So, i am working in Colorado Springs at Petersen AFB for two weeks. We where downtown for dinner last night, walking around. Very nice downtown, clean and friendly. One of the guys commented about there not being any homeless people. We were in Pearl Harbor a few months ago, and Waikiki is filled with homeless. We ate dinner and were walking back to our car. I noticed a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk a few doors down from the restraunt. A family was walking just ahead of us, the father carying their leftovers in a bag. He passed the homeless man, turned back for a second, and handed the man his bag of leftovers. The homeless man, his eyes just lit up like he was a five year old on Christmas morning. Something so simple as extra food we usually take home so we can throw away the next day meant the world to that man. Just made me realize that we have the ability to make a difference in other peoples lives.. and it doesnt take much. Yet we don't usually make that effort, at least i feel like i don't often.

Well, just wanted to share with some peeps... the whole incident only took maybe 4-5 seconds, yet is still affecting me a day later...

 

The homeless here are con-artists. They come into the store after working the busiest intersection in Tally and whip out about $300-$400 after just a few hours.

Every time I go to wal-mart here I see the same guy and he feeds me the same story: "traveling, kids in the car, etc" After four separate occasions of running into him I had to remind him and he said I must've been mistaken because he's never been here and quickly walked off

I went to New York once and saw a homeless guy get into a parked BMW 7-series and begin changing back into his regular clothes.

Back in the day my mom worked road squad with local Dept. of Corrections (watching inmates clean up the road). One of the inmates went up to a homeless man and gave him his usual prison-issued lunch. The homeless guy looked at it, and then threw it away.

I did a nice report on homeless for my last term paper in English Comp and I understand some people truly are mentally ill and cannot work, but on average, some 85% of "homeless" are just con-artists

 

Nice story Jesse. An event like that in your life can really make you stop and think. Be thankful for who you are and what life has dealt you.

 

I agree on both points. Almost all truly homeless people are mentally ill and an awful lot of "homeless" people are actually just plain con artists. I learned that and a bunch of other stuff from a couple of years throwing newspapers in dowtown DC between 2 and 6 in the morning. Good job on that term paper, but I bet that you didn't get an 'A'.

 

If the guy Jesse observed was a con artist, I doubt he would have shown much pleasure with receiving some left overs.

 

Maybe, maybe not. The line between mentally ill and con artist gets fuzzy.

I became excruciatingly observant to my surroundings when I worked downtown at night, my life depended on it. Later, I could use that knowledge to judge what I saw when we went to the bars. A couple of stories:

Older, white-bearded “homeless” guy wandering around wrapped in a blanket causing trouble cursing people. I went up to him and looked carefully. The blanket was spotless, not a mark or a stain where it dragged along the ground, he was clean and did not smell. He was just crazy and liked to do this the way you or I might play golf or go bowling.

Coming out of a bar early one morning, quite lit up, I encounter a “homeless” guy begging for money. I stop, look at him and pull out my pockets, I’m broke too! He reaches into the can and hands me a couple of bucks. I pull out my wallet and give him a five. He winks, I nod my head.

I got to know Jake when I threw newspapers. He was truly homeless and quite insane. He would get arrested from time to time for sitting at the subway with his equipment hanging out as the morning commuters arrived. From what I heard, he was quite well endowed. I always had quarters from the newspaper racks and would often hand him a few. One morning he took my quarters and threw them in the street, quite disgusted. I asked why? He replied that how am I gonna buy cigarettes with 50 cents? He did not appear to grasp the concept of saving. I liked Jake, but he was quite insane.

One morning another delivery truck, a bread truck, dropped a dozen or so loaves of bread. I could not catch the driver so I took the loaves to the subway where Jake and other homeless hang out. I offered them the bread but they would not touch it. Jake wasn’t there but later I found him and asked why. He said that they don’t trust you, think that you’re trying to poison them or something.

BTW, how about taking a look at why my post counter is stuck at 79? Thanks.

 

Post in a forum other than General Disussion and see if it doesn't change. GD posts are not included in count.

 

Aha! Thanks.

 

I did in fact

 

Funny you bring this up...

On Friday, me and another guy from work drove to subway to pick up a couple sandwiches for people at work. Sitting outside the entrance was a guy saying he was hungry and asked for money. We both responded that we didn't have any, but inside we decided to buy him a sandwich ($5 footlong). Well, it took the subway people some time and while we waited he walked off through the parking lot towards another restaurant. We got out of Subway and to the truck. I drove my co-worker and I the backway around the restaurant and there he was, asking two more guys for money. I said, "We need to hurry" and I sped up, cut around the two guys he was talking to and my buddy handed him the sandwich and said "Here ya go!". He then tells us that he has already ate and he'd give the sandwich to someone else.


After all it's kind of hard to claim that you are hungry and need money with a $5 footlong in your hand.

 

I feel that way as well.
Not to say I still don't try to help out the occassional bum, but it always burns your *** when you realize you were taken advantage of.

I suppose if anything, I would rather err on the side of being occassionaly taken advantage of as opposed to not ever helping, because when you really do help the person who needs it, man does it ever feel good.

I think with the exception of the people who are on the street because of mental illness, the rest could easily be better off if they really wanted to, but they are such useless and lazy &^%#$, they would rather have no shame and beg.

One day as I was waiting for the light to change at a busy intersection, some bum is standing on the medium with a sign "Hungry & Broke".
So he walks up to me asking for some spare change.

I say "If you want, jump in, I'll pay you $50 to mow my lawn using my riding mower"

The dude looks at me and says "FU, mow your own lawn, I make more than that standing out here for an hour"

POS, it's one of the rare times I really wanted to punch a total stranger.

Begging has become a business for many people and it's sad.

 

I agree, it is difficult to tell.. walking by this indivual, he had the "smell" of homeless on him... i try and evaluate the situation, but this guy who gave the food to him didn't lose. He had already payed for the food and was just taking it home... even if i give someone a few bucks, i mean i have a job that pays my bills.. so much more than so many others don't have in this country right now..if they are scamming, it will catch up to them in the end at some point..

All i am saying, it was just a very memorial moment that impacted me..

 

Part of my presentation, I used a clip of a news anchor doing a story on homeless somewhere in Oklahoma City (IIRC). He went to about 20 homeless guys with the usual "will work for food" and offered them $20 to mow a 1/2 acre. Only one guy showed up.

We have a cool but crazy bum that frequents my place of occupation several times a day. We supply him with windex so he can clean car windows. Sometimes I'll give him a few bucks to clean my window. I will not, however, just give him $2 for the hell of it. The bum even told us he qualifies for disability from the government. He could get a $600 check every two weeks for the rest of his life if he took two simple pills. But he doesn't and he would rather rummage through garbage for his next meal.