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Why is it hard for ppl to believe the economy is getting worse, not better?
Yes, there are folks out there with signs begging for $$$ but actually just using it for drugs/ alcohol. But there are those who are REALLY begging for money. NYC moves fast, you can easily find yourself in a bind. When you do so, there's no time to change out of your white-collar clothes.
You can actually make quite a living off of begging. Think about it.
Please allow me to confirm this, with a short tale from my days as a conductor on the subway...
There's a guy who does most of his work on the N line in Brooklyn. One day, passing through my train doing his panhandling thing, he was bragging about the amount of money he made--to the extent that he pretty much turned anyone off from giving him more. And of course every penny he gets is tax free.
The number of people who think they're actually helping out an unfortunate fellow human being is amazing, if not actually frightening. Something like 97% of the panhandlers on the subway are outright fakes, yet there they are, on a daily basis.
That is a HUGE difference. What a sad sign of our times.
yeah defiintely a difference.
but to change the subject slightly, Im very suspect about the "stories" people tell when they are begging for money. Especially the "homeless donation companies" on the train - where they say they collect money for the homeless. My gut tells me this is a scam
Once I saw an elderly person walking around the lower east side, picking up ciggarrete buts of the ground so she could smoke them. It was so pathetic it really broke my heart. I wondered what I could possibly do to help...
A lot of people have it rough - makes my grateful for what I have i guess
This economy has changed the face of the homeless. Nowadays it is becoming a pretty common occurrence to see articulate, well dressed people ending up on welfare and homeless.
It is a reminder to all who have a job that nobody is immune to tough times and we are all only a paycheck or two away from the same fate!
I am sorry but it is NOT hard to get work here. There are tons of temp agencies. Event work. There are endless opportunities in NYC and if you really want to work, you will be working. I am a prime example of this....since I have been here, I have worked at a holiday market, in restaurants, temp office work, and catering work. Every time I have sought out work, I have gotten it immediately and gotten multiple offers and had to actually turn work down. NYC is the mecca of opportunity and possibilities if you are open to it. There are programs to house and feed the homeless and there is a pretty liberal unemployment program in effect. If you really want to help people, teach them how to use the limitless potential of their MINDS to see the reality of infinite possibility.
there used to be this mid 40's, very well dressed woman in business attire and with a briefcase who got on the LIRR Ronkonkoma line one day at rush hour literally right before it was pulling out of Penn.
she had a swollen cheek, black and blue eye and some convincing cuts on her face. She started yelling frantically that someone just punched her and stole her purse and that she needed to get this train home to her children. It broke my heart and as i pulled my wallet out to help her the Wall St looking dude sitting next to me told me that she was on that train with that same story every single day, only in New York.
but to change the subject slightly, Im very suspect about the "stories" people tell when they are begging for money. Especially the "homeless donation companies" on the train - where they say they collect money for the homeless. My gut tells me this is a scam
Once I saw an elderly person walking around the lower east side, picking up ciggarrete buts of the ground so she could smoke them. It was so pathetic it really broke my heart. I wondered what I could possibly do to help...
A lot of people have it rough - makes my grateful for what I have i guess
Yea living in this city will either humble you or make you more judgemental. I've seen it all...people digging in trash cans, homeless walking around covered in newspapers and torn rags, folks taking baths in the public bathrooms at the parks, homeless people sleeping on the train with their kids next to em. This stuff will messes with you psychologically. I don't even like going to certain areas of the city because of this. However having said that for some reason though I feel the homeless probably get more help in NYC than in other cities across the country. There are a lot of shelters and social programs here. I wonder if there's the same social umbrella in a city like Dallas or Phoenix.
There is a kid that has been frequenting the N/Q train. I have only seen him on this train, but I have seen him 3 times in the last month. His story is that he is 18 years old, sleeps on the 6 train every night, is constantly applying for jobs when he can get internet access. The first time I heard him, he said he had a son that was depending on him. Yesterday it suddenly became his 2 year old daughter named Julliette...hmmm. the truth is this kid has nice clothes and expensive tennis shoes on, and I know for a FACT that if he walked into 10 restaurants in NYC looking for work, he could get hired in at least half either as a busser or in the kitchen. I know because I have seen others get jobs like this dressed in shorts and a tshirt. I know law and investment firms and jobs in the high end corporate world may be shifting and teaching jobs are hard/impossible to come back, but if you want to work, you CAN work. There are SO many jobs (and I am not just talking restaurant) that are under the table here, too. People all over the place CREATING their own work because they use their minds to see the possibilities and opportunuties and they seize it. This is what NYC is all about, and is true today as when it was "founded." I'm not saying it's a walk in the park, but if you want opportunity, it is infinite here. When I see an old, disabled senior or someone that has truly and obviously lost all hope, that is one thing...I will help them in some way whether it is food, water, kind words, clothes, and/or maybe sometimes money. But when it is a perfectly able bodied and minded person who is using shame and guilt to play on the emotions of others in order to get money? I wish you the best in life but I will look you straight in the eyes and not feel bad in the slightest when I do not contribute to your "income."
And someone said this earlier, that it should be illegal...it actually IS illegal on MTA trains and property. There are signs posted that state this and every now and again you hear the announcement over the loud speaker.
And maybe hypocritical, but (illegal or not) I do sometimes give money to the performers around or on the train...the ones that are actually good and impressive and not overly aggressive. To me, they are working, not begging for money, and using their minds, talents, and passions.
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