Panhandlers By Jan Mayrhofer on - Updated Oct 15, 2011
I have a real issue with people that stand on corners or stalk people in retail store parking lots asking for money. I just don't get how if they can stand up for hours begging, why can't they work? Even if it's for minimum wage, it is a start.
Now I know that some people are just down on their luck and maybe they don't have any other recourse but to ask for help. What I'm talking about is when I see the same people on the same street corners or the same parking lots day after day and week after week.
I mean, it must be nice to make tax-free money and choose your own "working" hours.
Sometimes if we go into the city for dinner and a show, we can't get from where we park to where we're going without being accosted at least two or three times. Oh, and the stories I've heard from folks begging in parking lots: "My car is out of gas, and my kids are home alone..." or "I'm hungry and just need enough money to buy some soup!" But if you offer to take them to the gas station or buy them some soup instead of just handing them the cash, they stammer and hedge and end up saying, "No, I'll just ask someone else..."
Maybe I'm a little heartless and maybe I don't understand every situation. I only know that I wake up to an alarm clock every day and work for what we have. I head home tired to take care of my family and I don't feel inclined to hand any of my hard earned living over to the guy standing at the corner with a sign and I hate when I'm stuck at the light and he's staring at me like I'm the one doing something wrong!
About The Author:
I work downtown, so instead of paying for parking i take the bus. Everyday the same guy asks for money, he goes right up into peoples faces, most refuse to give and he will say f..k you, with that attitude why should we hand out anything? There are alot of places they can get help, welfare, foodbanks, and my city has programs to help them recieve free training and job placements, but they dont accept it. Im working my butt off, and the government wont help me recieve free training for ANYTHING! Where is the help for those that need it, but will actually appreciate it and put it to use to better their lives? Like the tax payers, they take enough money off our paycheck, why not at least give us free university/college tuition? Dont get me wrong, i do feel for these people, and you never know any of us can be in their place, but what angers me is that there are places that will help them get back on their feet for free, but they would rather stand on corners or bus stops begging, i dont want to sound like im putting anyone down, it may be me out there on the street one day you never know what might happen, but at least accept the help that is offered and stop bugging us at the bus stop, alot of the time i am completely broke, i dont need to be told to f..k off because i dont have the money to give!
When I was in college there was a panhandler on the corner at a stop light. He looked very weak and was holding a sign saying he would work for food. I gave him 5 bucks and went to class. On my way home I saw the same guy coming out of the liquor store with a bag of booze. I was disheartened he would take my money and drink a lunch rather than get real food. I have not fallen for these ploys since. If I see someone who looks hungry I stop and get them a burger rather than give them cash.
My nephew is a "professional bum". He doesn't work because he doesn't like other people telling him what to do or holding higher expectations of him. People feel sorry for him and he plays it up, so they give him money, food, shelter, transportation. He's traveled from Maine to California to Florida for free upon other people's generosity, and I think those people are fools. My nephew would work if he had to, but since he can get everything for free, including cash, then why work for any of it? If people won't give it to him, then he'll search through the dumpsters behind grocery stores and restaurants to find food to eat and walk to the places he wants to go. The family doesn't give him any money short of a deadly medical emergency because he refuses to work for it, but strangers give him money because they don't know who he is, or that he's a "professional bum".