LOL! Best retort I have heard yet from a homeless guy.

[Cleita]

At the market today a homeless man was panhandling for money. A woman, who had previously exited out of a giant SUV, yelled at him,

"Why don't you get a job."

The homeless guy shot back without missing a beat,

"This is my job and you are preventing me from doing my work."

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[babylonsister]

1. What a lovely X-mas spirit that woman showed.

:eyes:

[NoSheep]

2. I heard someone respond to something similar by saying:

Because I'm mentally ill. That one was fairly to the point as well.

[BOSSHOG]

3. A trophy wife without a job????

[Ganja Ninja]

6. That's what I was thinking too.

Some rich woman that's never had to support herself.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Undoubtedly, she's slaving away emptying bedpans or picking lettuce.

When not getting her nails done and shopping.

[Virginia Dare]

5. Another compassionate Repuke no doubt...

and a fine Christian lady...:eyes:

What's her job, trophy wife?

[skipos]

7. 33% of homeless males are veterans.

She probably had a "support our troops" magnet on her car.

[hippiechick]

9. Bingo.

:(

[Cleita]

10. As a matter-of-fact she did. n/t

[irislake]

25. Too wonderful

Not to stereotype but alas kind of predictable.

[irislake]

24. Bang on

I'll bet you are right. Sad. Some people are shameless.

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Now THAT made me laugh out loud.

Good for him.

[itsmesgd]

11. call me a ....whatever, but I throw these guys a few bucks

I started when I lived in New Orleans and the homeless and panhandlers had game. They wouldnt just scream at you, but instead would do something funny or have a talent or tell jokes, or even insult-humorously people who would tell them to piss off. I don't give money to the guys at the highway intersections who stand at the same place day after day, but I wil help a guy out when I see that they have all of their possessions on their back and look very road-worn.

Plus, I've had times when I could see myself in their shoes. What's a few bucks? How much do we waste everyday on garbage anyway? I don't care if they even spend it on booze. If my life was that bad, I'd hit the bottle at every turn.

Remember that these people are PEOPLE. They have been thrown away by society, but each of us can be better than that.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

12. i agree..if i had nothing to lose...drugs and alcohol would be my friends..

[Mythsaje]

13. Some comedian mentioned that...

"You're just going to spend it on drugs and alcohol." But, then again, he said "What the hell? That's probably all I was going to spend it on myself."

Or something like that.

I will often toss a couple of bucks to someone. I've done a little panhandling in my day. If I have it to spare, I don't regret giving a few dollars to someone who needs it.

[Arkansas Granny]

14. Regardless what they decide to spend it on, it doesn't diminish

the generousity of the giver.

[xchrom]

15. indeed -- once i give it -- and i do --

it's none of my bees-wax.

[Patiod]

21. Was at an outdoor bar one summer

It was on a busy urban street, and the bar property was separated from the street by a low wall.

Someone came by panhandling, and one the guys we were with said "he's just going to spend it on booze!" Which made us all laugh, since he was clutching a cup of beer at the time....

[Cleita]

30. So what.

If you had to sleep under a bridge and live without even basic ammenities like a toilet and a bed, you'd drink too.

[Patiod]

34. No, the guy who was saying "don't give him money" had the beer

That's what was so funny.

[Cleita]

35. Okay, now I get it. n/t

[irislake]

27. Me too

and the comedian's coment has made my day. Together with the panhandler's retort.

[Raksha]

39. I really like your attitude...I guess it's because it's my attitude too.

Re >>Plus, I've had times when I could see myself in their shoes. What's a few bucks? How much do we waste everyday on garbage anyway? I don't care if they even spend it on booze. If my life was that bad, I'd hit the bottle at every turn.<<

I've also had times when I've been very close to being in their shoes...too damn close for comfort! So I figure that in the long run it's worth it to help them buy whatever it takes get through another day, so that hopefully one day they will get substantial help and a way out of their situation.

[Lizardking1]

16. What the heck?

It's the holiday season. Lots of people throw money away on booze and food. Why shouldn't the homeless have a little fun too?

As other posters have noted, it's so ironic that that woman saying "Get a job" was probably a trophy wife/soccer mom who's never worked a day in her life.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

17. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[sui generis]

18. well we have panhandlers here

not every panhandler is homeless, but there are some intersections here where you would think you were getting on or off the tollway; they get belligerent.

Plus I saw one guy who I've always seen sitting in a wheelchair (for the past three years) looking pitiful up on both missing legs walking down the street behind the grocery store, hallelujua! It was a miracle. They looked strangely unbionic.

I give as the mood takes me. After all these years of doing it I have come to realize a couple of things:

1. many truly homeless people are truly nuts. Chicken or egg arguments aside, most people who are truly nuts don't usually panhandle - they can barely take care of themselves.

2. many panhandlers are scam artists. The ones that bother me the most: the ones carrying around puppies, kittens and pitiful looking pets. They never have them for very long. And they're "homeless" and willing to work for food for years and years and years. I give more often to new faces. I don't give outside of stores, and I give generously to shelters and organizations that help people down on their luck.

Some years ago I owned (and lived in) a 10,000 sf warehouse space with a store in it in Deep Ellum here in Dallas. One cold late wintery night I ran down to the 7-11 on Gaston to pick up a gallon of milk and there was an old woman standing out there, shivering, crying, nose running. I gave her a twenty and told her I'd be right back.

I went back to the warehouse, grabbed an unused comforter, put a bowl of chili in some tupperware, grabbed an old ski jacket, a sweater, some great warm gloves, and came back to give it to her. I also had contact numbers for Community Council of Greater Dallas, a emergency social worker's name to call, and more money.

She put on the sweater and gloves and jacket and hat. I got her something to drink. She told me about her sad sad tale, how she was the victim of incest, and extortion and murder and double taxation. After hearing the lurid tale, I wished her luck, told her to call the numbers to get into a warm place and left.

A couple of hours later, we had after hours guests and I had run back out to get some sodas and cigs and there she was, 2:00 a.m., standing in front of the 7-11 in her blouse again, shivering and weeping and offering to tell me the lurid tale of extortion and murder and double taxation. I asked her what happened to the clothes I gave her. She suddenly recognized me and said "I sold them, go away!" I asked her if she had called those numbers, and she said she hadn't and she wouldn't and told me to go away, quite angrily, because people at this point had stopped chunking money in her poor pitiful shivering cup.

She did this routine for the entire rest of the spring, shivering and weeping even when it was too warm to possibly be shivering. By then she was into crack or meth or something and had gone from corpulent and relatively fresh faced to toothless, stringly haired auschwitz with cracked seamy face and rheumy eyes. What do you do? Are we supposed to do?

I don't feel guilty any more like I used to. If you're going to not do it, don't feel guilty about it. If you do it, or don't do it, then don't feel guilty about it. Use your judgement. Helping some people is better than helping no people and helping everyone is probably helping more scam artists than helping some people.

[texastoast]

19. There ARE scam artists

who are quite capable of being productive, but who choose not to.

I've learned to buy meals for those who panhandle. Many of them are very appreciative of the food, and others just ignore me when I offer. Go figure.

[nini]

23. There's a guy by us who has the wheelchair thing going on too

for the longest time he stood on the median of major intersections with his 'homeless' sign. I always noticed he had better shoes on than I did and was always clean shaven. Over time he'd move to different areas. I'd see him 7-8 miles in another direction but always the same general area.

Then he graduated to the wheelchair crap - still clean and decently dressed.

He has been seen going in and out of a fairly nice apt with his kids, and shopping at grocery stores - he is definitely not hurting like he would like people to think.

It amazes me he has miracle cures from that wheelchair when he's not panhandling.

I've heard he makes at least 200-500 dollars a day and it's tax free.

he's got a good thing going on and it annoys the hell out of me because there are truly needy people out there that could really use the dollars he's getting from well meaning people.

You're right.. be suspicious to a point and give to groups you know are helping those in need.

[Cleita]

32. If you know a guy is a scam artist, then don't give him anything,

but please give the others the benefit of the doubt. Most are very much in need and sometimes their mental illnesses prevent them from receiving the help that is out there because they aren't thinking straight.

[nini]

46. I haven't given him a dime, but I have given money and bought meals

No worries.. I don't let my disgust for him affect my compassion for those truly in need.

[Cleita]

29. Sorry, but most of these people are in need.

I remember back in the sixties when people didn't mind giving money to flower children because they were young, cute and white. These were truly scam artists. This is how the Manson family supported themselves. But back then we took care of our mentally ill and handicapped.

The Jarvis ammendment, Proposition 13, ended all of that in California and then it spread to all the other states. Once you become homeless you don't have a say in the laws passed because it's very hard to vote when you don't have an address or transportation to get to the polls.

Thousands of mentally ill and handicapped were thrown out into the street with nowhere to go. Then several years later, the VA closed many of the old soldiers homes because of military budget cuts under President Reagan. These old vets of WWII and the Korean War were thrown out into the streets.

Please don't blame the victims here.

[sui generis]

38. ermm please don't be judgemental

and don't accuse me of blaming victims; that has nothing to do with ANYTHING I said. You attempted to grandstand at my expense. Not allowed.

I know as much about deinstitutionalization as you do Cleita, and possibly more since I was living in NYC at the time it went into effect in New York State, the first horrific winter with people freezing to death in doorways and on steam grates. I won't attempt to quote a number but when I was young and very naive and making way too much money as bartender at Studio 54, I walked out some nights with $7 - $800 in cash and gave twenties to anyone who asked, and everyone who asked. I used to give every place anyone asked for money when I got to Dallas. I never ever said no. It's just as I got older and lived with an MSSW and saw the reality of these people from the other side that I took off the rose colored glasses.

I understand compassion, but my compassion is not blind. You cannot help everyone. But if you do so put money where it is most effective, and that's not always directly in the hands of the people panhandling for it, and you must know that.

How many dollar givers at the grocery store forget to give to local charity and to United Way because they "gave at the office"?

They helped one or two people. How many people who bring food to the food banks rather than giving them money to buy at deep discounts are doing the most effective thing? I bring turkeys and seasonal food that the food shelters don't buy or don't get discounts on, but I also give cash.

Nobody is blaming victims, but I'm also not saying everyone gets a pass. If you see someone out there year after year after year, they are not for real, at least not in Dallas. If you want to see real homeless people who need help, go directly to the shelters and give them money and assistance. Those people are homeless and most of them do not panhandle.

[Cleita]

41. I used to do the same when I worked as a bartender.

I certainly didn't get the tips you did but I did get enough to pass some of it along. I didn't care if they spent it on drinks, sometimes I even bought them a drink at the bar. One homeless guy, a young Vietnam vet even traded a fresh pineapple he had for a couple of beers. I even saw many of my clientele who were marginal, but worked and had a rental to live in, become homeless during the big Real Estate boom of the late seventies and early eighties.

I am against institutionalized charity like the United Way though and I really don't contribute to those "non-profits" because too much of the money doesn't go directly to those in need but to solicit donations with slick and costly adverstising. I would rather put my money in the hands of the needy. How they spend it is their business.

I know some people beg for a living and if they are found out to be doing that then you shouldn't give them money, but you know that there are always rotten apples with schemes who make it bad for the others who are in need. You just can't point a finger at one abuser and then paint the whole demography with that picture.

[HEyHEY]

20. I love how people don't understand

That being homeless is much, much harder than working. As if people would make the choice to beg for money, eat out of garbage cans, and sleep on the street to avoid working.

"Anyone can get a job, it takes a man to make it without working." - Bukowski

[Vinca]

40. Are those polar bear cubs??? What sweet, little creatures. nt

[Eurobabe]

22. Oh what will those homeless people think of next?

[The Anti-Neo Con]

26. That's pretty funny!

I would have offered to buy him some lunch after hearing him give that lady a retort like that.

[Cleita]

28. I pretty poor myself, retired and on a fixed income, but I did give

him a couple of dollars.

[aikoaiko]

31. How was she preventing him from panhandling? nt

[Cleita]

33. Oh, puleeze it was just his little joke on her.

But if you think about it, while he's interacting with her, people he could beg from are walking past him and away possibly losing him alms.

[Monkeyman]

36. Send her for a wake up call

http://www.helpaveteran.org

[Coyote_Bandit]

37. I used to work in financial services

for a large multinational in another state. Among other things, I managed trust investments. We had a client who was a trust beneficiary that routinely panhandled and begged for money on various roadsides and street corners around town. I observed the panhandling success of this wealthy trust beneficiary over an extended period of time (years). Same client, incidentally, spent some time in prison for a crime of theft.

I firmly believe in giving and trying to help other people. But I choose to give either through various organizations who vet the benefactors or if I can do so anonymously I will give directly to needy folks I know or who are known by family and friends.

[Cleita]

42. Like I said in another post, there are always those who scam

a practice or a system and make it bad for the majority who really have needs. But should you deny all because of one?

When I lived in Santa Monica there was a homeless woman who had become a local celebrity of sorts because it turns out she was very rich but also mentally ill. No one could get her off the streets, yet she kept her money at a local bank and would be seen standing in the teller line to withdraw funds to get by the day. Every now and then the police had to make her cut down on the number of shopping carts she was pushing around to two of them.

But these are exceptions. I believe most homeless people are grateful for anything you can do to help out and they would rather not be in those circumstance. Some of the homeless in my neighborhood back then collected aluminum cans to cash in but the redemption place was a long walk, so I often offered to take the cans for them when I had time. They were very appreciative.

[Coyote_Bandit]

44. I give

to various organizations that help those they know to be needy including the homeless.

I also give anonymously to people I personally know to be needy. I have left cash and shopping cards under doors. Paid and pre-paid medical, vet and utility bills. And mortgage and rent payments. Arranged for a variety of goods to be delivered. Arranged long-term housing (now over two years) for a disabled man who had no family, no health insurance and was physically incapable of holding employment.

In many ways, generosity is its own reward. I do not have the wealth or the resources to help all who are needy. However, I feel that I am responsible to use my funds as effectively as I can. To me, that means that I should try to avoid the scammers in order to benefit the truly needy. The problem is identifying the needy. I prefer to rely upon personal knowledge and organizations who have knowledge of need. Granted, it doesn't include everyone who is needy but it does include some who might not otherwise seek out any kind of assistance and, hopefully, it eliminates the scammers.

There are many ways to give and be generous.

[Phrogman]

43. Also we can thank Ronnie Raygun for closing down all the US Public Health Hospitals

That led to a huge overnight increase in mentally ill on the streets.

[Cleita]

45. That and union busting. The two acts that contributed to the

poverty we see in this country today and we are not a poor country. We need to do better.

[tinfoil tiaras]

47. I bet she was the only passenger in her SUV

:eyes: Typical repuke.

I love that homeless guy. That lady was a bitch. You either give the homeless guy money, food, etc or you don't. You don't act bitchy to someone you don't know. That's just stupid.