This is why you can't help the homeless..

voidofman

I just finished work on thanksgiving, was waiting at the skytrain bus stop, a couple high school kids were standing there. A bum walks up with his shopping cart and asks the kids if they have a any change, they say no. He starts muttering something about people don't help people or something stupid like that. I didn't have any change, he didn't ask me, he was going to walk by me. I only had $20s in my pocket so I gave him one. He immediately starts crying and thanking me, God bless you etc. and says, "I need a fucking hug!" So being the nice guy I am, I hugged him and his smelly coat, the kids are watching this and trying not to laugh, I'm trying not to laugh either as this is some funny shit. He goes on to tell me someone threw away his blankets, some other shit I can't remember then asked if I had a phone. He called 2 numbers, neither picked up. This was what he said on the third call, "hi, yeah, yeah, I got paper.. yeah.. I'll meet you there in half an hour. Okay bye." When he said I got paper I started laughing to myself thinking, this motherfucker is calling his crack dealer. So he went on his way, I got on the bus and an unknown number calls, I answer and it sounded like an Asian fellow asked if I called, I told him that "whatever the dudes name" called but ended up getting a hold of someone else.

RKCNDY

I never give a homeless person money...not at first. If I am downtown, have lunch, and have leftovers, I get it to go. If a homeless person asks for money, I offer them my leftovers, if they take the food, I give them a few bucks because I figure they truly need help.

Have offered to buy food for them as well, and if they decline, I say, 'Sorry man'. At one point, I knew half the kids on 'the Ave' (popular Capitol Hill hang out) and they all had a home, they were 'homeless' by choice...people just gave them enough money and they are able to do drugs, have the latest gadgets (at that point, it was cell phones and CD walkmans), eat and buy decent clothes....all without having to live by rules and authority.

81

some homeless aren't so homeless.

BinauralJam

That's great man, good for you. I have more of these stories than i can remember, i always give. I don't care if there gona spend there money on drugs, thats what i spend my money on.

StillHere

that's a shame
and i'll tell you why
because there ARE real people out there who do need real help
and i'm not just saying that arbitrarily, i know it to be true
and the kind of thing this guy was doing makes it all the harder for those who honestly need help
i won't get into all the details now, but you can believe it, i'm sure you already know that to be true anyway
but
i'll tell you a story on the other end of the spectrum that happened a few years back.
my daughter and i were driving down the local "highway" to the pizzeria to get sandwiches for a saturday afternoon at home working around the yard
as we turned the corner there was a bearded man with layers of clothing on, holding a sign that said, will work for food
he had a duffel bag and some other stuff piled around him, and these things were obviously all his worldly belongings
he was maybe 30 to 35, and put you in mind of the typical 70s Vietnam vet, although this was the 90s
my daughter and i had a chat and decided that we could well afford to buy an extra sandwich for the poor man
so we did
as we drove back out, we stopped and offered him the sandwich
he asked if we had work to offer
we did not and said so
he was very polite but turned down the food, saying that he would not take something for nothing
i was perplexed
and you know, a person is cynical and i thought of all sorts of cynical reasons why he might turn us down
but i try my best to give people the benefit of the doubt
looking back on it, i wish i'd said OK, here, clean out my carpets in my car or something that he could have done on the spot..i dunno
but i'll never forget it

i've seen much worse, that was nothing in the grand scheme of things
but it sticks with me

having spent years working for the county/state and working with homeless and near homeless folks, i can tell you, that it could happen to you or me in the blink of an eye. believe it.

hope it never does.

peace,
jo

loveontwolegs

When a person is self medicating and addicted to stop the voices, numb the pain, not get sick from withdrawl, your $20 that was used to help them score is just that, a help. Sad but true.

Consider your gift of $20 just that, a gift. Same with giving a cash gift to a relative, you can only decide to give it or not, not what they will do with the money once it has left your hands (my HS graduation money bought A LOT of beer and weed).

Nothingman54

I haven't given money in a while. For one, it's always the same people I come across and for all that time spent standing outside in the cold with a sign they could be at job interviews. I love helping people but it's the ones that don't need help like the others do. There's only one time that I felt the person I gave money to didn't blow it on drugs or alcohol.

voidofman

BUMp

StillHere

There are 2 guys and a dog
Who stand on the corner of our local highway and the intersection to the WalMart complex
The one guy holds a cardboard sign that says something like down on luck, no job, no food, etc.
The other guy kind of hangs around with their back packs and the dog
I was mentioning this to my son
And he told me that while he was stopped at the intersection not too long ago
He mentioned to the guys that he thought that if they hung out at the local Home Depot
with or without the sign
They'd likely get at least some day work
And that contractors shopping at Home Depot look for guys hanging round a certain area outside the store
And pay them for help for whatever project they are doing at the time
He told me that a lot of out of work people or guys just looking for some extra weekend income do this
I didn't know this
Apparently these two guys don't care to do this as they are still hanging out at the WalMart entrance
Wonder if the dog would work?

ShimmyMommy

StillHere wrote:

There are 2 guys and a dog
Who stand on the corner of our local highway and the intersection to the WalMart complex
The one guy holds a cardboard sign that says something like down on luck, no job, no food, etc.
The other guy kind of hangs around with their back packs and the dog
I was mentioning this to my son
And he told me that while he was stopped at the intersection not too long ago
He mentioned to the guys that he thought that if they hung out at the local Home Depot
with or without the sign
They'd likely get at least some day work
And that contractors shopping at Home Depot look for guys hanging round a certain area outside the store
And pay them for help for whatever project they are doing at the time
He told me that a lot of out of work people or guys just looking for some extra weekend income do this
I didn't know this
Apparently these two guys don't care to do this as they are still hanging out at the WalMart entrance
Wonder if the dog would work?

That's a really great suggestion :think:

Thoughts_Arrive

When the junkie homeless ask me I say no.
Once my mate gave one guy $1 and the guy looked at my mate with a blank face like as if to say "is that all?"

PJ88

Thoughts_Arrive wrote:

When the junkie homeless ask me I say no.
Once my mate gave one guy $1 and the guy looked at my mate with a blank face like as if to say "is that all?"

Did your temper get the best of you?

Thoughts_Arrive

PJ88 wrote:

Thoughts_Arrive wrote:

When the junkie homeless ask me I say no.
Once my mate gave one guy $1 and the guy looked at my mate with a blank face like as if to say "is that all?"

Did your temper get the best of you?

Not that time, the junkies have a temper.

PJ88

Thoughts_Arrive wrote:

PJ88 wrote:

Thoughts_Arrive wrote:

When the junkie homeless ask me I say no.
Once my mate gave one guy $1 and the guy looked at my mate with a blank face like as if to say "is that all?"

Did your temper get the best of you?

Not that time, the junkies have a temper.

For some reason, when I read your reply, I immediately got a mental picture of some random junkie going into a Karate Kid crane pose ready to unleash the fury!

Thoughts_Arrive

They can get like that, especially the heroin and meth addicts here.
My sis witnessed a junkie girl break unbreakable glass at the train station.