A confusing panhandling effort this morning had me thinking about this more than usual.

A man at the far end of the subway car began his introduction, detailed his circumstances, and thanked everybody for their time. Shortly thereafter, he stepped out of the car, presumably moving on to the next one, without even walking through to collect what contributions may have been out there.

Do you give?

-Tom

almost indefinetly i give what i can spare.

i dont give a shit how they spend it. for every 3 or 4 that spends it on booze or drugs theres at least one that genuinely needs it. and it makes me feel warm inside.


not crap!

In Boston I do if I've got a few extra pennies.

Never when I'm in New York City after a guy told me I looked like a jerk off faggot after I wouldn't give him a quarter. He ruined it for every bum in New York City.

Often I do, but after visiting family in India, I have a hard time giving out scratch.


Inside my brain, I go:

But you have your legs and arms and your face isn't all scarred and your eyes aren't white and lifeless and you don't push yourself around on a little cart with your nubs, you fucking asshole. You wouldn't last an hour in Hyderabad, fuck you! Fuck You!

but then I just say:

Sorry, sir.

After about a month of decompression, I do on a case by case basis.



Faiz

I'm so sick of it now, I spare the "Sorry".

Just 2 nights ago, a guy came up to my car when I was in the drive through, no shit. He was in his mid 20's and appeared healthy. He asked for money and I said "No". And then he said "No?" standing right next to my open window. "NO!" I said.
He was purposely trying to intimidate me.
I was mildly irritated, not intimidated, but what about a woman or some old person?

Get a job, YOU PILE OF SHIT.

It depends. I generally give to older people who look fucked up or deranged as well as to the stump-paddlers on trolleys that drag their torsos around Asia.

Adolescents? Never.

Ultimately, not crap though.

I would give money to Wild Man Fischer. At least you would get to hear a new kind of a song for your cash...

I think giving people money is a bad idea. I say no in all sorts of different ways from polite to less so depending on where and when. I appreciate the obvious liars the best, because I do not need to think about them at all. If the same woman needs money to get to the battered women's shelter everyday for a year, well...
Somebody with clipboard and a smooth line gives me pause. How the hell are you supposed to know what is going on. I say no to everyone, and give to Heifer International instead.

On Edmonton’s trendiest bistrocafépubretrohuzzahshishisushiyuppified strip the local business association tried to force in a series of traffic meter-style pity-poles for people to toss change into an effort to move out all the vagrants and ne’er do wells that gravitated to the area from the downtown core – an ass-crap, urban-hygiene maneuver. Eventually a bunch of small business owners rallied to campaign against the thing (successfully).


Reminds me of when city councils deputize citizens to harass pan-handlers during international events.

Hi,

What do you think will happen to 'panhandlers' if/when society becomes 'cashless'? Or will paper/solid money as we know it be horded by black-market industries and be used within that realm? Will they outlaw cash? Will it matter?