Those folks who ask for money in front of supermarkets

[tmm99]

I don't know if this is happening all over the country or what, but yesterday, I went to a local chain supermarket and there was a couple in front of the store asking for money. Actually, the guy showed me a sign and I didn't even read it, because I was actually shocked by that fact that there it was, a couple - a young man (in his early thirties) and a wife I think probably is probably in her late twenties with a very small baby in her arms asking for money. They were clean with decent clothes.

I really should have read what the sign said, but like I said, I was just so shocked that I didn't have a chance to read it.

I am used to seeing people asking for money in front of supermarkets, but the people I usually see are older folks who are homeless. They all look kind of dirty with matted hair, some with cocktail tans (or whatever you call it).

Maybe a month ago, I saw a lady (in her late 40's? - again clean clothing with no hint of drug abuse) in front of another store.

I am seeing more and more "regular" looking people asking for money. It was the first time yesterday that I saw someone with such a small baby (I never got close enough to her to see if it was in fact a baby she was holding or some wooden log wrapped in blanket.

I would think you can get government assistance especially when you have small children like that, but what do I know? (I should go back again tonight and read the sign..)

Or am I just being conned? (I'd rather prefer to be conned in this case.) I hear regular people becoming homeless or end up living in a car, etc, so maybe this is a sign of recession seeping through our neighborhood?

Kind of disheartening.

 

[tmm99]

Are you maxed on vacation days?

Deleted by OP.

 

[aaronc879]

Not sure why it's so surprising. More than half of all working-age people in this country are just a couple lost paychecks away from being on the street with no money. Not sure why it matters what age they are. Young people can need assistance too.

 

[Nuiloa]

Or am I just being conned? (I'd rather prefer to be conned in this case.) I hear regular people becoming homeless or end up living in a car, etc, so maybe this is a sign of recession seeping through our neighborhood?

Kind of disheartening.

I know that, here in Vancouver, it's "trendy" for rich kids from the 'burbs to switch clothes and stand on street corners begging for money. They return home bragging about how much they made.

Most beggars are very obviously drunks or druggie

That said, in this economy, I expect we'll see more of this sort of thing.

My personal policy is never to give money. I will, sometimes, ask if I can buy the person a sandwich or something. Amazingly, 9 out of 10 times I'm told that they just want the money. Which they won't get - I have enough bad habits of my own without supporting someone else's.

 

[youbet]

I don't know if this is happening all over the country or what, but yesterday, I went to a local chain supermarket and there was a couple in front of the store asking for money. Actually, the guy showed me a sign and I didn't even read it, because I was actually shocked by that fact that there it was, a couple - a young man (in his early thirties) and a wife I think probably is probably in her late twenties with a very small baby in her arms asking for money. They were clean with decent clothes.

I really should have read what the sign said, but like I said, I was just so shocked that I didn't have a chance to read it.

I am used to seeing people asking for money in front of supermarkets, but the people I usually see are older folks who are homeless. They all look kind of dirty with matted hair, some with cocktail tans (or whatever you call it).

Maybe a month ago, I saw a lady (in her late 40's? - again clean clothing with no hint of drug abuse) in front of another store.

I am seeing more and more "regular" looking people asking for money. It was the first time yesterday that I saw someone with such a small baby (I never got close enough to her to see if it was in fact a baby she was holding or some wooden log wrapped in blanket.

I would think you can get government assistance especially when you have small children like that, but what do I know? (I should go back again tonight and read the sign..)

Or am I just being conned? (I'd rather prefer to be conned in this case.) I hear regular people becoming homeless or end up living in a car, etc, so maybe this is a sign of recession seeping through our neighborhood?

Kind of disheartening.

Here in the Chicago area, we're overrun with folks standing at intersections and tapping on your car window looking for donations to a "charity."

Some represent well known charities and are wearing very obvious ID. But most have on some sort of clothing to look "official" but who knows? When they're representing a marching band from the other side of town, how can you tell whether the band uniforms they're wearing are real or something they picked up at the used clothing store? A 40-something drum major with a twitch and smelling of booze while asking for support for the kids of the Marvelous Mavens Marching Band doesn't always inspire confidence. Yet, I see them getting some money.......

This morning I came across some folks wearing hospital scrubs and holding plastic gallon milk jugs with the top cut off and a computer generated label "Cancer Fund" taped on. Huh?

Homeless types with a scribbled sign are common.

An article in the local paper said that police don't do much checking. The real issue seems to be when many folks representing many schemes show up on the same corner and get into fights over whose turf that corner is. When they're just bugging drivers peacefully, it's apparently SOP to leave things alone.......

I never give a penny to these folks and think it's too bad that the legit charities that use this street-side method (Lions, Knights of Columbus, Poppy Day, etc.) seem to be getting pushed out by the thugs collecting for themselves.

To OP reagarding whether you're being conned or not........ My observation is that there are lots of folks into con games these days and they have extreme unmitigated gall. In my neck of the woods, I wouldn't doubt for a second that a couple with a rug rat or two would head out, kids in tow, to stand and collect money as you described even if they weren't actually broke. There's no way to know.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I'd be more likely to think it was a con, too. Panhandling is not an activity I want to reward with money.

 

[FUEGO]

Never seen individuals begging for money at the grocery store, just the usual charitable orgs like Salvation Army and March of Dimes or the youth sports selling/begging for something, or boy/girl scouts hawking something. And I live in a lower income area that has bums aplenty (right next to a busy, traffic choked road good for street corner begging).

One day at this grocery store I even saw one cool old bum who had his whole life strapped to his bum-mobile (there was a bike underneath all that junk I am certain). On the back was a securely bungy corded boom box (straight out of a late 80's rap video), blasting out at full volume Pink Floyd's "The Wall". All in all you're just another brick in the wall. Surreal.

In our city, the cops are apparently arresting the bums and beggars who solicit on street corners. They have to have a city issued permit to solicit. No cost to applicants, and they must renew annually.

I did see one lady sitting under a shade tree (back when the weather was warmer) playing Scrabble on her smart phone (no idea what she was really doing - could have been texting her baby daddy). All the while, she had her little 13-14 year old kid begging on the street corner about 20 feet away. Industrious mother she was!

Locally I think there are enough resources to get some form of government handout via WIC, food stamps, etc if you have a young kid. WIC especially would apply to the OPs beggars because there is no asset test, just income. Assuming they were jobless or only 1 worked and didn't earn a huge amount, they could qualify for WIC which last I saw provided a fairly large amount of food. And there are soup kitchens and food banks locally that give temporary nutritional support on a daily or weekly basis for anyone who walks up. I assume begging at the grocery store is just a quicker way to get money for food or drugs vs. jumping through institutional or charitable hoops elsewhere.

 

[Brat]

In our area churches and social service organizations offer script that can be redeemed for a meal at restaurants that serve the poor. They encourage locals to buy the script and give that to beggars or to contribute to social service organizations directly.

There are people in need, particularly today.

 

[Nuiloa]

My personal pet peeve is the guy who sits outside a local pharmacy with a pack of cigarettes sticking out of his pocket. He always has clean clothes and a very nice haircut. One day, he asked for money and I said no and he yelled at me "C'mon lady, you have lots of money - I just want a bit of change". I rather loudly informed him that if he can afford cigarettes, he can afford food and that with his nice clothes and fancy haircut, his time would be better spent looking for a job. The people around me applauded that one. The guy's a royal PITA.

 

[My Dream]

Maybe I've become numb to all of this and my wife thinks I'm too harsh. I changed my view one day while taking a break from work and decided to have lunch outside in downtown Toronto. Two teenage people, male, female each took one side of the street begging for money. In the course of half hour, I saw them each take about 40 bills each. If I did the math I'd say they each got at least 40 dollars, that's good pay for half hours work. Well it was more then I made in half hour and it was less work.

 

[73ss454]

Seems like there is always someone asking for money when I go. Not always homeless but the Army, Boyscouts, Girlscouts, Santa, Salvation Army, but I give mostly to the Easter Bunny.

 

[misanman]

We recently had one of the local "homeless" agencies speak to our group. Seems like they are doing great work. But someone asked about the guys who stand at the freeway exits with "homeless, will work for food" signs. The lady said they always check out those folks to see if they need services but that they are almost never homeless. This is "going to work" for them and they can make around $400/day.

 

[pimpmyretirement]

Beggars are one of the reasons I hate going into the downtown area of major cities. They tend to be overly aggressive and it makes me feel both angry and uncomfortable.

I refuse to acknolwedge their presence, as I believe that is the most effective way to make them go away.

Handing them money or food does nothing to help IMO.

 

[Texas Proud]

Before I was smart about this.... I got conned.... (I was in my early 20s)...

I knew not to give money to the street corner people.... and would wave off the ones who wanted to 'clean' my windshield for a dollar...

But this guy caught me offguard... I parked in a strip mall and this guy stopped me while walking to the store... had a gas can in hand and said he and his wife had run out of gas and did not have any money... I gave the guy a couple of bucks and went in the store... I saw him do it to a number of people....

Then to confirm that I had been taken... I went back the next day and he was still there... live and learn...

 

[Nemo2]

here in Vancouver,

In the mid 1990s BCTV ran a series on food banks; a segment that stuck with me was when, in order to illustrate the 'need' for donations, one food bank manager trucked out a young couple who had "Been using our services for 4 years".

They were holding the hands of their 2 year old, and the woman was noticeably pregnant!

"Feed them and they will procreate."

 

[TromboneAl]

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/panhandlers-not-again-26444.html#post493402

 

[FUEGO]

Before I was smart about this.... I got conned.... (I was in my early 20s)...

I knew not to give money to the street corner people.... and would wave off the ones who wanted to 'clean' my windshield for a dollar...

But this guy caught me offguard... I parked in a strip mall and this guy stopped me while walking to the store... had a gas can in hand and said he and his wife had run out of gas and did not have any money... I gave the guy a couple of bucks and went in the store... I saw him do it to a number of people....

Then to confirm that I had been taken... I went back the next day and he was still there... live and learn...

Maybe he was driving a gas guzzler and it needed a LOT of fuel to get where he was going?

 

[Nuiloa]

In the mid 1990s BCTV ran a series on food banks; a segment that stuck with me was when, in order to illustrate the 'need' for donations, one food bank manager trucked out a young couple who had "Been using our services for 4 years".

They were holding the hands of their 2 year old, and the woman was noticeably pregnant!

"Feed them and they will procreate."

Did you see the one on welfare reform, where the man and wife were saying they were going to have to give up their kids because welfare didn't pay enough to be able to support them. The camera crew were very clever: they showed the two of them chain smoking, and in the background were 5 or 6 beer cases stacked ight next to their big screen TV.

 

[Bestwifeever]

I gave a guy $1 over the weekend because he was selling "Streetwise" (a little newspaper published for homeless people to sell: Streetwise, Inc.) at a downtown corner in Chicago. DD was shocked when I did this, because he really wasn't selling "Streetwise," but instead had an armful of those newspaper-looking catalogs/brochures he'd taken out of a machine. Pretty clever.

Earlier last week I had been in the linens section of a suburban department store when a woman just burst out with very loud sobs. Her story was that she had left her car keys in her car, the police had taken her to her car to unlock it, but they locked it back up when her keys weren't actually in it, and she didn't know what to do. I'm pretty sure she was scamming too--I heard her telling a good Samaritan that she had been in a couple of stores but not to the one where she was unloading her story. If only she'd been carrying a free brochure that looked like StreetWise, I might have given her a dollar or two too.

 

[grasshopper]

I almost always give a buck or two when asked. I can afford it and it makes me feel good.

WWJGD, what would jerry garcia do.

 

[Sue J]

Before I was smart about this.... I got conned.... (I was in my early 20s)...

I knew not to give money to the street corner people.... and would wave off the ones who wanted to 'clean' my windshield for a dollar...

But this guy caught me offguard... I parked in a strip mall and this guy stopped me while walking to the store... had a gas can in hand and said he and his wife had run out of gas and did not have any money... I gave the guy a couple of bucks and went in the store... I saw him do it to a number of people....

Then to confirm that I had been taken... I went back the next day and he was still there... live and learn...

Same thing happened to my DH. Man walked up to him at the gas station and said his wife and baby are around the corner in the minivan that ran out of gas. I don't think he gave him anything. But the same man approached him with the same story a few weeks later. DOH!!

With so many people paying for gas with a credit card it must be tough to get any cash with that kind of story.

I wonder if these folks have an online forum where they trade hints on what works at what kind of locations.

Gas station stories
Fast food restaurant stories
Grocery store stories
Department store stories
etc....

 

[Nemo2]

Did you see the one on welfare reform

Missed that.....but we were living on Salt Spring and a woman we knew 'befriended', (i.e. they were using her for free meals, etc), a bunch of middle class 'kids' from Ontario, (the father of one, I believe, was a doctor)........due to the shortage of employment on the island getting welfare was relatively easy, (and, if you can believe, they paid extra if you had a dog....which, of course, they all did).......the bums shared a house with cash left over, then purchased a used van for an overland trip back to Ontario..all at taxpayer's expense.

 

[aaronc879]

Depending on the situation, I may give a buck or two. If they are really someone in need just trying to get money to eat and live another day then i'd rather give them a dollar than have them become desperate enough to start to take money instead of ask for it.

 

[MichaelB]

In general, the US is behind other countries when it comes to panhandling and street begging. When my kids were in grade school, every so often they would be sent home with a flier alerting parents to the threat of a kidnapping ring abducting and mutilating children and then transporting them to other countries to beg. No cases were ever documented, but that did not stop the schools from closing down in full alert 2 or 3 times a year (and letting the teachers off early).

You also don't see the old folks at traffic lights walking slowly from car to car, trembling hand outstretched, asking for spare change.

In Mexico during the bad years people would perform at traffic lights, then ask for donations. Fire breathing, sword swallowing and juggling were favorites. Deadly, too, but - they were beggars.

A favorite at the fast food restaurants was a pair of adolescent siblings, one barely able to walk, looking like they were starved, going from table to table saying they could not leave until they had enough money collected or their parents, lurking outside, would beat them. I always bought them food.

Then the old scam of disabling a car during lunch at a local restaurant. Valet parked, it wouldn't start, but some enterprising individual would wander by, offer help, fix the problem immediately, and gratefully accept a tip.

And then there's the lady at the church that needs an operation, or has a niece that needs a transplant...

Here in the US you just don't see all that. Anyway, with inflation, 1$ isn't worth much anyways, so why all the fuss?

 

[Leonidas]

Here in the US you just don't see all that.

I can't say I've ever seen a fire-breather or sword-swallower, but I've seen several jugglers and all the rest. You're just not getting out to the right neighborhoods is all.

Anyway, with inflation 1$ isn't worth much anyways, so why all the fuss?

Because it's all just going to fuel a drug/alcohol problem. Or it's just a con. If you want to help support your local wino, bum or crackhead, go right ahead.

It's amazing how many people fall for the lady at church needs a transplant, operation, or is dying from cancer scam. The mother of one of my son's friends turned out to be such a person. She was dying of cancer, or so she claimed, and everybody at her church was cooking meals for the family, doing household chores, donating money, goods, food, etc. Then one day the whole family just moved away without any word of their plans. A few years later my wife and I were discussing that and were curious what had ever happened to them. A little Googling discovered she was on her third city and church, had been recently diagnosed with cancer and was dying, yet again.