passive agressive panhandlers do always tend to amuse me slightly.

[dawbs]

Just got off the phone w/ my dad.  He's on vacation w/ my mom in nearby-big-city.

I gave dad a quick call to update him on my grandpa's stay and make sure all was well.  He stepped out of the ritzy store where they were shopping to take the call. (it's a safe area, very high number of tourists, very high amount of foot-traffic, and my folks likely look like the tourists they are--we are not exactly city people, although we don't mind visiting the city)

I heard the following conversation (because dad lowered the phone and had the conversation while I was still on the other end):

Panhandler(PH):  Excuse me..

Dad:  (lowering phone) Yes?

PH:  Do you have a dollar I can have?  I'm hungry.

Dad:  Uhm, I'm afraid not  (*note, at this point, dad was looking around frantically to see if there was a place to buy the guy food.  My folks feel strongly about charity and are, IMO, very generous.  Dad won't give a panhandler $, but I've seen him buy them meals often--there were only formal sit-down places in sight...)

PH:  Sure you do...please?

Dad:  I'm afraid not *walks slightly away from the guy, having decided to continue his update w/ me inside ritzy store*

PH:  Well, I'm sure God will forgive you.  I'll ask Him to.

Dad:  Thanks, that's appreciated *trying hard not to laugh as he gets the door closed*

[Rose2Bear]

Yeah that's definetly passive aggressive...   But what can you do but roll your eyes and walk away. 

Sometimes it seems the really desperate ones are most polite and sincere, and the ones who are begging for things other than food money tend to be nasty. This is soley a hypothesis, but when I worked in a down town city area once, I noticed the ones who were out there day and night (sleeping on the sidewalk) and were really and truly homeless tended to be the more sincere and less pushy, but the random people who DIDN'T have their belongings in a shopping cart and was probably just looking for some money to do who-knows-what were the rude ones.

I might be totally wrong, just an observation I made one summer that may or may not be true.

[MineralDiva]

<<<PH:  Well, I'm sure God will forgive you.  I'll ask Him to.

Dad:  Thanks, that's appreciated *trying hard not to laugh as he gets the door closed*>>>

Evil Diva:  Thanks, I'll ask him to do the same for you.

[Scritzy]

Oh my. Well, at least he didn't say, "You're going to hell for not giving me money!" (I've heard that one.)

Somehow I seem to have an instinct about which panhandlers really need the money and which ones just want to blow it on smokes or booze or drugs.

Good panhandler: The one who was standing in the median of 291 Bypass with a sign. I was able to wad up some money into a tight little ball, yelled, "Dude!" and tossed it at him. He picked it up and waved. I went on about my business. When I headed home, I passed him. He was walking down the sidewalk. His sign was under his arm. He held a bag and a drink from a local burger joint. Needed food. Got food.

Bad panhandler: The guy who stuck his head in my open car window as I sat in a parking lot waiting for my mother. He scared the snot out of me. He asked if I had a quarter. I said, "I'm sorry, I can't help you." And he got mad. Very huffy. I thought, If you make a wrong move, I'll roll the window up on you. Fortunately, he pulled his head out of my car and lurched on. After a while collecting quarters, he walked into the store and came out with a pack of cigarettes. (And after that, I told my mother I wasn't waiting in my car for her any more.)

Don't ask me how I know. I just do.

And the one begging from your father? No, he would not have gotten my money.

[IndianInlaw]

We have a woman who sits on the sidewalk downtown and says "Miss!  Miss! Do you have any change?"

My son used to be afraid of her.

Anyways, we were discussing her on a local forum.  One day a young woman took offense with the people passing her by and started yelling for everyone to give her money.  She got quite angry.

A forum participant, who worked in a social service capacity said he knew the panhandler got some sort of check from the State of Connecticut every month.  She just panhandled to buy drugs for her boyfriend.   If she was out begging, you could look around and her boyfriend would be sitting on his motorcycle.  And sure enough, there he was!

[Clara Bow]

I have always been a soft touch for panhandlers, especially the street performers we used to see in Savannah (we had a legless Vietnam vet who could pick a guitar EXACTLY like Joe Walsh, heaven knows how much Thunderbird I bought that guy). But over the years I've learned to be more discriminating, especially when my brother went to live in a very well known college town and discovered that a lot of students panhandled on game weekends for beer money.
I saw one the other day that made my blood boil. She was sitting outside the WalMart parking lot on the corner where you turn into the lot. She had the requisite sign. As I was finishing my shopping, I saw her walking through the WalMart with a twelve pack of beer under each arm headed for the registers. Hmmm, apparently beer has some sort of nutritional qualities with which I was not previously familiar.
With the horrible in-roads that meth has made in the tri-county area here, I avoid the panhandlers. I've had a few scare me a little here recently. I don't mind buying your cheeseburger, but I'm not giving you money to put a proverbial gun to your head.

[Bijou]

Just got off the phone w/ my dad.  He's on vacation w/ my mom in nearby-big-city.

I gave dad a quick call to update him on my grandpa's stay and make sure all was well.  He stepped out of the ritzy store where they were shopping to take the call. (it's a safe area, very high number of tourists, very high amount of foot-traffic, and my folks likely look like the tourists they are--we are not exactly city people, although we don't mind visiting the city)

I heard the following conversation (because dad lowered the phone and had the conversation while I was still on the other end):

Panhandler(PH):  Excuse me..

Dad:  (lowering phone) Yes?

PH:  Do you have a dollar I can have?  I'm hungry.

Dad:  Uhm, I'm afraid not  (*note, at this point, dad was looking around frantically to see if there was a place to buy the guy food.  My folks feel strongly about charity and are, IMO, very generous.  Dad won't give a panhandler $, but I've seen him buy them meals often--there were only formal sit-down places in sight...)

PH:  Sure you do...please?

Dad:  I'm afraid not *walks slightly away from the guy, having decided to continue his update w/ me inside ritzy store*

PH:  Well, I'm sure God will forgive you.  I'll ask Him to.

Dad:  Thanks, that's appreciated *trying hard not to laugh as he gets the door closed*

I give a small gift certificate specifying no alcohol and no tobacco.  It is enough to get something from the store to eat.  Or I will get a sandwich and drink and give it to them.  I once saw a guy outside a grocery store feeding his dog the remains of his salad and a banana.  I asked him if his dog needed food.  He did and I got some for him.  I hope it doesn't sound like I care more about dogs than people, but he had food and the dog didn't.

[mumma to KMC]

Bad panhandler: The guy who stuck his head in my open car window as I sat in a parking lot waiting for my mother. He scared the snot out of me. He asked if I had a quarter. I said, "I'm sorry, I can't help you." And he got mad. Very huffy. I thought, If you make a wrong move, I'll roll the window up on you. Fortunately, he pulled his head out of my car and lurched on. After a while collecting quarters, he walked into the store and came out with a pack of cigarettes. (And after that, I told my mother I wasn't waiting in my car for her any more.)

In the city I used to live in, there was a group of men who used to hang out at then bottom of an exit ramp with a sign asking for money. Normally there would only be one guy at a time but the group would rotate who would stand there. (This exit ramp was on my way home from work and part of my everyday travel, I figured out the act pretty quickly.) One day I was heading to the store to pick up some stuff and happened to go this way to the grocery store. The car behind me handed the guy a nice wad of bills. I thought "Well he is nice...maybe I should start carrying some spare money around to "help" out." Went to the grocery got my few items and guess who was behind me? The man from the exit ramp, buying a beer and some cigs.

However, I will help out by giving a certificate for a fast food place.

[thebadchemist]

I just had to share these two stories...

#1: Walking down the street in San Francisco, we pass a panhandler with a sign that says, "I will use your money to buy drugs and beer."

I didn't give him money, but hey, he was honest.

#2: While in Macau, we were walking through a temple (all outdoors) to a seafarers' goddess and it was full of panhandlers. A stream of Asian/Chinese people walk through and BF was the only non-Asian around. We walk by one woman and everyone was ignoring her. Yet, she snaps in Cantonese, "Cheap Caucasian jerk!" at BF! I turned around and glared at her, because I understood what she said, and she just glared right back. This might sound uncaring, but if you're panhandling, the entitlement complex won't bring more money.