Posted on 05/06/2018 7:31:37 PM PDT by markearl
Most are also on some sort of welfare program, so some are doing better than the working population by far.
Bookmark.
That's when I realized why: the guy could PLAY ... and I mean play ANYTHING. Popular tunes, classical tunes, patriotic songs around the Fourth of July, anything anyone requested. That guy must have made a boatload of money out there.
I rely on the Holy Spirit to tell me when someone is genuinely needy. It has been a rare thing.
exactly!
I learned that after I gave a guy I saw out in the sun on a corner and I gave him a sandwich and chips I had bought for myself. He put it down and kept holding his sign that said he was needing food, etc. - obviously didn’t need the food.
There used to be a successful panhandler at Dupont Circle in DC who dressed in a business suit. His pitch was “Do you have 85 cents so I can call my office in New York?” It worked. He made about $50-70,000 per year for several years.
Eventually, someone mentioned him to the Washington Post and they wrote a story about him. He wasn’t there a whole lot longer.
“I once watched an operator working a metropolitan corner.”
I love this guy. He makes people who give money to these dudes realize they’re being taken for a ride.
I don’t feel sorry for these people. They set their own working hours and pay no taxes. They chose their job and I chose mine; they deserve nothing from me. We recently had a city program to try to get them off the street, offer job training and such, and less than 5% of panhandlers showed any interest at all. I would be shocked if it resulted in one single job.
Meanwhile, a law was passed to prohibit standing at medians and intersections, so most of them have moved on.
If you watch long enough, you will see a “shift change” where a new individual will come up and take the place of a man and the new guy will get the sign. Anyhow....
I have PROUDLY never given a dime to panhandlers, although my taxes more than make up for it.
I did, once, ask a panhandler for money. It was at a parking meter in Berkeley, CA. I knew the area, saw that he had a bead on me as I got out of my car, but just before he got to me, I patted my pockets and said to him: “Excuse me sir, spare change?” His response was “awwww shit, damn” and he walked away.
“If you watch long enough, you will see a “shift change” where a new individual will come up and take the place of a man and the new guy will get the sign. Anyhow....”
No surprise. I’ve also heard of street-corner fights, over who gets to work that spot. But in Houston that doesn’t happen, because they all have to be licensed and work by the rules of their licenses. Probably the same in most other cities...and not something the mayors like to talk about.
All the bums on corners in my mostly black/Hispanic city, are white males.
There is a guy who works the corner of my local Safeway.
He has a sign and a gas can asking for help.
I call him "gasbum"
I haven't had the nerve, but I've many times wanted to offer gasbum a free fill up.
I'd just love to see the look on his face when he has to carry five gallons of gas around.
I'm certain that gasbum would refuse "help". And he'd probably pour the gas down some sewer.
It just amuses me thinking about gasbum toting 40lbs of fuel for any length of time.
I’ve noticed that as well. I rarely see Black or Hispanic men on corners begging for money. Usually about 80% white men, 20% white women. I have never seen an Asian asking for money.
They always come out at every intersection on Sundays, hoping that some preacher has given the congregation a guilt trip over the poor and needy.
The best one was the guy on crutches, pretending to be crippled. If you were driving the other way, though, you could see his bike in the bushes behind him.
In Kansas City we had a guy named Jerry. He had some physical problems but Jerry panhandled areas like the Country Club Plaza shopping district for forty years. Finally the IRS went after him in the early 1990s. Found our he was not reporting 80k in annual income from his highly pushy endeavors.
They work their chosen sidewalks outside each city church as well. Even in Spain , you’d see the same “grandmother” outside the doors as each different mass ended. But I’m paying 52% income in total taxes. Getting cash tax free means you need to only work 20 hours a week.
I once saw a ‘ Hurricane Katrina refugee ‘ panhandling in Boston.
She had the thickest, loudest Massachusetts accent ever...
She was well known. Used to drag a air bottle around on wheels
with a schtick about not being able to afford heating oil.
” Change fo’a famalee of six?? “
I met a woman who lived in a pretty nice apartment complex in Boston - Miss Katrina refugee was her neighbor.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.