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smittenkitten
04-05-2008, 07:54 PM
In Edinburgh there are beggars everywhere. Everywhere you look in the city centre there is sure to be a beggar sitting down on some cardboard or with his dog. They say that being a beggar is a profession and they actually go on holidays. I'm sure that they aren't all like that though.


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y179/Reaha/beggardog.jpg

So do you give or ignore? :mog:

Garnie
04-05-2008, 07:56 PM
most of the time in derby the beggers are js drug addicts but there is this one old old bloke that never ask's for money or anything i will give a ciggy to if im passing

cloud21zidane16
04-05-2008, 07:56 PM
I ignore, you cant really trust anyone.

Cookie
04-05-2008, 07:57 PM
Some guy was sitting on the ground near where I live once so we threw chocolate at him and he ate some and then he tried to chase us but he was drunk. It was pretty funny.

It makes me feel dead awkward when I'm walking through Manchester and some guy is sitting on a box playing an accordion in the pouring rain.

Hambone
04-05-2008, 08:09 PM
There are many beggars in Austin where I live too. I find it more irritating than sad though. They walk along the side of the road holding signs that describe their many faults in life with grammatical errors added in for laughs. Many beggars in fact aren't really beggars at all. Some do it for a living and often make more money than other jobs pay. In other words, these pseudo beggars aren't really poor at all. They have nice homes and make lots of money begging. Part of me says it's sick and part of me says it's also pretty ingenious.

Sergeant Hartman
04-05-2008, 08:09 PM
Stalking beggers now are we?

Zeldy
04-05-2008, 08:10 PM
I don't live in a city, so I when I see one it's weird and I try to avoid them as much as possible.

Hambone
04-05-2008, 08:14 PM
Stalking beggers now are we?

...You can't prove ANYTHING...

Roto13
04-05-2008, 08:24 PM
I never give them money, but I will sometimes give them food if I happen to have some on me. One time the cafeteria where I worked was going to throw away a bunch of sammiches because we were going to be closed for a few days so I took them and handed them out to homeless people. They were weird. xP

Polaris
04-05-2008, 08:26 PM
I don't know it depends on the beggar and depends if I have money

Ouch!
04-05-2008, 08:28 PM
Like Roto, I won't give out money. I'm not opposed to buying them some food or something. I'd like to know that the money I give them isn't going to alcohol or drugs.

scrumpleberry
04-05-2008, 08:28 PM
I feel dead awkward no matter what I do. I don't really have a policy on beggars, it's whatever I feel like.

Agrias
04-05-2008, 08:31 PM
I'm such a fatty eater that i'm pretty much always hungry, so its my hunger, or their "hunger".

Shiny
04-05-2008, 08:31 PM
I throw beggars into groups of scholars.

Heath
04-05-2008, 08:47 PM
I'll give money sometimes if I've got any change but usually nothing terribly substantial. I feel bad for them for having to beg in the first place. I'd rather give them some food or drink instead, but it's not the sort of thing I tend to have on me.

I've bought a copy of the Big Issue in the past which is slightly different, I suppose. Magazine wasn't terribly interesting, but I didn't really buy it because I wanted to read it.

rubah
04-05-2008, 08:52 PM
when I was in london, we were walking down an alley and one of our group nearly tripped over a man in a sleeping bag. Freaked her out.

Araciel
04-05-2008, 08:53 PM
I don't give to beggars.

About them goin on holidays...well I think it depends on the person.

Blue Harvest
04-05-2008, 09:24 PM
I ignore beggers. Why should I give them my hard-earned cash? They want some they should work for it.


Granted I'll probably take this back in a few years after my mother kicks me out and I end up a begger myself :p

Værn
04-05-2008, 10:40 PM
Stryker is waaay too small, I've never seen a beggar or bum here. Except my brother.

Kes
04-05-2008, 10:49 PM
I'll give money to the street musicians and such but no one who begs. It's especially annoying when there's no way to avoid them stopping you and telling you a whole story.

G3ORGE
04-05-2008, 11:12 PM
Dont belive in Karma then? :p

Balzac
04-05-2008, 11:26 PM
That guy has the best shorts ever.

I give them money if they are playing an instrument.

Disco Potato
04-05-2008, 11:31 PM
I've never seen a beggar where I live (though apparently there have been some - there's a rumor among kids that the police take them all to Santa Ana :eyebrow:), but I visited Pakistan for a while last summer and I saw a lot there. The people I was with there were always locals, and they said to ignore the beggars, partly because of things like what Hambone said:


Many beggars in fact aren't really beggars at all. Some do it for a living and often make more money than other jobs pay. In other words, these pseudo beggars aren't really poor at all. They have nice homes and make lots of money begging.

The people I spent time with there said other things about beggars, like how they'd kidnap and injure babies and use them to gain sympathy. I still wonder how much of it all is true :-/

Peegee
04-05-2008, 11:33 PM
They have to be offering a service for me to give money, and that's really dependent on my mood whether I do. I used to give them money until I started to earn my own money...then I started to look at them with dismay.

It's odd that I would expect them to get jobs and stuff but they wouldn't be in this situation if they had jobs. Drives me insane and I just resort to the 'if you give them money you aren't showing them how to survive on their own' argument. Similar to how we've been giving money to impoverished nations for decades now with no result.

Jings
04-05-2008, 11:47 PM
We actually met a beggar and his dog just like that when I was in Edinburgh with my girlfriend. I wanted to ignore but, feeling more sympathy for the dog than the man, my girlfriend went to Mcdonalds and bought them a Happy Meal. I'm convinced they use those bloody dogs as a tactic to score money off of animal lovers.

Academic
04-05-2008, 11:50 PM
I usually just ignore people who're begging for money, and or say I don't have any. One time on the freeway on ramp I gave some left overs from PF Changs (chinese restaurant) to this dude who was standing there with a sign. I don't mind so much giving them a bottle of water or food, but money is a different story.

Tallulah
04-06-2008, 02:45 AM
There are at least 3 Big Issue (magazine whose aims and sale are to help the homeless) vendors in the High Street alone, and there is a Nomad Society shelter available, and YMCA nearby.

There was a fellow in Lewisham, London, near to where I used to live; he used to beg near the bus station. He would disappear for brief periods; my dad would joke he had made enough money to go to California.:p

Madame Adequate
04-06-2008, 02:49 AM
If I'm in a really superb mood I'll give them some change, otherwise I walk past as though they weren't even people.

Randgris
04-06-2008, 07:21 AM
As long as they stay 10 feet away from me they're fine...

Relapse
04-06-2008, 07:46 AM
I ignore, not much beggars where I live (Singapore). And I don't really care about them anyway.

Breine
04-06-2008, 11:47 AM
It varies. Seeing a beggar always breaks my heart, so if I have some change I always tend to give it to them.