hit up for money
 

Last week we were at Big Lots and dh was approached by a man saying there was a couple stranded who needed gas money and he was asking for donations to help them. Dh gave him a couple of bucks. I just shook my head at him.
Tonight we headed to walmart and stopped at an ice cream shop as a splurge. I got my sundae and went to the car while dh paid. A woman came up to me and said that she lost her debit card and needed money to get gas to get home to the next county over. She was driving a nice big suv. I told her sorry i had just lost my job (true) and could not help. Felt guilty saying this as there i was coming out of an ice cream parlor with sundae. She said no problem and drove off. I could not help to think there would have been someone she could have called for help.

Are people doing this more often than they used to? It has gotten to the point that there have been times when dh has told me to stay close to him in parking lots cause people come up to us for handouts. I feel guilty not helping if they really need help, but how do you know they do?

Scammers! Hate them!

I get approached at least once a month. Shopping malls, gas stations, parking lots... it's annoying. I don't give money to anyone unless I know where it's going.

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Especially those that trot scrungie little children out to beg for money....at intersections all over town. What are these people teaching their kids about self respect, integrity, ethics, honesty, etc ?

It is sad. I will buy a sandwich or a cup of soup for a hungry person before I would give them money. Make sure it's for food not alcohol. Cynical New Yorker I guess

Watched a guy once panhandle at a red light. The people in the car gave him a new bag of chips. Which he accepted, but gave it to the next car behind him :( He didn't anything to eat. He wanted money for alcohol or drugs.

Most of them are scammers. I used to work with a girl who had an uncle that did this for a living. He made $300 a day or more:mad: They get more and more creative with the stories:rolleyes: I've even had people come to my DOOR to beg for money "for gas to get to the hospital in the next town because my mother is sick". One time there was one of these outside of McDonald's, had a sign "Hungry, Please Help". So, I went inside and bought an extra meal, which I then handed to him. He THREW IT on the ground and started cussing me out.

I donate to legit charities, never directly to these folks:( It's sad that it's come to this.

I see more and more of them all the time here...I do feel bad when I see them just because I wonder if they are honestly struggling and just want a bite to eat or a warm blanket. I have only given money to 1 person ever and it was a young girl sitting at a stop sign with a baby car seat beside her and a tiny baby in her arms...it broke my heart, but then after I thought about it..there must be shelters for people like this??? I haven't given money since and I try not to make eye contact with anyone asking.

I have had a man actually pin me in at the trunk of my car trapped by the buggy and grab my shoulder shaking it asking for money.. People are getting creepy... I had a downtown meeting a month ago and as we went to get in the elevator a homeless man came out and asked for change, first it was odd he was in our main building but whatever, we both stated we had nothing so he left and we got on the elevator... Then the small hit us!!! He had been riding the elevator just to pee in the floor mind you have to pass a bathroom door to get to them!!!!!!!

There ARE social programs for these people....if interviewed, the majority of these people state "safety is a concern", or "I dont want to listen to preaching to get a meal or a place to sleep", or "You have to get up every morning and leave during the day, then go back at night", or "there is nothing for my kids to do", etc....Is it better on the street? We all have choices we have to make....a lot of the time, these choices are NOT a reflection of what we consider a wonderful option. When we are self sufficient and can care for ourselves, make our OWN way without getting handouts from the government or society or individuals at stop signs and parking lots, then we have the freedom to say, "NO, that option is not an acceptable solution to me", I will rent my oun room and pay for my own meals". But, as the true saying goes, "Beggars can not be choosers". Accept help that is provided by society in organized, legal, healthy methods, some at GREAT tax payers expense, as well as generous donations made by civic organizations and accept some "preaching, teaching, and soul serching" to try to help you raise up out of the despair you are currently experiencing. I too offered food and drink to a pitiful LOOKING soul at a stop sign. He actually told me he didnt like chicken sandwiches!!!!! PLEASE!! Then there was the man I offered a case (12 cans) of vienna sausage to ....MY thoughts were , easy to open cans, small light cans, easy to carry in a back pack, etc.....This "starving" man who is dependent on anything he can get his hands on from anyone willing to share it, says "there is too much sodium in veinna sausage".....When you are starving and not eating, you are not getting ANY sodium intake, so 3 cans of vienna sausage a day, while you beg at a red light in the 100* heat in Texas, is NOT your major problem! Sorry for the rant, but I have offered food and work so many times to these people and in every case, they have refused the particular help offered. They were only willing to accept CASH. They want to manage their own life, even tho they have apparently not done very well in that area, up to this point in time! CLEAN OUR STREETS UP! MAKE IT SAFE FOR US TO STOP AT INTERSECTIONS WITHOUT BEING BESEIGED BY PAN HANDLERS! Dont support hese people....let them go to the multitude of services provided for them.

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These people are always scammers!

A few years ago, my husband was at a car wash about a mile from our house. He was approached by a woman that said she ran out of gas and had an emergency in the next town. He said she was very convincing and he gave her $20!!!!! I couldn't believe it when he told me! Well, about a week passed by and he was at a gas station next to our house and saw this SAME woman with her mother!! This woman has to be in her late 40s!

Turns out that this woman lives on our same block!! Also turns out she was the one that had broken into our truck twice!! She is a meth head and is in and out of jail. Their house is now up for sale.........thank goodness!!

My husband tucked tail and said he learned his lesson. :rolleyes:

Last year, I had a very nervous young woman in jeans carrying only a cell phone approach me as I was pumping gas, saying she was trying to get home to her parents after her boyfriend dumped her in Dallas and didn't have any money. She had a ring on every finger and her thumbs! Hair streaked. I told her I didn't have anything and literally, I only did have a couple of dollar bills left in my cash stash for tips, etc. Eve though I had no way to tell, I felt so guilty as I drove away, worrying was this kid for real, needing help or an expert scammer, wanting to take $ from those that really need it for herself or some guy. I next went to Walmat, got some things, including some cash while there, came out with my grocery cart of sacks and as I was opening the car door, another young woman approached, saying she was very hungry and could I spare $5.00 - no story - she just looked at me. She really looked the part, was thin, pale and her clothes weren't very nice, old sneakers. I couldn't help myself - I gave her $20.00. I pray she did go eat somewhere and it didn't all go for drugs.

That reminds me. When I was a kid, I was at home with my family. It was raining and cold. Someone knocked on the door and had a baby. Asked if we could spare a blanket and some money to get home. They gave them MY baby blanket. Why I have no idea. The next few days we were leaving our house to go out and we see the man at his house, just down the street from us! He literally lived less than an 1/8 of a mile from us. What nerve!

There is a guy in our town who stands at the same intersection everyday with a sign. Sometimes he has an iced coffee in the tree next to him, sometimes he's wearing brand new sneakers and once I saw a guy in a decent looking white car pick him up at the end of his 'work day'. I do wonder how much he made doing that. I never gave him money because I don't think he needed it.

I donate to every charity and shelter, I always give $1 to every store that asks, when I go food shopping, christmas shopping, the pharmacy stores, coffee shops, fast food places, I give ALL the time. I do not give to people who come up and ask me, I do not give to people on the side of the road, one guy even came up to my car in downtown and tapped on my window. I told him I had no cash on me. (I usually don't)

I took 2 ornaments off the local grocery store tree to buy gifts ($40 gifts) one for a 2 year old girl and 1 for a 10 year old boy. I am a giver, I feel sooo blessed in my life that I want to give back. But not to the creeps. Everyday I go outside to smoke at work and it never fails I get asked for money or cigarettes. I never bring out extras anymore. Ggeezzz, if you are going to be a smoker, buy your own, they are expensive and not a necessity!!!! I get sooooo aggravated about that!!! I see more and more now that I work in the downtown area of the city I live next to.

:mad:I know what they teach them: it is ok to lie to get things esp to the government. My bil (i call him the bad bil) and his wife live off the gov. He is legitably on disability now, lost both legs due to diabetes but for a long time he was not. They have lied to get meds, which they sold, help on thier house. They had a porch and a new floor better than mine. They knew which churches that would help them pay thier utilities and give them food.
She has 4 dds. One is a drug addict and lost her child and dances on a pole for money at times her "friend" does not give her drugs or money. Her twin is a mom to her sister's kid and 3 of her own. Finally married and seems to be doing good. The youngest had a kid at 14 gave it up, and has at least 1 more and also dances. They only one doing good is the oldest. After running away numerous times, she moved out of state with other family and has a nursing degree, married and just had a kid.
They lie all the time if it will benefit them. The one with all the kids? She named her sister's "friend" as the father so the baby will get the guy's ss benefits (he is that old, and she is 25). They told so many lies on me, i did not talk to any of them unless i had a witness to what i said who would tell the truth.
So i am seeing the 3rd generation living off my money. I have nothing to do with them and they are not allowed on my property after one egged my dd's car. I put my foot down with dh as family is everything to him.

I am giving type, I take presents to elderly folks at the home I never see getting visits from others... But a couple weeks ago a young girl was standing in a parking lot where I shop holding a sign saying "Boyfriend left me homeless have no job, food or money please help" now here's the problem... I am lucky myself and Ryan have good jobs and so does my dad who spoils me so I know for a fact that the jeans she was wearing are around $80 a pair her boots around $200 the two kids in a stroller wearing nice new clothes and she was on her iPhone 5... So I nicely pulled over and for her to speak with me she had to stand on the step on my truck she just starts saying thank you thank you thank you I nicely cut her off and said "hey if you need money I know your phone is selling for $200 on eBay right now and those boots could get you another $100 depending on how much wear they have".... Oddly enough she just called me a b***h got off my step and went back to her kids... Yes that was cold and heartless of me BUT if things are that bad and kids need food ummm you don't need the latest fashions and an iPhone!!

Tis the season:mad:

I'm exactly the same.....:)

We don't really have too many of them over here....but there's a man who sits outside one of our 'very nice shops' :p with a dog, a kind of Staffie cross.

I NEVER give him any money...but every time I come out of the 'very nice shop'....his dog gets a box of doggie biscuits and a tin of food (with a ring-pull, just in case he doesn't have a can-opener!!! :D) from me....with a cuddle. I sometimes wonder if the man ever resorts to eating it....:eek: Sally x

I have no problem getting someone food. I will never give them money. I was in the Disney area a few months back. A homeless guy was asking for food. He took a banana and I knew he was serious. So, I brought a whole bunch of pop tarts from the convenience store. However, I opened every box so he couldn't return them. Then I actually had to search for the guy and found him under a bridge.

I learned a long time ago never to trust most of these people that do this. Majority of them are scamming people.
I once was nice and offered money and then had my purse stolen by one of these thieves. Now I totally ignore these type of people.

We have this same thing said by a variety of people every Sunday outside our church. (Ran out of gas, my girlfriend is pregnant, etc.) So sad, but they are panhandling. It is a tough thing knowing what to do, when someone approaches you like this.

Unfortunately, my area of Northern Ky. has a huge heroin problem right now and I think a lot of this panhandling is about getting money for this drug. Sad.

I hate going shopping around the holidays because of these people. Last week we were stopped in front of Target by a guy with some crazy story about a car accident. The weird part is he said we could "verify" the sotry. We ignored him but I wonder how it would be verified, do they have someone on hold pretending to be injured? The lengnths these people go through, if they spent half that energy on actually getting a job or doing some entrupeneur work they wouldnt need to beg!
I just hate that you cant go anywhere without someone hitting you up.

One never knows...

This happened to me a few times. Most recently near work. My office is in a very bad neighborhood, and have stopped at the local McDonald's to get a coffee or something before heading to work. A man inside asked for any change for some food. I honestly never ever have cash on me, so I offered to buy him something along with my food. He cussed me out in front of everyone in the McD's. I just left. I'm a big softy, and as much as I'm disappointed by the things people do, I always want and try to help. After my experiences, I'm honestly TERRIFIED of these people. As much as it pains me not to help, I just don't do it because I'm afraid.

I did hear on the radio, a police officer was being interviewed. He suggests we do not give anything to these people. The same ones we encounter, they encounter and give them information and can take them to places that will offer them help.

I never give them money. I will however give them food- DH always says not to but if they're really hungry they'll take it and eat it. I'm not rich by any means, I make 10$ an hour, DH makes 11$- so we're fortunate enough to have a roof over our heads, utilities, internet, a car and so on. Once I was driving home from work by myself and I had a cereal bar, a bottle of water and a banana (my snack from work that I didnt eat) in the passengers seat- I pulled up to an intersection and there was a guy there with a "Hungry & Homeless" sign so I rolled down my window and offered them to him. He gladly took all 3, promptly opened the cereal bar and ate it while I sat at the light. He tucked the banana and the water in the back pack he had with him. He legitimately was homeless I think, He was dirty, his clothes were worn and his he was scruffy/unkept. I drove down the street, bought a 10$ mcdonalds giftcard, went back and gave it to him. He cried when he thanked me. I know it wasn't much but that 10$ made a difference in his life. I always keep little ziploc baggies of dog food in my car too and if I see some one whos begging with a skinny dog I give them a couple baggies- so at least their dog has something in its belly.

Even paradise has this problem. My cousin worked in Waikiki and took the bus to and from work. She told me of a story where she spoke to a local boy who begged for money at a red light everyday. She passed him when going to and fro. He told her that he gets over 100.00 within an hour. He then moves on to other lights an hour at a time for a few hours.

There is also a story here about a guy who begs at lights everyday and lives in a mansion!:eek:

But the best is this guy who I see all the time not to far from my town. Begging at a light walking with a limp(a really bad limp). One day I seen him RUNNING with his girlfriend to a bus stop because he didn't want to miss his bus. No limp, no nothing! ugh!

Give what you can when you can.

But beAware, you may be funding a drug addiction etc.

You may be truly helping someone in need.

People often do need help, seldom is it the help they are seeking.


After reading some of these posts I think I need to go to good will get the kids some used cloths and start hanging out on traffic corners, we'd make serious $...

I was just talking to my boyfriend about this over the weekend. A woman came up to me before I went into work and asked if I could spare some change for the bus cause she was 25 cents short. I only had 1 quarter so I gave it to her. Later in the day, saw her down the street peddling for money. I'm like ok you should be home by now...I told my boyfriend it's people like that, that give actual people in need a bad name.