Fairfield, Alabama. It's a subdivision of Birmingham.

Germany has gypsies on the streets ? Lucky people, it hasnt happened in awhile (several years) but here they knock on your door trying to sell pegs.

One time was walking around D.C, and saw a bearded fella wearing some torn clothing waving a cup around. There was a brownie in my pocket... so I walked up to him, and decided to give him it.

If you thought you had seen someone happy before in your life, this guy would of changed the fabric of your mind. The smile he had on his face was so warm and thankful (if somewhat disgusting due to his lack of alot of teeth, but who can blame the poor guy?) He kept nodding and saying "Many thanks."

And its times like that that make you feel so good....


.... then when your riding on a bus and you see a bum lady screaming at random cars about how The GonGon's have inflritated our vehicles and are rigged to explode, you feel awful for giggling.

He probably thought it was a special brownie...

Id have given her the 2bucks.She might not use it the right way, but you can still do a good thing.

I walked out of a bathroom in a public library one time and some kind soul walked right up to me and put a five dollar bill in my hand.
The people in that town are so nice.

Haha, here in Aus, a woman (a druggie?) asked for $20 to take a ride home usuing the bus.
I asked where her suburb was and she replied "I live around -----------"
then I was like, "That's not far from here, why do you need $20?"
Silence.
So, I gave her $2, which would've been enough for a ride home, but (hopefully) not enough for what I assumed.

Two bucks for fuel? that would give you about, a litre. And how do you afford a car with not even two dollars, In the rural town where I grew up, people just gave you their change if you hung around the shops

What's the point of trying to outsmart bums? I take the obviously fake story as a courtesy on their part.

A "bum" of sorts hit me and my friend up for cash awhile back. This story might sound a bit fake, though I promise it's true. This guy really was this much of a loser. Walking to the theater (scott pilgrim). Nice enough looking guy walk up to us and asks us if "we have any cash we could spare, man?". I automatically say no, having only 2 twenties in my pocket at the time. When he realizes that he'll get nothing out of me he turns to my friend, and then looks at him expectingly and tells him that he really needs it he has something, I forget what, in Harrisburg and that he needs bus money. Already I know that's a bs story, but I wait to see what my friends does. My friend pulls out the cash in his pocket and gives the guy the singles that he has, three bucks. The scum says, "Thanks, but honestly in my situation that's not going to help that much. I saw a couple of fives in there . . . " and stops there. That's when my friend told him that's the only cash he has on him and he needs it. The guy starts talking about, "we'll if either of you guys have a card, I only need to raise about $75), that's when both of us simply lied and said we didn't. The guy then said thanks for the money and left. A couple hours later we walk out of the theater. Now this is the part that no one believes when I tell this story. Were standing outside and the guy yet again comes up to us "What's up? Trying to raise bus money to get to Harrisburg". That's when me and my friend look at each other and he goes "dude, I already gave you cash before". The guys eyes bug and he automatically gives him a hug, talking about how he is an angel and god will be watching him. He then runs right across the street, obviously asks this older guy the same thing and gets a couple of bucks. Goes down the street a bit, goes into this pizza shop that is there and a minute later walks out with two 40oz. I mean really. How low can you be? This wasn't some destitute person either. He was dressed pretty nicely and obvious he has never lived a day without too much. This story really is a prime example of why I never give strangers too much credit.

I think its more a way to filter out the fakes with minimal risk of dismiss someone in genuine need (that bloke Blackhand4 gave his brownie to, for example).

maybe it was the Charles Bukowski kind of fuel

(Did you see Barfly?)

Bum hits you up for money? Hit them back. :chaos:

I tell them to stop begging me for my hard earned money and get a job like I did. Then they won't have to panhandle.

edit - one time my mother took me, my wife and her husband to a Predators game in Nashville. When we went to park there was a "parking attendant" standing at the entrance taking money and giving out little tickets. My mother gave him $10 to park and we went to the game. When the game was over, we went back to her car and noticed every car in the lot had a ticket on the windshield. It turned out that the "attendant" was a bum that ripped everyone off and then fled with all the money. It svcked for my mother and everyone else that got a ticket, but to this day, I still respect that crack head. He had tickets, one of the dayglow vests, everything. He obviously put a lot of time and effort into his scam. And for that, I salute him. If I remember right, I counted roughly 100 cars in the lot. If he got $10 from all of them, he made quite a bit of money. And he didn't have to beg for it.

Because here in Birmingham unemployment pays.
If you know 'the system' you can get free housing, food, water, electricity...Hell, http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/02/four_birmingham_public_housing_1.html

The UK bums that have hit me up for money have generally been very honest. Seriously, one came up to me and went 'Oi mate can you spare me some money for crack?' May or may not have been Super Hans off Peep Show, it was dark at the time.

Honesty should be rewarded!

Indeed it should! Can't remember how much I gave him, must have been about a quid or something, can't remember.

That may be an option for the fakes, but there are people who are on the street because they can't get a job (and aren't addicts). Or can't keep one, despite having a good work ethic and all that. Its easier than you might think to end up in that situation .

There's this woman, she's not really a bum but she made it her work to con people, she walks around where I live and tell people she needs some cash for the bus because somebody stole her wallet.
Now the thing is is that she tells me that every morning when I go out to school... I started to get so pissed off at her that when I heard her tell the story to other people I'd just go and say to her something like hey, I thought you got mugged yesterday no?
Then she just looks at me with this evil eye and walks away, hopefully I won't get stabbed one day because of this

In the city I live near I never see homeless people, I've only seen 1 or 2. I guess I live in a good area?

Conman or not; I'm not giving any free handouts.

I haven't either, but I've seen them. They usually target middle-aged, middle-income people (esp. women). They avoid targeting me me.

I feel like panhandling has been refined to an artform in Toronto. There are usually bums hanging out near major intersections in downtown, and they can do some crazy stuff to get your attention, not just "spare some change". One guy shouts "BeLIEVE in the Lord!" on repeated intervals. It's not so much what he says as the way he says it that gets your attention.

Kinda makes me sad. :sadvaultboy:

That reminds me of this old guy who sometimes shows up outside of one of the metro stations in Arlington county. He shouts "God is Good!" and "Happy New Year!" (He's been saying it since December of last year) INterstingly enough, the guy never asks for money or anything, though does accept handouts.

Give her the fake cash.