do you give homeless people change?

[Chezo]

I walk through downtown on the way to work and to school, if I gave bums change everyday I would be broke.

[zoobernut]

When I went to school in San Francisco I stopped shaving at all and eventually I could walk among the bums as one of them. And thus wasn't asked for money anymore.

Though I did see a correlation the less I was asked for money the more hardcore drugs I was offered by strangers which was unnerving at 11pm on my way home. I had to politely decline crack several times.

[Plow]

I will sometimes buy them food if they are by a restaurant. otherwise no.

This for the most part, although I don't really go places where there's homeless people anymore like... ever.

I'll always remember being in Washington D.C. when I was like 10. Homeless people everywhere, always asking for change. (seriously almost as bad as that south park...)

One day I was wearing a shirt that said "Love crosses all boundaries no matter what color you claim." Some homeless guy asked me for money and I just completely blocked it out and kept walking. My parents were like hey did you hear that guy? He said "that's a beautiful shirt man."

I tried to get em to let me go back and buy him a sandwich or something cuz I felt so bad, but they wouldn't. ; ;

I still remember it like it was 5 minutes ago, picture perfect, it's crazy how something like that can stick with you.

[Demosthenes11]

i'd sooner plow a car into a homeless person than give them money

black heart, idfc

[miokomioko]

a girl & her dog

I tell assholes like her to give me the puppy (that they obviously use for sympathy) since they obviously can't take care of themselves, let alone a fucking pet.

[Ksandra]

I usually don't, I dunno why but I always feel nervous to do so. However, about 80% of the time when I'm asked "do you want to add a dollar to go to X charity" at a store I do it. Not quite the same but it does make me feel I am doing something.

[Rocl]

Depends, there is this one busker in philly I can never remember where he is, but what he does. Motherfucker plays the saxophone so good, in ratty ass clothes. It's a hand-me-down broken ass saxophone but he makes it sing so sweet i always drop a real bill in his case.

Otherwise, if they don't approach me and look like in genuine need I will *gasp* approach them and ask them if they need help. Sometimes they'll say no, despite either being poorly groomed or homeless, other times they'll want money, food, etc. And I usually comply "This is all I can spare, I need train fare here's $2" and I've never had a bad experience.

Except a grifter in NYP who had me cornered and kept yelling at me until the cops came I was throwing money at him like the scared white boy I was, it's ok i got my money back

[Yuri-G]

I talk to the odd begger now and then in Toronto, and the real pros make like 200 bucks a day. The smart ones ask for bus fare or change for a coffee. True story.

I just had a guy ask me for bus fare the other day, and I thought it was a pretty intelligent tactic. people are so much more likely to give that extra fifty cents if they think you need it.

[wipers]

If anything I would take change from them.

[Vuitton]

I never give derelicts change and I never fucking will. Fucking deros make me rage so hard. I completely ignore their existence when I walk past them which is often as they're on every fucking street corner and outside every damn grocery store. I never make eye contact and I never turn my head or eyes in their direction. Dead to me. Fucking deros.

[Aksannyi]

I don't really have it to spare. I donate clothing to Goodwill, that's about the best I can manage. Times are tough.

I also don't typically run into them when I'm out and about. I think that even if I did, I would avoid them. It's hard to trust anyone in this day and age, and I'm just wary of strange men, bums or not.

[Kiro]

I tell assholes like her to give me the puppy (that they obviously use for sympathy) since they obviously can't take care of themselves, let alone a fucking pet.

You're one cold-blooded Bard.

[dejet]

Fuck no. These assholes have been sitting in the same spots with the same signs for years (in NYC). They make more money then I do. Go and fucking do something with yourself I hate bums so much.

My fav in NYC is the dude that has had the same one for like 20 years.

Cherokee Indian wanting to go home. Dude must have the money for a bus by now. >.>

In fact I rarely do myself, my dads story of a guy in the winter asking for change with a baby in hand. as he turned around the baby he was holding was just a newspaper so ya... cant trust them

[greenhills]

I never give derelicts change and I never fucking will. Fucking deros make me rage so hard. I completely ignore their existence when I walk past them which is often as they're on every fucking street corner and outside every damn grocery store. I never make eye contact and I never turn my head or eyes in their direction. Dead to me. Fucking deros.

someone mentioned patrick bateman?

[aduidarnenye]

Absolutely not. Halifax is a small city but it has a massive panhandler problem. I've been asked for change by the same fellow several times while waiting for the bus. I've told people asking for change that all I have are bills. The response is that I can go into a nearby store and get change. There was one fellow who berated my husband as we refused his change (had none) because he heard his keys jangle and believed that he did have change. I hate panhandlers.

On another note, while I was in Paris I saw a lot of women in burkas begging in subway stations. Our hostel was in the Algerian section of the city. Apparently their husbands wouldn't let them get jobs so the only way they had to get money for their families was to beg. I would give them change, sadly enough. Also, some kid tried to get into the smallest pocket on my backpack as I went up the stairs of the subway station. I felt him trying due to being on stairs and turned and yelled at him. He pretended he was retarded.

[Gulkeeva]

Where I live... they don't sit around waiting for change, they will get it out of you if your alone O_o

[Folant]

I don't give money to homeless people, but there's this one fellow that hangs around at the local shopping center. I'd be on my way home in an afternoon/early evening, pop into Greggs(bakery) for a little something to eat when I get home and nearly always see him. Have to be honest, kinda makes me feel bad when I walk by with a bag of sausage rolls/pasties and he just looks and smiles.

[Blackmagik]

Nope, Never did and where im living, never will. In Winnipeg (Canada), 99% of the homeless people are aboriginal, who refuse to go to the shelters for help, smell like listerine (im serious about that) and hang out downtown for money. I just keep walking not looking at them. But ever since we had DowntownBiz (basically a different kind of police that patrol the streets downtown, not in cars though. Have a different uniform too) the homeless people use sit in one place and beg, they dont chase people anymore.

[Woozie]

smell like listerine (im serious about that)

Well you should be happy that your homeless people don't smell like everyone else's homeless people...

[Rowe]

I try to be a good person, it does take some effort for me. So I put a buck or two in the salvation army santa can.

One time heading into a shopping mall a guy comes up to me and said he was broke and his pregnant wife wanted something to eat. So I gave him $5 and told him it was a 1 time deal and if he ever saw me again he had better go the other way. I want to give people the benefit of the doubt, but about a month later heading into the same mall the same guy start to walk towards me and when he looked me in the eye he turned around and walked the other way.