had a cig on the way to the train, one or another of them would yell to to me, "Don't put that out! Let me finish it!". It got to be that I recognized the same guys after a while, and I would give them a couple of whole cigarettes from my pack of Newports. You'd think I gave them gold. I had a job and was wasting my money on these things. I could afford to part with a few.
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As for giving up cigarettes for rent and food, last price on a pack of cigarettes I've got is $8. Assuming you smoke 1 pack of cigarettes a day, that's only $240 per month. I guess you could find section 8 housing, but those aren't always available. Otherwise, I'm hard pressed to figure out what you could do with $300 a month. Plus, if you're in an area that's fine to be outdoors, saving the money by not having to pay rent can go a long way.
That could be almost a month's worth of groceries.
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