Begging / panhandling
Channel: CraniumOnEmpty
Date: 27/04/2010

This is about begging.  I say the words "don't do", but it's advice not a command.  I should have said that I don't recommend this or that.

Oh, this is a response to http://youtube.com/watch?v=uAdc131dy7E from straightd0pe at http://youtube.com/straightd0pe

There was a guy begging on the street in Oceanside, CA that lived in a really nice house.  I thought at first he was just staying there, but found out that he owned the house.  I stopped associating with him after that, because it was dishonest in my eyes.

About the kid that was begging money for food, I had just gotten a to go bag while sitting there waiting and offered him the bag.  I truly was going to walk over to Wendy's and buy him a burger or something, but it was obvious that he just wanted the money.

Other storying of panhandlers:

I knew a guy in Seattle that begged a quarter from every single person he could find.  He almost always got it and was aggressive, but very smart about his begging.  He only did it once wiht me and never asked me again, because it was too obvious that I wasn't going to give him a dime.  He used all the quarters to buy beer.  I've seen him get quarters from other people beggin on the street, he was really, really agressive.  I actually hung around him for quite a while simply because of this, because it was just so damned interesting.  Plus, he was with a girl that was pretty hot...  but that's not the point.

In Austin, Tx, I had a couple begging for food outside of a Fiesta (a huge convinience/food store) that looked really desperate.  It was close to Christmas, I was with my wife, I had some time, and they really did look desperate.  I took them shopping for a lot of what they needed in the store and made sure they had a way to prepare it.  The woman was beyond happy, and the man was entirely pissed off.  I don't even care if they sold all the stuff I bought them, but I was definitely not going to give money away. I have grown to the point that I just don't do that anymore.  Yeah, maybe I should have directed them to an organization, but I'm just happy that the woman was overjoyed from it.  I hope it worked out better for them.

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If anything, realize that there is a difference between panhandlers and homeless.  I have been homeless, but never a panhandler.  From what I can tell, a majority of homeless don't panhandle, but still are grouped with panhandlers because most panhandlers are (or appear) homeless.