What's your stance on giving money to homeless people/begging people? Do you do it all the time, or only in certain situations? Weigh in.

I do it. Not all the time because I'm not rich but most days I am out I usually have a pound or two to spare so I drop some money in a cup or buy a big issue. I feel like a total chump if I just walk on. I don't always go back but in my head I am having an argument with myself about it. One time I got in too deep with a guy and ended up giving a guy like £10 because he was really persistent and I got a bit angry with him but I decided I wasn't going to be just some guy who told him to fuck off. I am pretty embarassed about it, really. It was too much money, maybe. He was a goofy guy, giving me all his sales talk, as well. I regret it less than if I had shouted at him and left, though.

What if you see the same person in the same spot all the time? Have you ever been mistaken for a begger? I have.

Just wondering, because I think about what is okay and what isn't all the time about this when I am out walking around.

I don't, although I do feel bad about it. A couple of years back a dude at a train station asked me for money for a train ticket because he was short a couple of bucks. I gave it to him, but then I watched him ask like 2 other people for money so I guess I got JIPPED. He seemed so upset and didn't look homeless at ALL.

Theres only one real hobo in my town I'm pretty sure. A couple homeless people I think but only one legitimate, begging hobo. I stopped giving him money a long time ago because the dumbass does rounds all around town at local fast food resturaunts and shit trying to get money off of people that work there or go there to eat. He's been doing it since I can remember and after all of these years has still managed to not find a job anywhere so I figured thats his sole source of income and also fuck him because apparently he's just a leech.

He actually started carrying a guitar which he can't play worth a shit but carries to the local sports bar and "shreds it up" with broken strings and all. I think he's kind of annoying because I don't want to hear that shit while I'm drinking and why the fuck does he bother asking kids working minimum wage jobs for money. He used to have a dog when I was in highschool and when he had the dog I would always give him money because I felt bad for the dog atleast, dunno where it went.

If I'm out and someone asks me for some spare change or whatever and I feel they aren't hustling me for money, I'll give them whatever extra cash I've got but I don't really carry cash on me anymore anyways so its never more then a few bucks.

I feel pretty bad sometimes when I'm driving by beggars in my car because they're all much older than I am and its got to hurt seeing such a young guy driving around in something like that and they prolly think that I'm some pampered white boy but then I remember that I'm not and I've grinded for every single thing I got and forced myself to put up with alot of bullshit just to get where I am right now. Why couldn't they do that? its not hard to get a minimum wage job where I'm from, I'd understand a bigger city or something where theres a denser population but its not too hard in my area. So what is it? Are they just lazy or misguided or what? I figure if someone is willing to throw aside their dignity and stand on the side of the highway holding a sign in weathered threads for quarters and dollars then they're not worth the sweat and frustration I had to endure to get mine.

I know it sounds selfish but I don't think it is, I help when I can and I give in my own way. I already help my loser ass friends and family I don't need an extra hand in my fucking face. So I wait for the people that ask me because they seem desperate or better yet the ones that don't ask at all because they've got a little bit of pride left.

I give money lots of times.  I'm not one to judge what they are going to do with it.  Many homeless people have serious problems though.  I think I read somewhere that almost half of all homeless people have some sort of mental condition like schizophrenia.

giving money to beggars is essentially ENABLING or whatever you wanna call it. it's not something you can feel good about. food is fine tho

I've given money to a strangers twice. I think both of them were beggars, but I'm not sure about the first one. he seemed like a confused old guy and he only wanted a few quarters. he said he only needed this many more to get a ticket home, and he had all the other quarters lined up in his hand. could have been a ruse or could have been the truth doesn't matter

the second time was kind of embarrassing. it was this gross shirtless young guy and he asked me for change. I made the mistake of looking at him so, unable to say no, I opened up my wallet to show I only had a couple bucks and say I needed em to get home. but somehow money weaseled its way in there. 5 would get him something to eat, and when he saw the extra one in there he said it would send him home. so I gave him all six dollars and I still feel kinda bad about it. not about the money you dope it's just six dollars, I feel bad about being dumb and giving into this guy who's just gonna go hassle another person

I feel pretty bad sometimes when I'm driving by beggars in my car because they're all much older than I am and its got to hurt seeing such a young guy driving around in something like that and they prolly think that I'm some pampered white boy but then I remember that I'm not and I've grinded for every single thing I got and forced myself to put up with alot of bullshit just to get where I am right now. Why couldn't they do that? its not hard to get a minimum wage job where I'm from, I'd understand a bigger city or something where theres a denser population but its not too hard in my area. So what is it? Are they just lazy or misguided or what? I figure if someone is willing to throw aside their dignity and stand on the side of the highway holding a sign in weathered threads for quarters and dollars then they're not worth the sweat and frustration I had to endure to get mine.

I know it sounds selfish but I don't think it is, I help when I can and I give in my own way. I already help my loser ass friends and family I don't need an extra hand in my fucking face. So I wait for the people that ask me because they seem desperate or better yet the ones that don't ask at all because they've got a little bit of pride left.

ever hear of this great book. it's called atlas shrugged

I give em money if I have some change I don't need for anything. Not if they're selling the big issue though, I don't want the big issue.

there's no shortage of homeless people here, i sure as hell can't give them my money.
if i'm downtown and they're sitting down with a can or hat or somethign I will outright ignore them, otherwise i will probably say "no sry" and keep walking.

there aren't many plain old homeless people here, at least that I have seen. I dunno, I don't think I'd have a problem with giving someone like that money

but the majority of beggars I encounter here aren't necessarily homeless, just people who badger you for money

yep, quite alot of laissez-faire bullshit going on in here so far. i'm not trying to demonize everyone who isn't for giving money, some of the stuff earl said yes i am worried about. i get that it being POINTLESS or whatever is a concern. You don't walk away thinking 'wow...it's so great i did that. what a thing i just did. so...so human'. i mean alot of people probably do but they can go jump a stick. maybe it even hurts in the long run but - hold on - how the heck do i know that?

i don't know about their addictions, i don't know about their mental conditions, i don't know anything about them. it could be anything, people saying it's PROBABLY a certain something doesn't matter. my judgement is that somebody is asking me for money and i'd give anybody money if they asked. first of all, what the fuck do i need? a better ipod? i'm flying to australia next week because i felt like it. i buy booze all the time. my money is wasted on me, even without that last thing. money is wasted on everybody who has it just lying around.

i've got some confusion on where to draw the line though, on how exactly i feel about walking past people with the cup in their hands.

sorry for getting uh, vitriolic. i really don't mean to. this is mostly directed at myself. i'm not looking to scream at anybody right now.

I ignore them at all times, livin in the city i have been trained to reinforce the invisible walls separating me from pedestrians except for certain situatioins but naw not homless.

donating to a soup kitchen or something is not wasting money, and the next time you are confronted with a person you can confidently say no, knowing you are not wasting your money in this particular instance, and that you are really helping the people the this person is pretending to be (needy).

not buying this attitude at all! i do want to get into talking about soup kitchens and stuff like that, though. i don't know anything about it. don't just go nuts over how much people begging for money are liars - i think everyone pretty much knows that! - but if you know a better way of directing your excess/unneeded money or even time then talk about it. i don't know squat about that.

Seattle is pretty infamous for our homeless population and if you gave money to everyone who asked you while you were out and about you'd lose like 20 dollars.

That said, I usually use discretion on who I give money to. there's some folks that sell a charitable weekly paper called Real Change that I usually buy and I'll sometimes give a dollar or two to panhandlers if they don't smell like booze or look junked out.

where i live i'm sure there are homeless people (bound to be some EVERYWHERE right??) but i have never seen anyone begging EVER.  probably because there's no real such thing as pedestrians where i live, you have to drive everywhere so where is anyone gonna see people walking down the street to ask them for money?

that being said, if i am in a bigger city and someone asks me for a dollar and i have one i don't mind giving to them.  this has not happened to me many times so i guess i don't really have a general rule of who i'd give money to!  i guess i am just a helpful person, the same way if someone is in line behind me in a store or (something that happened a few months ago) at a movie theatre and i hear them behind me saying they're a dollar short, i pretty much can't help but give them the dollar!  regardless as to who asks, if they use it for bad things then i'm not going to know about it anyway, but if they genuinely needed it then i just helped them out.  unless they are a blatant drugged/drunk mess then w/e.

but i feel like my attitude would be different if i lived somewhere with tons of beggars, i might be a lot more selective idk!  in my current situation it's such a rare thing for someone to ask me for spare cash that i don't really see a problem in giving it to them.

Do you mean enabling in the sense of habits? That's something I really haven't had to deal with since it really isn't prevalent in Madison, WI. Maybe drinking but there really isn't a question that a large portion of the homeless here are mental health cases. Still, I think the reality is it happens and you weigh the chance it does more harm than good against the hope they'll at least spend something on needs. Are there more effective ways to ensure it gets to people in need? Maybe, but clearly these people aren't getting the help they need now. If the concern is you may give it to someone who doesn't need it then you are going to have a hard time finding who is the neediest. That's a road which will require being judgmental and people will only go so far as to satisfy themselves in this regard (Seaweed decided men in suits cannot be in need but someone who looks needy (rags??) are in need, he feels good without second guessing that this person may simply be better at getting money from you). I guess what I'm saying is you can give it to someone who is asking right then and there on I guess HOPE I dunno or spend time trying to find the best candidates to receive your help which kinda misses the point of "just giving." Family members and friends give to each other all the god damn time and it goes to shit like video games frequently, but we become overly concerned if we give money (small amounts) to someone we don't know... because we don't know that it'll go to something more valuable than video games

Also is feeling good even a part of it? A lot of times I give out of guilt and only feel doubt afterwords. Usually I walk away from the situation feeling pretty uncomfortable

But if you mean enabling in terms of the practice of begging, then uhhhh I dunno what to say beyond it's no less a worthwhile way of trying to get money than working. If the expectation is that beggars are only trying to slack their way through life and take advantage of other people's kindness, then the same can be said about a lot of people who work for a living. So much comes at other people's expense in the system. But I think that's more directed at seaweed than you.

Also haha there have been like 6 replies now

first of all I guess I mean it doesn't feel good in that it's not really a positive thing to do

and I don't really want to get too much into this because then it's like I'm some stupid right-winger with a speak english bumper sticker but it's enabling a lot of things. it's enabling them to stay homeless and keep collecting money from people, but I don't care about that. being unable to get money from strangers doesn't mean they'd magically shape up and find a job or anything. considering the people who go around badgering everyone for money, it's enabling them to do that, and that's not good. as for enabling drug habits and stuff, obviously that happens but that's not a judgement I'm gonna make. in general it might enable whatever bad money habits putting them in this situation. Positive Feedback or something dumb like that

this isn't a good reason to never give a stranger money but it's something to think about

I was also thinking about how people like to say "they don't need the money" but I guess that's what you guys already said about the money getting wasted no matter what you do with it, which is really true. and well, some of em do need the money even if they have no plans to quit being homeless in the future. you've got to be pretty mentally troubled if you're in that situation not just LAZY like the right also thinks about poor people and blacks.