A few months ago there was a show on one of the many satalite channels i rarely have time to watch but this night i did. It was a loosley based news show kinda with a oprah theme, tonights episode was on the issue of panhandlers. They had spent weeks following around panhandlers in the chicago metro area just to see what they were up too. What they found out was shocking.

nearly all of the panhandlers they followed and observed were not homeless or helpless. i think the final ratio was 1 in 10 were truely helpless or homeless living in a shelter. of the other 9, 4 of them were of meager living conditions but able to work if they wanted too. 7 of the 10 were drug users and drinkers that used nearley every cent you gave them on these two items. I think they only saw one of the pan handlers buy a hotdog from a stand the entire time they were following them. What i thought was wild was the 3 they watched the most. 2 were white people, 1 man 1 woman and 1 was a black woman. These people were total frauds and fakes. Both the white people came from decent neighborhoods in the suburbs and drove decent cars. Both which had parked them in all day parking lots 20 blocks from where they performed their panhandleing. At the end of the day they would start walking back to them. When they got there they would unlock the trunk, drop the money they had in a bucket and take off the shirt and hat and tore up coat they had on and change clothes and drive home. When the video team stopped them and questioed them they denied everything and sped off, two days later they were back in a different block doing the same thing. the most astounding one was the black lady, she drove a mercedes and she parked it on the same block as she panhandled. As a matter of fact she parked it at a upscale resturant that her husbanded owned. Every morning she would park in the back lot and go in the back door, 20 minutes later she came out again dressed as a begger. she would stand on the freeway off ramp with a sign that said HELP. She would stand there in her costume for 7 hours a day, then she would head back for the resturant back door, 20 minutes later she would exit and get in her car and leave all dressed nice.
When the camara crew talked to her she was open and told everything. she gets about $1400 a week tax free and of course her husband knows all this and talked to them too, they said they been doing this for 3 years and plan on keep doing it as long as people were gulliable enough to give money. Thats why i give nothing to panhandlers, nothing.

 

Someone I know was coming out of the store one night, groceries in hand. A guy walked up asking for money for food. So, the guy with the groceries reached in one of the bags and pulled out some string cheese. He gave it to the beggar, who got pissed and threw it back at him. He said, "This stuff is [expletive deleted] dog food." Then, the beggar started getting hostile, but jammed when some other people came along. Seems like the beggar was getting ready to get rough, but didn't want any witnesses, so he split.

 

We have real problems in Orgun with panhandlers. In many cases it's a scam. They will get dropped off at on and off ramps from the highway by a van.

One guy I saw drive off in a newer vehicle after pan handling on a corner.

What truly ticks me off is the Vietnam Vet signs that I have seen many carry. Of course they were younger then me, and I entered the military in 1974.

On occasion, I have taken a couple of these guys to jail for outstanding Warrants. In talking with one, he straight up told me - "It beats working for a living and I don't pay taxes".

Give, if you feel like it, but remember, many will just use it for alcohol or to feed a drug habit.

 

I think panhandlers are just plain lazy. If anything, they should be able to do mundane labors rather than going around begging for money. I'm sure someone could them a job if their price is low enough.

It really annoys me when the panhandlers waste my time by spending the first 5 minutes trying to be cozy with me or trying to "help" me...like telling me how to find the subway station which I use everyday, and then they always end up saying something like, "I'm trying to get home on the bus, can you spare some money"? Trying? TRYING?! What the heck are you doing here in the first place if you have no money to go back?

Panhandlers should be arrested and locked up in a jail. That way, they'll get some food and a warm place to stay. And they can be used to actually do some labor in jail and contribute to the GDP. A perfect idea! Now we don't have to outsource labors to the third world countries!

That's actually doing them a favor too, since their life out on the street is no better.

Or is this too logical to work?

 

I agree. Most of 'em are scammers to lazy to get a job. Our paper is full of want ads for help, part or full time. If a person gets hungry enough, he'll work.

 

some of our local bums work for theirs. they made the 'bumfights' movies.

 

Did you guys catch what I said? Why don't we just gather ALL the pan handlers in the nation (tens and thousands of them) and have them work in cheap labor shops?

Advantages:
1. they get paid
2. we don't get annoyed on the streets
3. we get cheap labor so we don't have to outsource jobs to foreign nations
4. US get tax money
5. more GDP for the US

What are we waiting for!?

 

I have given my lunch (which I packed) to two diffferent guys asking for food. When I drove off noticed both sitting down and eating so I am willing to help out in this situation.

 

How 'bout we use the pan handlers to do the work the illegal aliens are doing now? Then we can send the illegals back to where they came from and Ted Kennedy still gets his yard mowed for $20.

 

Can't really do that because some of the illegal aliens actually do a good job and for cheap, where as some of the homeless are on the edge of reality and criminal life; pretty much gone.

Who do you want to work for you? An illegal allien that wants to work; or a homeless person who may steal from you.

Of course not all illegals are hard workers and not all homeless are on the brink of the reality edge.

A tough problem either way.

 

Around here bums are now reffered to as "Survivalists". Gotta laugh at that one.

 

"Who do you want to work for you? An illegal allien that wants to work; or a homeless person who may steal from you."

I want a person who is in this country legally AND is honest to work for me. If we got rid of the illegals who are dropping the standard of living in the U.S. by working for chump change, these jobs would pay more and more people would be willing to work hard for decent money.

For the topic, I NEVER give money to panhandlers. There are government agencies that take of people who have REAL issues. That's where some of our taxes go.

 

If you really think about it - it is much simpler to just have a job of some kind and get on with life than to be an idiot and mooch from other people.

This is something I do not understand about my estranged wifey-pooh...

She surrounds herself with crap that has been leeched from others, at times by means involving extreme stress and occasionally violence on her part, but in the end she really is living at a level so low I myself would never ever be satisfied with that as a lifestyle...

I can see no reason why life should be so difficult, and yet many people through either laziness or insanity struggle along in attempts to make victims out of whomever they meet, sow ruin by their efforts, and ultimately accomplish nothing.

The truly nasty aspect of it is that in order to accomplish these agenda items, the perpetrator must undermine, subvert, and change the perceptions of the victim so that they buy into it. Once this is done - the victim is effectively enlisted into what I think of as the "LOSER Brigade".

Brainwashing, in other words. You will think I have no idea what I am saying or implying if you have never seen it happen before, as in: "My GOD! Does he know what he is saying?"

Yes I do. I have seen it enough to recognise it in progress. Psychologists undoubtably have specific terms for what I have just described.

I have written before that who we surround ourselves with has a huge impact on our individual quality of life, haven't I?

That winning is like a good disease, if you are around people who have it - you will catch it.

Same is true of LOSERS.

You cannot get out from under if you have people around you who drag you down. It just does not work...

I learned to step back at a point, no matter how good someones story sounded, and look at the facts alone. CON people talk a good story, right before they rip you off blind! The ex is one of those, and I will giggle my butt off when she drags down the cuckold she is living with after the divorce.

If someone explains in detail why everything that ever happened to them was NOT THEIR FAULT... You should look at it this way -

What has happened to them. WHY did it happen? Is there a pattern? What is the pattern? If blame is called on the other parties, what has happened to the other parties? Does doom always follow them, or just HIM/HER?

If the doom walks where the one you are dealing with steps only, it IS NOT A COINCIDENCE.

Also beware of anyone who makes it a point to interject into conversation FREQUENTLY that they never lie - it is a clear indicator that they do, and want you to ignore it.

Point number two: Never marry a Panhandler. I did not realise it at the time, but that is precisely what she was.

I do not know why what I was doing did not rub off on her, but I have hypothesised that she was so used to doing what she does that she could not jump to some other way...

I grew up dragging junk bicycle frames out of ditches, and riding what turned out to be really nice bikes a few weeks later.

Silk purses out of sows ears, diamonds out of charcoal, lifted F100's out of killed carcasses that were under-engined to begin with, etc...

There is a mind set that dooms some people to failure. I don't know why it is, or how it works. At this point I see no way to reverse it...

I once thought it could be done.

Point number two: Never get into a relationship with someone you think you can change...

If change is necessary RUN LIKE HELL!

There is, I strongly believe, what we might call a "PANHANDLER MENTALITY". I wish I could define it. It is a serious problem in all societies, and I really do not understand what causes it or why it is so seemingly impossible to defeat.

I suspect however that for every SPOILED child, there is a panhandler in the making...

It is possible that we are seeing the results of an immediate gratification society, and the negative aspects thereof. If nothing is denied, the weak expect to be coddled. So much so, that when support of ones self is called for, various people find themselves incapable of it. They were never pushed to develop the abilities they were lacking in...

(Question: What we always got away with, we always can. Can't we????)
(Answer: Only until you can't. TANSTAAFL)

TOUGH LOVE is the most important precept of the old ways.

"If you can survive growing up in MY HOUSE - You just might make it when I am dead and gone, son..."

Panhandlers are an example of what happens when survival traits are not passed down from the parents

 

Previously I offered a suggestion about what to do in such situations, but I failed to respond to the 'why are they asking me' aspect of this.

It could be that things are as you see them. They do approach you and not the Lexus owners. Assuming that you are not 'known as a giver' so these are unrelated events, one hypothesis is that panhandlers know from experience that the 'haves' give less often than the 'have nots'. I don't know if this is true, but you can bet the panhandlers would know. It seems reasonable that people who have less can have more empathy for those that alegedly have nothing. I wonder. Were I you, next time this happens I might say: "I have a little something for you, but first a question. How do you decide who to approach, do you ask wealthier people too?" See what they say.

It could also be that it just seems like they only approach you. Do you really know that the Lexus owners are not also asked?

Either way, your obvious compassion for your fellow man is commendable. The key is how you decide to respond in these situations. It's good that we get to discuss things like this here where we can all learn.

The post from Greywolf offers, among other things, an explanation for how these situations arise. A thought proviking assertion. I would be surprized if this expained all cases but I'm confident that it fairly speaks to some of them. While bad parenting may explain some of this, to me, it's not an excuse for it. I advocate the personal responsibility to rise above even the worst parenting but concede that some may simply not have the means to do that.

We as a group are unlikely to solve these woes of society but may walk away better prepared to undertand and respond to them.

There is a delima for us. We can't know if the person confronting us for a handout really needs it, or deserves it. There is no practical way for us to find out either. We are placed in the very undesirable position of making a snap judgement about these people knowing it may very well be incorrect. Our choice seems to be either to give or withold and never know either way if it was the right decision. It's not fair.

Personally I object to the terms. For me it's either win-win, or no deal. So find ways to create a win-win sitation. Use your creativity and think about it in advance. When the time comes you can respond in a meaningful way rather than just having to react. This can apply to much more than dealing with panhandlers. For more read "The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey.

 

I think much of the targetting aspect arises purely and simply from "Who looks approachable".

Think about it...

It would take a truly audacious begger to buttonhole only rich people. They know that in order to get sympathy, they have to pick a mark who looks like they have "Been there before", in the words of Mark Twain.

Singling out the wrong mark can result in either the cops being called, or a flat "Go get a job!" responce from the mark. In order to put the "squeeze" on anyone, you have to first establish some sort of dialog, ask any salesperson!

So bluntly -
A) If you get singled out by a common panhandler, it would be correct to feel somewhat insulted!
B) Do not allow a panhandler to initiate a dialog.
and
C) The phrase: "I ain't got it either, pal..." can be very helpful at times.