Each morning on my way to work, my limo passes this guy who looks disheveled, unbathed and ragged out. He parks his shiny mountain bike that’s better than mine in the median of the road. He ties his equally ragged out, under-fed dog to the bike and puts some water in a dish nearby for the dog to drink.
The guy sits by and collects change from about 8:30 AM through mid-morning. I don’t know where he goes after that, but he shows back up around 4:00 PM to start catching people on the way home.
The guy does this Monday through Friday, weather permitting. He does it all with no advertising. He has no sign explaining his situation. He just looks bad, the dog looks worse and people toss money at him.
My biggest complaint about “Will work for food” is that it seems to have completely disappeared.
Panhandlers like this guy have abandoned the quid pro quo of “Will work for food”. Even if people really wouldn’t work for food when they were holding the signs, it was a nice gesture.
Now panhandling is just like anything else, you show up for work, you get paid.
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Exactly, when it is practiced as you describe, it is a job. Granted, it’s not a good job and I wish the person would get a real job, but in some ways it is like a sad form of employment.
That is why no one should give these people money. If it was not profitable, no one would do it. Also alot of them have a nice car parked around the corner with a nice set of clothes to change into. It is well known that alot of these guys are cons and make $1,000 week doing this. If they were willing to work for food, they should go out and get a job.
Eric on January 9th, 2008 at 1:25 pm | Link
And don’t forget, just because they are panhandlers doesn’t necessarily mean they are homeless.
I “befriended” a panhandler once in Memphis, TN. He would always arrive downtown around 6 PM in a car with three other men who were also panhandlers. I was a cab driver at the time, so when I saw him leave (around 3 AM) I followed him and his fellow “nice-muggers” to see where they went.
It turns out that the man I knew actually lived in a nice section of town, in a house that was probably worth over $150,000.
Another man I saw on a regular basis used a wheelchair to get around the downtown area. One morning as I was returning to the shop, I saw him pushing his wheelchair down the street.
Just my two cents.
Tony on June 12th, 2009 at 12:58 am | Link
while I was stationed in pensacola, florida… this man would come sit on the corner everyday… asking for food, money, work… the only thing he expected was money.
one day my friends and I offered to buy him lunch, he said no. imagin that! no to free food?!? he hadnt eaten in a while right?? who would say no??
well later that night me and my friends followed him to his… BRAND NEW BMW. yes brand new… I was so mad, I have yet to give money to anyone on the street ever again! they make more a month than I did! they sat on their butts and I served this country!!! I was and still am quite mad about it!
USMC Lady on September 7th, 2009 at 5:47 pm | Link