Do you have panhandlers in your town?

[Retmilleo909]

I would gladly go and buy a hamburger, fries and drink, or even a meal for a person if they were hungry.
However, panhandling is a different story. Here in town, PH's stand on street corners with signs reading, "Will work for food." and if a light catches you, they'll drop the sign run out and grab for money. I'm a sucker for these people, as I usually give them a buck or 2 knowing that after a couple of hours of panhandling, they'll go down to to the booze shop, buy a half gallon of wine and go back in the woods where all the winos hang out.
I've often thought about saying to one. "Yeah, hop in. I've got an attic and basement that're crying to be cleaned and I'll feed you a big meal before you start and after you finish." But, on second thoughts, I wouldn't want one of these guys to spit orin my face.

[BEB]

None around here at present. We did have a token homeless guy for years who would occasionally panhandle at the mall, but I haven't seen him for a long time. Heard through the grapevine that he was making around 80 bucks a day at it. If true, that explains how he was able to get a hotel room when it got cold. Could be myth and some charity might have been putting him up too, don't really know.

[BabyGirl]

Yes, I live in a fairly small city ( 28,000 ) , and there have been times that they will sit right in front of a store entrance and ask for a donation for some fake thing when you walk in and come out. The worst I've ever dealt with is in Detroit. I had to be there once for jury duty and pulled into a gas station. Someone runs up and washes your windsheild,(not an employee) and demands money. It's like Fuck off, Go away, or I'll run you over!!!

[Ducky]

We have one guy who sits in his wheelchair on the sidewalk at a busy intersection with a sign about how both his and his wife's benefits have been denied, and how he's a vet. I saw him load his wheelchair on the back of a nicer car than I drive one day. There was also an incident recently of a couple guys with buckets collecting money at a stoplight, the buckets labeled "help hungry children" but no one knew who they were, and when the people from the newspaper approached them, they jumped in a van and took off. Only time I ever gave like that was when the local firefighters were collecting for 9-11 rescue workers and their families.

[10-42Adam]

I don't give anything to those people. I have better things to use my money on other than supporting their addictions...

[Just KC]

Ahhhh yes, we have them here. Hate it.

[Star Man]

We have one guy who sits in his wheelchair on the sidewalk at a busy intersection with a sign about how both his and his wife's benefits have been denied, and how he's a vet. I saw him load his wheelchair on the back of a nicer car than I drive one day. There was also an incident recently of a couple guys with buckets collecting money at a stoplight, the buckets labeled "help hungry children" but no one knew who they were, and when the people from the newspaper approached them, they jumped in a van and took off. Only time I ever gave like that was when the local firefighters were collecting for 9-11 rescue workers and their families.

News crew did a story here on a guy like this one you mentioned. He took off the grubby clothes and threw them in a trunk of a Mercedes parked behind a nearby business then climbed in and took off. He was making Boo-koo bucks a day TAX FREE. The news guy did the same thing for a day after seeing that and came up with like 500 bucks he "supposedly" gave to charity.

[jmur5074]

Yes. Our town seems to be a social hotspot for these dirty, stinky hippy people that travel across the country in the rattiest, nastiest vehicles they can find in a farmers field somewhere.

We get new waves of these people every few months, and they panhandle and stink up the town for a few weeks, then they leave until a new wave of 'em show up.

They all dress like homeless people in movies

[Jackalope]

The city up the road from me has beggars on damn near every corner. There's still a state statute making it illegal, but the Court of Appeals declared that law unconstitutional.

Most of them are dressed better than me. They don't even try to look poor. And if you try to offer them work, they'll tell you to fuck off. They make at least $60 an hour standing there.

I hope they die.

[E-man]

There was a story years ago in N.Y. city about a panhandler who made about $70,000 a YEAR panhandling and lived in a condo...

WHen I worked in the city, I would get calls for them all day long,. passed out drunk, standing in doorways blocking people etc. We finally had magistrates order them to stay away from certain businesses and stuff but not sure that was 100% legal.
When a guy would say "Hey buddy got any change?"
I would say "Hows this for CHANGE, GET A JOB!'

[Buttercup]

There aren't any in my town that I'm aware of, but as BabyGirl said, there are a lot of them in Detroit at gas stations, freeway entrance ramps, some major intersections....at least, that's how it was when I was living there. There was one guy at an intersection on the border of Detroit and one of the suburbs - he was there for a few years. He would make religious messages in the gravel under an overpass, and at one point a newspaper did a story about him.

In fact, when I was there a couple of months ago there was one right outside of the Art Institute.

There's only been one time that I gave money to a panhandler, and to this day I don't know what it was that compelled me to do so, normally I do not.

[Norm357]

Do you have panhandlers in your town?

Dude! We live in Atlanta. Panhandleing is a profession here.

Someone runs up and washes your windsheild,(not an employee) and demands money.

I pepper sprayed a guy for doing that once.

The only people I give money to is the firemen doing the "Give burns the boot" campaign.