read todd's recent blog post. he said he'd rather throw away apples and pad thai than give it to nyc's hungy homeless people ! boycott oddtodd.com !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't think he's near rich enough to have one of those.
Do you really REALLY believe that homeless people would actually like to eat unidentified left-overs handed out by strangers? Really? Are you aware of things like soup kitchens and food banks?
i don't know if they'd like it or not but probably would rather eat delicious pad thai then go to a dangerous soup kitchen full of maniacal stabby people and tuberculosis !!!!!!!!!!! boycott oddtodd.com !!!!!!!!!!!!
I had a personal bootlicker a few years ago. The thing about bootlickers is that you really want to make sure that you keep them hydrated. It gets really gross when their saliva is all pasty and crusty on the soles. If you're not going to be able to provide copious amounts of water, you are probably better off with a regular shoe shiner. Just my two cents.
plenty of homeless people work ! housing isnt affordable these days especially in the big city ! screw all you heartless people ! boycott oddtodd.com and give the homeless your delicious leftover pad thai and fresh cut spices !!
I do believe that if I were homeless and someone offered me muffin stumps, I would mug them. Then I would beat them senseless and stuff the muffin stubs in their unconscious mouths.
After I was finished, I would go buy some muffin tops with the money from their wallet.
Homeless people with muffin tops clearly aren't hungry to the point of eating leftover scraps of pad thai.
And WTF would any homeless person use fresh cut herbs for?
A friend recently put this in perspective for me when I said I gave a homeless guy $5...
Corey : "[maestra], if your roommate kicked you out today, your parents wouldn't talk to you, and your siblings cut you off, where would you go"?
Me: "i would go to the giant's"
Corey: "he's taking the portuguee's side"
Me: "then i'd go to my former roommate's"
Corey: " she won't take your calls"
Me: "ok, I'd go to one of my coworkers'- from either job"
Corey: "no room at their inns"
Me: "fine, my friend mike's"
Corey: "he thinks you're a bad influence on the baby"
Me: "del's"
Corey: "she's too busy"
Me: "doc z's brother's"
Corey: "he doesn't want a roommate"
Me: "the beauty queen's"
Corey: "her boyfriend thinks you're a freeloader"
Me: "meg's"
Corey: "she doesn't have room- do you have another option?"
Me: "i could play this game all night, I haven't even left the state yet."
Corey: "exactly. Imagine how many people you would have to piss off, or what kind of choices you'd have to make to end up on the street. I used to work with the homeless, and 95% of them messed up badly and repeatedly. I'm not saying they don't deserve help, I'm just saying it's a long road between home and the side of the highway with a cardboard sign"
Eh. We are middle class folks for the most part here. Our friends are middle class, our families are middle class. If you were born into extreme poverty and had poor life skills, add to that a drug/alcohol problem? I don't think it would be that hard. I think if I didn't have friends to stqy with there's no way I could have gotten an education. It would take a serious fuck up on my part to erase all that, but if I didn't have some fall back skills? I could see how it could happen.
Pretty sure holding up a sign on the side of the highway is yet another bad choice on the part of this hypothetical homeless person. Nobody is going to pull over while they're cruising along at 65 mph.
I always give homeless money whe. I'm asked, but it's not something that happens to me all that often. Then I think, ther but for the grace of god go I. Then I remember I don't believe in god.
I gave a homeless lady a ten-spot once and WWGirl flipped out on me. The social worker in her didn't like me perpetuating homelessness or something. I dunno.
There was a big campaign here that advised people not to give homeless people money directly but to, instead, donate to the agencies mandated to help them. Stats shows that money given directly most often goes towards substance abuse.
My old boss at the Hunger Organization in one of his books has a gut-wrenching passage about a time he was walking down the street with this young daughter and he didn't give someone who said they were hungry money. Trying to explain the nuances of how he helped hungry people at his job every day, but didn't want to help that particular person who she could SEE needed help right NOW, and communicating to her that he was not going to do it - well he said it was one of the hardest things he'd ever faced as a parent.
bump? I suppose, but like ancient history street lingo so incorporated to the national lexicon that it hardly qualifies as an attempt at hip speak? Like, as in if you don't know it, it's YOU that's been under a rock?
bump? I suppose, but like ancient history street lingo so incorporated to the national lexicon that it hardly qualifies as an attempt at hip speak? Like, as in if you don't know it, it's YOU that's been under a rock?
Well, I assumed you were accusing me of hip-speak. Fair, no?
It's honestly just what came typing out of my fingers.
This is a really, really hard thing, and no one should be judged whatever they decide to do. In no way would you be responsible for what happens with that money in my mind - and you're a good person for caring. The aid groups recommend NOT doing it for the reason I gave above - but they also know that faced with a person in need, well - you gotta follow what your heart tells you to do at that moment.
For the most part in DC, I became inured to it - there were just so MANY asks every day. I did learn quickly not to say, "Sorry" when asked, because that invariably invited a follow-up insult along the lines of "You're not sorry, you're selfish. Don't be sorry, just give me money." Others I knew tried, "I'm a little short myself right now..." and that worked sometimes. I personally just settled on a simple "No. I won't." That was often surprising enough honesty that I was spared the follow-up commentary, but not always.
Ironically, I adhered to the smoker's code 100%. Ask me for a smoke and I've got more than one left, and 100% of the time I'll give you one. In DC at the time that was worth a quarter, which was usually the financial ask, so it evened out probably.
Still, one time I gave a guy a twenty who told me convincingly that he was trying to get to the AIDS clinic for a treatment appointment he was late for so he could hail a cab. I later read in the Post that this was a scam to watch out for, and felt like a rube. I guess I was glad I was the kind of person who'd help in that way, but still, a small part of my love for humanity died after reading that article.
This message has been edited by SquiddyBoy on Jan 30, 2012 4:09 PM
We had a guy approach our car in a very not nice neighborhood, we were on our way to a funeral, lost and visibly upset and I just kinda told the guy that. He couldn't of be nicer, and apologized for bothering us during our greif. Afterwards made me wish I had given him money.
We have a very visible homeless population here as well and, at first, I cried whenever I saw someone with a pet and gave pretty much whenever someone asked because I didn't see it every day and there were no beggars in the city where I was from.
Then I started working down town and saw the guy who was asking for donations to "fix his wheelchair" still asking 7 years later and the guy who was passing thru on the way to somewhere else and just needed "a little more money for gas" sitting outside Starbucks everyday.
I still occasionally buy people coffee and I gave David (we called him Jesus) $5 once because it was my birthday ("It's my birthday?" he asked) but seeing it everyday makes you immune, especially when you have co-workers that worked for Mental Health organizations and they are telling you not to do it.
Austin, TX and the place I live now have this weird version of beggars who are shiftless teenagers. Like, healthy strapping kids who ask you for money then insult you intelligently when you say no.
Rarely I've actually told these kids, "Kid, you look healthier and stronger than I am. Reevaluate your choices and go get a job."
I don't give them money. I will usually give them my restaurant leftovers (we walk to restaurants mostly from home) if they ask. I wouldn't offer the leftovers up. I wouldn't want to have the think "Uhh? Nooo??" so I wait to be asked.
But I do make friends with lots of them. We have regs in PB where I live. Some are bat shit CRAZY (seriously scary crazy so you have to watch yourself). Others are just lazy and like to kill time. But some really try to change their path.
Like this one guy I would see every day driving home from work. He used to hang out on the same corner and eventually got a job twirling a sign for the Pizza Hut (I mean, right? Why not? He was just hanging out there anyway!) He would always knock on the hood of my car and wave at me when I stopped at the corner at the light. If I sat there long, we would chat, like "hey! You got a new shirt!" and he's say "Yeah! Thanks for noticing!"
Eventually he disappeared and I was pretty worried. But I saw him about 3 months later when I was on a bike ride. He was walking into an apartment complex carrying a bag of groceries! Yay dude! Made me happy.
The last time I was faced with the homeless was in Chicago. They were EVERYWHERE! I never carry cash so I honestly could say I don't have anything on me. One night after dinner (Chicago style pie) we have a large box of left overs. We had seen a family with a youngish son on our way to the restaurant and saw them again after. I gave them our leftovers. They took them but looked at me like, we can get food.
And on our final night there, I was so fed up with not being to go ANYWHERE without getting asked, I was really rude about my answer and came close to being physically harmed. Won't do that again!
Ah, and a shoe shine guy insisted on shining my shoes. I told him I didn't have any money. He said just let me shine one and started to shine it. I said if you want to but I REALLY don't have any cash. He said ok. He finished the one shoe which looked great by the way and continued to look better that the other poor shoe for a while. He asked for a cigarette instead. I was happy to comply.
I almost never hand over cash, but I've had people ask me to buy them food and I almost always will.
Once, in downtown Pasadena, a homeless guy from Morrocco asked me to buy him food and let me practice my french on him. He seemed like a nice guy, and had a convincing story.
Another guy asked me to buy him some tacos near my house. He tried some scams on me though. Like, he told me while we were waiting in line that he heard there were some magic $20 bills or something that were worth all this money but you had to hold them up to the light to see some code that was on them. Like, clearly trying to get me to take all the money out of my wallet so he could see how much I cash had, presumably to either ask for it or steal it from me.
The only time I remember giving someone cash, I had come out of target and gotten $20 cash. There was a lady in the parking lot who asked me if I had a few dollars so she could buy her kids food. She seemed legit and looked like a mom, so I gave her the $20 and she started crying.
They used to congregate in droves outside of Bayside, which was a mall on a pier that was full of overpriced boutiques and restaurants that happened to be a great place to bring dates. When ever I was on a date, I would always give a fiver to the first one to hit me up. If I was alone or with friends, I would say I didn't have money or threaten an ass-whipping depending on how aggressive they were about asking.
Then the local news did an expose on the Bayside panhandlers. Turns out they were making 300 - 500 a night on average. They even used hidden cameras and spotted a few of them getting out of expensive cars and changing into their bum clothes before starting a "shift" of begging. I never gave them a dime after that.
We also had this guy with crutches that always used to sit outside of the Lil' General (like 7/11) in our town. He'd beg money off of everyone that came in or out. One night my friends and I stopped to get beer there - because it sold to minors - and got into an argument over a parking space with this redneck guy. He threatened to get his gun, so as he went into his truck, my friend and I pulled out guns that we had and we ended up in a good 'ole Tarantino-esque stand-off with a grown man. He liked the idea a lot less once he realized we were also armed.
Well, crutches guy did the 40 yards dash outta there like he was trying out for the Olympics. Seriously, I've never seen a regular guy run that fast, let alone a cripple. After that night, I always called him Flash and he would laugh and then I would give him my change.
And, Ginny, I've heard of the $20 scam that dude tried to run on you. While you are holding the bill up to the light to read the numbers, they snatch it and run.
This message has been edited by Hepatitis_C on Jan 30, 2012 5:17 PM This message has been edited by Hepatitis_C on Jan 30, 2012 5:10 PM
I think that is pretty standard in fancy tourist areas. We had one when I worked and lived in Santa Barbara that we called "Snaggle Toes" who apparently begged for weeks at a time then went on fishing trips on his large sailboat for weeks at a time. He was also a complete dick every time you told him "no"... Which was every time he asked. We called him snaggle toes because he refused to wear shoes and socks, and had some funky toenails.
Yeah, I always thought that if I lost my job, my house was in foreclosure and I seemed to be a month or so from homelessness; I'd max my credit cards and get myself a one-way ticket to Hawaii.
Maybe round-trip, because last time I checked those were cheaper than one-way for some insane reason. Although I guess in that scenario the cost of the ticket is irrelevant.
Caps - I think you have enough of a survival instinct to not end up homeless. If I lost my job and had to work at burger king, it would suck, and I'd barely scrape by, but I'd do it. I'd cancel cable. I'd sell some stuff. I think you would, too.
Yeah, but you're assuming you could just go out get a job at Burger King any time you decided to swallow your pride and apply.
Just as many, if not more, people are applying to those jobs too. And they tend to discriminate pretty severely against people that are vastly over-qualified.
You give me a 45 year-old with a Master's degree and 20 years experience as a professional and then an 18 year-old with a GED and no work history, send them to apply to every fast food place in the city, and I'd bet my right arm that the 18 year-old gets way more offers than the 45 year-old does.
I completely agree. I got almost no calls for the jobs I was severely overqualified for when I was looking. But, I know people with law degrees who ended up working minimum wage jobs. One guy I went to school with works at Guitar Center. Another worked at Blockbuster (this was awhile ago, obviously). My Burger King job would probably actually be some shitty insurance gig.
Actually the guy who works at Guitar Center was pretty happy with it. But his parents paid for school so he doesn't have the soul crushing debt to deal with.
Ginny and I were looking at exactly the same time and I think we even both got our new jobs within days of each other. It was pretty tough. I ended up removing all my management experience and played down my years in the industry a bit. I know that people weren't calling because they thought I was too "pricey". The adjustments totally worked and I was still able to get an acceptable salary.
I had a friend with a lovely job, an adorable apartment, a charming boyfriend. She quit her job and went to travel Europe for six months with the expectation that she would find a comparable job when she got back and pick up where she left off. It seemed odd that she never showed up on Facebook or Linkedin, that our mutual friends never mentioned her. Turns out, she had a psychotic break while she was traveling. She went from hosting fabulous dinner parties to mentally ill homeless person in less than a year. People tried to help her, but she just disappeared into the cracks. It's unlikely that you or I or any other middle class person without substance abuse issues will ever be homeless, but not impossible.
We have professional beggars here, too. One that used to hang out every day on the corner of onramp to the interstate, I saw getting into his car and driving away one afternoon. I badgered the shit out of him after that. I'd yell out the window to anybody trying to hand him money - HEY! That's his car over there! Whooo! Check out those new shoes! He finally left that corner for good. Ugh.
I got ripped off by a "Vietnam vet on crutches" when I was fresh out of high school. That was it for me, anyway.
And these frigging "occupy" morons have taken to sitting on the sidewalk with their hands out and then sneering at you when you don't hand it over. Hey, this money came from an eeevil corporation. You don't want it, right? Right.
NOW PEOPLES ARE HATING ON VIETNAM VETERANS UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE ! YOU LOWER MIDDLE CLASS CUBICLE DWELLERS HAVE NO SHAME ! FUCK ODDTODD.COM !!!!!!!!!!!!!
agreeing ith myself is fun because no one else does
February 3 2012, 2:45 PM
Yeah ! Right on ! It's amazing that someone happens to agree with you who also puts a superfluous extra space before the exclamation point ! Small world !
Re: agreeing ith myself is fun because no one else does
February 4 2012, 1:25 AM
I agree ! What have the homeless vietnam vets ever done for anyone ! Fuck them sideways with their government issued dentures because of agent orange !
