A friend of mine handles situations like this by giving a rambling speech in Serbian, complete with exaggerated hand gestures.
Of course, this only works if you speak Serbian, and the panhandler does not. :)
Of course, this only works if you speak Serbian, and the panhandler does not. :)
I don't speak Serbian, either, but can do a halfway credible job of faking my way through broken, heavily Russian-accented English. "Da, tovarishch? Not really money you are meaning to be giving me to? No, no! Please! Not really now I am needing money some of now today, but most deeply now thanking you I am, nyet?" Shaking hands with them is... well, "another matter," I'll just say, and let it go at that.
Panhandlers don’t speak German, either. One equatorial type came up to me on a street corner and asked for money. I replied in German. He looked at me confused and said, “What you say?” and I repeated in German. Another confused look and he turned away and said to his fellow vultures, “I don’ think he speaks English”.
Just last night I was walking to my car in a private parking lot where I work. A big, well-fed thug materialized out of nowhere and asked for “change to pay for parking”. This parking lot requires plastic cards to raise the gates; there is no one to take money. I said I had none and briskly walked back into the building while he stood there and cursed. We are unfortunately not allowed to carry guns where I work.
I pretend to be deaf and use sign language(which I do know)