Do you give bums money?

[Omniyoji]

If they ask me and I have some change on me then why not? Unless they bust out one of these:

http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thu...ipe_device.jpg

[Shuvo]

I used to but not anymore. Might be different in the US but over here, the homeless receive more then enough wealthfare to live on, so my taxes already pay them more then enough. That they don't live somewhere is either because they spend the money on drugs/booze or because they have mental issues. Plus theirs quite a few places around the CBD that give free (cooked) food to the poor so their's really no point.

I do give money to buskers though. Which I hear is actually quite lucrative, I got a musician friend who tells me he can make 60-100/hour for around 4 hours a day (during morning and evening peak), all you have to do is hang around a busy street etc where people are travelling to and from work.

[Seanr]

i gave a homeless white guy 2 bucks last night even though he interrupted me bein hugged up with this chick. the way he came up and the little spirit finger wave with his hand under his chin was too funny not to

[Chips]

Way I think is that they can easily clean up and get themselves a job, no?

So no sympathy for me. Maybe because i'm a cold person.

Good to see BG is so well educated on homelessness.

[viperlasson]

I had to deal with bums every day walking from my train station to campus last semester. Ignoring works most of the time, but one guy actually followed me after I ignored and walked past him. I wish I could remember what he was saying to me, I think he was calling me a racist or something... I was trying to walk as fast as I could without actually running... Stopped talking to me after I got on campus finally. Ignoring + headphones = best solution thus far.

Oh and no, I never give money to anyone :3 . Kinda why I hate tipping at restaurants too.

[Fr34k]

Kinda why I hate tipping at restaurants too.

The fuck is wrong with you?

[Fievel]

Spoiler: show

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...045-MrPink.jpg

[MaachaQ]

The fuck is wrong with you?

I'm so glad they don't tip over here... servers get paid a real wage instead of being basically asked to beg for gratuities to make up the difference. Hell, I just heard a news story that 60% of all tips are not reported as wages, and so are not taxed as they should be. Abolish tipping, include the price of a tip into the cost of the food and pay the servers a better wage all around.

At least in my part of the city there are very few people who beg for money. It is very degrading to beg for money here, so the ones who do are usually on their knees with something pulled over their head so you can't see their face. It is much easier to pass them by because of this, only 2-3 times ever have I given any money, and that was because my kids wanted to give some.

[Yugl]

The fuck is wrong with you?

This. They don't make a lot of money once external factors are included (Travel time and costs).

[AidenCarby]

Tipping is different, if the waiter/waitress delivered good service and had manners they're getting a tip. If they're rude, impatient or any of the above they aren't getting jackshit. As far as homeless people, I like to give them money sometimes, but they're scarce around here. Although when I take a trip down to Manhattan or somewhere like that, I like to give extra money to the old dudes playing the harmonicas.

[Kuya]

I give money when i am in a good mood.

[Blarg]

should give those lazy bums some bootstraps and tell them to start pulling just like my granpappy had to back in the hard times of america

[Guitarman]

only one i ever did, held up a sign that said "will take verbal abuse for 1.00". laughed too much at that not to. other than that, no.

[miokomioko]

Fuck no.

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Page...les-darwin.jpg

[Ivaden]

Like Kuya said, if I'm in a good mood, I'll usually give a few dollars, but it's rare for me to carry money anyway. I've given a McDonalds gift card to a homeless man, figured he'd appreciate that more, but really I know it most likely pissed him off because he can't exchange that for crack.

[Hyan]

No begging bums where I live.

Whenever I go abroad though, shit is just too sad to look at so I'll give them something, kids especially. Ain't much to me, but it is for them.

[Dmitry]

When I was in NYC some guy came up to me and asked if I had change. For whatever reason I thought for like a bigger bill or something, so I asked him what it was for, to which he replied "something to eat"

I was like "Oh, uh, let me see" and dug in my pocket that had some change and happened to grab two cents which I offered him. He said it was all right then asked if I wore contacts? What was that about.

Been to a couple cities with bums but haven't given them anything. Don't really see that around here.

[aduidarnenye]

Oh and no, I never give money to anyone :3 . Kinda why I hate tipping at restaurants too.

Depends on what the servers are doing. I refuse to tip at Tim Horton's because the girl turned around, picked up a donut, turned back around, and handed it to me. If it's a sit-down restaurant and the waitress is cheerful and nice and we get our food in good time, I'll tip.

[Anoat]

Fuck no. When I worked for Walgreens we had the same 5-6 bums that would alternate panhandling our customers. Always had to shoo them off and it got annoying as hell. Whenever we would toss out expired food in the dumpsters, they would be there waiting on us to finish and it made things really awkward. I asked my manager why we couldn't just give them the food if we were gonna toss it anyway and he said it was against company policy because if they got sick from expired food we gave them, then they could bring legal action against us, but once it hits the dumpster it becomes their problem.

Another bum story under the cut.

Spoiler: show

This one time some bums got into a fight in our parking lot, and one of them got his ass kicked real bad, head busted open, pool of blood lying on the ground and everything. We called 911 for the guy, and the operator asked me, "Is he bleeding?" And I was like "Yes from the head." She tells me I need to hold a cloth or towel onto the wound to stop the bleeding until the ambulance arrives. I was like "ok", hung up. I grabbed a roll of paper towels from behind the counter and walked outside. A co-worker was like "Are you really gonna do it?" And I was like "Hell no I'm not touching bum blood!" And I handed the bum his paper towels. Ambulance came later and he was fine and everything.

So no, bums don't get money from me.

[Klaatu]

I saw an incident on NY subway car recently. An allegedly homeless guy was walking from car to car panhandling (Decently dressed, no urine stains, no BO, no dread hair knots, visibly newish clothes). During one stop a metro cop walked in and saw this guy moving to another train car, when the train started moving the guy quickly walked between train cars and cop followed. When the cop told him to get off next stop because; 1st panhandling is illegal in NYC and 2nd he moved between cars while train was in motion, to which the bum started protesting claiming that he needs money to eat because he's homeless and unemployed.

Few people (of color) spoke up and telling the officer to let the guy go, that's he's just trying to make money for food, to which cop told them all to stfu or he will arrest them all for impeding an officer from performing his duties and added that if the guy really wanted to make money, he would get a job like every other person on this subway he's trying to scam out of money. To which about half the train chuckled lol

As for my answer to the OP's question; a big FUCK NO

I always thought that anyone with disabilities, mental or physical, either should be institutionalized or receive enough monetary support from government, respectively, that they would not need to panhandle. Everyone else, need to try harder to get the job or quit their fucking crack/booze/drug habit and stop bothering honest folk.

P.S. btw the cop was asian and the bum was white lol