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Old 01-17-2014, 06:56 PM
 
Location: USA
299 posts, read 552,391 times
Reputation: 372

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For month after month after month, I keep running into this character in downtown Bethesda, and I'm finally both curious and annoyed enough with him to ask if anyone else on here happens to know more about him!

The first time I ever ran into the guy, it was walking past Booeymonger. There's a little alley just past there, next to the real-estate place on the side of the Bethesda Crescent building, where he was standing. He's a white guy with a mustache, slender to average build, and usually wearing some kind of trenchcoat... I guess basically middle-aged, and has an accent. He stops everyone who passes, saying, "Pardon me... Can I ask?", until someone makes eye contact, and then proceeds to beg for a little money to help out.

After that, it seemed like I ran into him around the same place about every other time I walked that direction. Then he disappeared for a while. That's when I figured out he was also a regular in the Starbucks around the corner, across from the Round House Theater. Typically, when I've seen him in there, he's sitting at one of the front tables with a drink and a newspaper.

Today, I ran into him in the middle of the tunnel connecting the Crescent building to the escalators on the other side of Connecticut Ave. to the metro.

The thing is, this guy very well might be legitimately homeless.... but I have a tough time feeling any sympathy for him. Looks to me like he's content to get by each day doing the panhandling thing and bumming around places like Starbucks on other people's dime. Just doesn't seem like downtown Bethesda is a sensible place at all to try to better oneself, with the high cost of rent and relatively few jobs for someone lacking a lot of education/experience. Apparently, it IS good for convincing passers-by to part with spare change though.
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Old 01-20-2014, 07:40 AM
 
100 posts, read 153,668 times
Reputation: 48
I've run into this gent several times over the past 2-3 years on Wisconsin Avenue and around Bethesda Row. I'd be curious to find out what his story is.

Montgomery County has a big program where they're against panhandling:
Panhandling - Montgomery County, MD

The program doesn't "feel" right to me. To make such an effort to tell people not to give a few bucks to someone on the street.
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Old 01-20-2014, 08:50 AM
 
5,102 posts, read 6,016,041 times
Reputation: 7168
Sometimes panhandling is a job. I've heard that some locations are considered prime spots and the take is pretty good. Every now and then there is a story in teh paper about it. When I was working downtown I got used to seeing the same couple people in the same locations outside Gallery Place Metro station. They showed up before afternoon rush hour. Was always curious how much they took in and where they went but never had enough curiosity to pursue it.

I also know it is used as a cover for surveillance activity. Getting prepared for the role is tough for that. To be good you need to get the smell correct also :-))
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Old 01-20-2014, 11:55 AM
 
490 posts, read 920,010 times
Reputation: 268
Quote:
Originally Posted by MidValleyDad View Post
Sometimes panhandling is a job. I've heard that some locations are considered prime spots and the take is pretty good. Every now and then there is a story in teh paper about it. When I was working downtown I got used to seeing the same couple people in the same locations outside Gallery Place Metro station. They showed up before afternoon rush hour. Was always curious how much they took in and where they went but never had enough curiosity to pursue it.

I also know it is used as a cover for surveillance activity. Getting prepared for the role is tough for that. To be good you need to get the smell correct also :-))

LOL it has to be a job because I see them all the time in Rockville (on the same corner every morning at the same time) they work a 9 to 5 just like me LOL
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