Do you give money to "homeless" vagrants?

[RKM]

While my daughter was going through college she worked at Benigans down by Meridian and Reno in OKC. The wife and I would often go by to see her, have dinner and a couple of drinks. We would often see the "homeless" down on the corners begging for food with their "God Bless" signs. One of them came into Benigans, ordered a steak dinner with all the fixins and several mixed drinks. My daughter approached him, asked him if he was one of the guys on the corner and how he had the money to order such large amounts of food and drink. He actually laughed at her and told her he made more money begging than she ever would by working.
They will never get a dime from me.

 

[NINEROUND]

I have on a couple occassions, but won't ever again. Get a job if you want money. Last I heard, panhandling was against the law....maybe the cops need to be called on the ones that are always at the same spots?

 

[kinggabby]

My ex-SIL changed it for me . She had her a corner and a nice little sign. She thought work was beneath her. She told me she could make $100 or more a day just holding the sign. And that was back in the mid 90's .

 

[XD-9Guy]

Nope. I'll buy someone a meal & might hire them to cut my grass if they want to work for some money but I don't ever give money to panhandlers.

 

[Blinocac200sx]

I make em earn it. One time I was in Atlanta, and a guy showed me the way to the restaurant I was looking for. I figured it was worth a few bucks.

 

[zseese]

No, but I'll donate cash or goods to Goodwill and occasionally volunteer at the Regional Foodbank, which is a great charity that helps a lot of needy children...

 

[JB Books]

I make em earn it.

I'm glad you clarified that for all of us.

 

[BadgeBunny]

I have on a couple occassions, but won't ever again. Get a job if you want money. Last I heard, panhandling was against the law....maybe the cops need to be called on the ones that are always at the same spots?

Not in OKC ... which is a bummer if you ask me ...

 

[HSIG]

There use to be a guy that would pull up to the intersection of I-240 and S. Penn in a new Ford Focus with 4 other panhandlers in the car with him, he would assign ea. person a corner and
they would rotate every hour while he sat in the car and talked on the phone, sometimes he would go into the Hooter's and wait in the A/C while they worked (joke) I guess he was a panhandler pimp.

 

[HMFIC]

On the way to the gunshow a few months back, there was a panhandler in one of their typical Tulsa hot spots at the corner of the westbound offramp to Yale that dumps you onto a light at 31st st.

I noticed that he had his sign up and after a quick glance, my mind registered one of the signs that I hate the most... the whole 'would rather beg than steal' mumbo jumbo that hits me the wrong way. I ignored him the best I could especially given the fact that the sign would just irritate me further.

Then...

My brain must have kicked into subliminal alert mode.

I felt compelled to do a double take. Something didn't add up.

On further review, his sign said "WOULD RATHER BEG THEN STEAL"

I couldn't help myself... I busted up laughing at his spelling error until I realized that perhaps he was serious...

Maybe his daily structure consists of begging, THEN stealing.