HOW MUCH DO YOU GIVE AWAY PLEASE

[Alive-Cat]

EoFF Fantasy Forums Experience FF, how much of a giving person are you!?

I find myself very rarely donating to charities but mainly because I'm always paying off loans these days and yeah that's my excuse.

But I have a hatred of small change, sometimes even up to pound coins so, very often when the opportunity presents itself I'll usually dump all of my change into some convenient cause. Like those money boxes you get in corner shops, or the ones in McDonald's, etc.

The other day I was walking through the market and there's this old man who's played guitar and sung songs for years, since longer than I've been alive anyway. He was kind of standing there, falling asleep over the guitar. Impressively still standing though. At a couple of points he managed to strum a little.
Anyway, I had about eight pounds worth of change so I just walked up and threw it in the case. He thanked me, (really loads,) then immediately packed up and walked away.
I saw him later walking around in circles but he seemed really, really happy. AND he was finally actually singing.

How much do you tip in restaurants? I find it really awkward because I usually pay by card. Sometimes I ask whoever I'm with if it would be cool to leave the little bit of change I have on the table. They say no that's actually just taking the piss it's like 70p.

Do you tip taxi drivers? This is hard because I rarely get a taxi journey that's longer than however long ten pounds is. Otherwise I'll get a train. So it's usually around eight pounds for the taxi. I always say 'keep the change' but I always feel like I'm insulting them. like 'keep the change, lowly taxi driver bum, i know you need it'

In general are you generous with your money, or a huge stinking tight arse? :)

[Dat Matt]

It's very rare that I'll donate anything to charity. Ever. One time in recent memory was that I spent £12 on a £11.95 meal and put the 5p change in a bucket. This spans from 3 main instances with "Charity"

1. When I was younger walking through Glasgow with my brother, we were stopped by a lady from "Guranga". No idea what she was offering, but she said if I gave her £5 I could get a CD of the teaching of Guranga and a stress ball. I wanted the ball, so I gave her a pound. She refused to give me anything. I gave her £5 and she gave me a CD. She lied to my face bout the stress ball so I asked for my money back and she refused.
2. Roughly the same part of Glasgow, I was walking to the cinema and this guy walks up looking beaten up wearing dirty clothes holding a Coupon for McDonalds. He was asking for £1 so he could go to get some food. I refused and he looked distraught so I felt bad all day, even looked for him in the area an hour later but he was gone. Flash forward to a month later, and the guy was doing the exact same scam. Stopped us again. I was furious, and disappointed in myself for feeling bad, because everyone is a crook.
3. Again, Glasgow. I found £1 on the ground while walking to the train. A man walks up to me, we call them Jakies. Usually unclean, tracksuit wearing, drugged up etc. He was asking for £1 to get the bus back to Maryhill (a mile walk away, takes 20 minutes tops. I did it daily). Having just found £1, I gave it to him because why not. Seconds later, I see him sprinting down the street. Literally Usain Bolt style sprinting. He ran straight into the Bookies (Bookmakers) to gamble the pound I had just given him. To be fair I knew what he was going to do with the money, but it was hilarious to see him run for the bookies while I could still see him.

I have a strong dislike for "The Homeless" and "Charities" on the street, because most of them lie. I will probably give to medical charities / dog related charities in the future, but at the moment I don't. The trust is just not there having being lied to one to many times.

Edit - That being said though. I will tip well. People have offered me a service like Taxi Fair/Waiting on my table I'll give them a little extra. Usually +10% or rounded up to the nearest pound.

[Calliope]

2. Roughly the same part of Glasgow, I was walking to the cinema and this guy walks up looking beaten up wearing dirty clothes holding a Coupon for McDonalds. He was asking for £1 so he could go to get some food. I refused and he looked distraught so I felt bad all day, even looked for him in the area an hour later but he was gone. Flash forward to a month later, and the guy was doing the exact same scam. Stopped us again. I was furious, and disappointed in myself for feeling bad, because everyone is a crook.

I wonder what makes you think that this is someone being "a crook", and not just someone who is still in a bad situation a month later. McDonalds gives out coupons all the time, you know.

When I was a teenager/young adult I was heavily involved in charity work; both giving money to Greenpeace/Amnesty International/A couple of local animal rights/protection groups; and also doing volunteer work. The volunteer work I did ranged from running a shop/front office for an animal rights group, to getting people to sign petitions, staging demonstrations, or collecting money for charitable organizations. When I was in university I did an internship with Amnesty International, which is still probably the highlight of my career.

When I lived in a big city and had a full time job, I gave homeless people either food or money almost every day. I don't care if it's "a scam", and they spend it on booze or whatever - once I give it to them, it's their money; and part of the "gift" I am giving them is the autonomy to make a small decision during their day. I gave small amounts of money to charity (which I would back from tax rebates), and continued to do volunteer work.

Since moving overseas, I have stopped all of my charitable donations, and become much less politically active. I have done other kinds of volunteer work, but have relinquished that this year due to working two jobs and taking on graduate school. What I can continue to do is to be polite to solicitors and the homeless - I don't have any money to give them, usually; but I can look them in the eye, apologize, and wish them good luck. I would not want to be in their position, especially knowing that almost everyone I asked for help would think I was lazy or out to rob them blind, somehow.

I tip pretty well, which is mostly due to my not wanting to do math. I think these days I am most giving to my friends; I like to surprise them with cards and small notes to let them know they are important.

[Pumpkin]

If I have an income, some of my pay automatically gets donated

[Alive-Cat]

Doing actual charity work is something that I hope my life one day gets to the point that I'm able to do. Not always so easy to get into really if you have a lot going on. Maybe one day!

[Shorty]

I rarely donate actual funds to charity, but I do/have donated food, possessions and clothing to charities and people in need from life disasters, etc. I have volunteered in the past and have meant to for a long while but have not and I feel guilty about that. I've donated to animal shelters, to particular causes to help animals for surgeries or similar devastations, and a couple of political causes I stood behind. I used to give money to people asking on the streets, but no longer. I tip often and well.

I feel like I could be a more giving person, absolutely.

[Jess]

I like to donate to charity when I can. We hold a lot of fundraisers at work for various charities throughout the year and I always give what I can. If people I know are doing something for charity, I try to sponsor them.

I'd love to volunteer for a dog charity. I hope I find the time to do so soon! There's a high risk that I'd end up coming home with several dogs, though. :jess:

In regards to tipping, the tip I'll give is dependent on the service I receive.

I guess I'm generous to an extent, but I only give what I can afford. I don't spend money I don't have!

[Alive-Cat]

Something else I do, (often to the ridicule/shame of my friends,) is give money to random drug addicts on the street.

Basically, the area where I live in is pretty crappy. And something that often happens when you walk down the street is someone will approach you with some sort of story, 'can you lend me 50p for the payphone please i need to phone blah blah blah' sometimes these stories actually get to the point of 'my girlfriend is pregnant and having a baby right now give us money for a taxi' (where's the ambulance) etc. After living in the area for a while you actually get the SAME people approach you, often with the SAME excuses, but they've forgotten that they ever tried it on with you before.

Something I've always done is just give them the change. My brother does this also. I know what it's for. But I just think 'well i don't need the change' and mainly; they're gonna do it anyway. If they don't get the money from me they'll get it from somewhere else. If it makes them happy and they want to keep destroying their lives, well, it's up to them. I often part with change on that. Mainly I think better they get it from me, now, rather than when they get more desperate and hurt somebody. Controversial subject and not really related to the thread so much (and I could of made a whoooole new thread) but yeah.

[noxious.sunshine]

I once gave $5 to a homeless man. That evening, my ex and I got a letter in our door saying we had an $800 credit - we didn't have to pay any of January rent and only 1/2 of Feb.

There was always a homeless person posted up at the entrance.. If I went thru the drive thru for breakfast before work, I'd get a couple of egg mcmuffins from the dollar menu for them .

as far as tipping, I tend to grossly over tip, even if the service wasn't that great. That person might've had something happen that messed with their stride. And maybe having a decent tip will give them the push they need to do better. Like typically, we tip like 30% - 35%. If we go out to eat around Christmas and Thanksgiving, it jumps up to 40% or more. Cuz for every 1 of me, there's 90 other people that stiff.

I used to donate clothes to Goodwill regularly cuz there was a donation spot really close to my apartment, but I haven't done that in a long time.

And of course I tip taxi drivers. And stuff.

[Vasher]

Rarely ever, there aren't any homeless around here, except for one guy... I gave him money once, but shortly after I spotted him at the DMV. I had to go in to straighten out an issue with a car I imported and there he was, Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts, nice loafers. He was clean shaven, had his hair back in a tight ponytail. Looked very different than he does at the exit of the shopping center (I bet he's there now), but it was definitely him.

There was a kid ahead of me in line trying to buy a movie, but when he heard he was a few dollars short he looked totally devastated (he had ridden his skateboard to the mall just for that movie). I gave him the money he needed.

I gave $20 to a family standing outside Vallarta. Actually, I gave it to my son to give to the father. I knew how hard it must have been for him to stand there with his wife and kids asking for money. I felt handing it to him myself may have... I don't know how to explain it.

There was a man washing windows at a gas station. He appeared to have suffered some kind of trauma, or perhaps had lost his mind to drugs. His eyes weren't able to focus, looked as though he were looking in two different directions, possibly partially blind. The spray bottle looked like a combo of blue Windex and dirty gutter water, the wash rag wash black with filth. He started to wash my windshield, I said no thank you, but handed him $5, he mumbled an unintelligible "thank you" (a little difficult to understand him). I went inside, paid for my gas, pumped, and when I got in my car he knocked on my passenger window, only now he looked "different". His eyes were fine now, he looked right into mine, and very clear/well spoken said "I'm here on a mission, he sent me, and I wanted to tell you that you are one of the good ones"

Something similar had happened years before, but I thought nothing of it and forgot about it.

[Colonel Angus]

If I have an income, some of my pay automatically gets donated
Despite appearances, the government isn't a charity.

[Pumpkin]

Haha, no I mean I take money off of every paycheck to donate in some way shape or form xD

Also if I see someone needing groceries while I'm going to the grocery store, I always get like a cartload of stuff for them

[Dat Matt]

2. Roughly the same part of Glasgow, I was walking to the cinema and this guy walks up looking beaten up wearing dirty clothes holding a Coupon for McDonalds. He was asking for £1 so he could go to get some food. I refused and he looked distraught so I felt bad all day, even looked for him in the area an hour later but he was gone. Flash forward to a month later, and the guy was doing the exact same scam. Stopped us again. I was furious, and disappointed in myself for feeling bad, because everyone is a crook.

I wonder what makes you think that this is someone being "a crook", and not just someone who is still in a bad situation a month later. McDonalds gives out coupons all the time, you know

The coupons weren't the issue. It was the story. " I've just arrived from Edinburgh and I got mugged. I'm really hungry and I have this coupon for cheap McDonalds." First time he did it, heartbroken. I felt really bad dismissing him. Second time we saw him a month later. Exact same story, came from Edinburgh, mugged and hungry. Needs money for McDonalds.

Either he has the worst luck in the world, arrived in Glasgow for both reason TWICE got mugged twice and didn't call the police, or was lying.

[Pike]

I frequently buy games to donate to sick kids in hospitals via Child's Play Charity and the like.

[noxious.sunshine]

There was a family that dressed gross and made themselves look dirty, parade themselves around like they're homeless and beg for money...

.... Then walk a ways onto another street and hop into their Benz and take off.

Oh and I gave kristel a pair of my boots cuz I couldn't wear them. lol That was really donating to charity. Broke ass bitch.

[Pant Leg Eater from the Bad World]

Whenever I am at the register buying groceries or whatevs, if the cashier or the card machine ask me if I want to donate, I always do.

Always.

[Crop]

I never give money to those on the street, and I don't donate to any charity. Since I don't live in a country that expects me to tip, I never tip either.

[Madame Adequate]

I donate a bit here and there to charities, yeah. And if I have spare change or whatever I'll give it to a homeless person.

[Mercen-X]

As the mood strikes me... as a point of habit, I don't give things away if I can sell it instead... but as I don't like to hold garage sales or go to flea markets, and online is so unreliable in my experience, I pretty much have to settle for giving my stuff away when it piles up. I've given money to at least one person whom I couldn't determine whether his desperation was honest. These days, there are so many people on the streets with cardboard signs saying "no job", "homeless", "hungry", "help me", and nearly half of them are blue-collar fakers. I don't trust people I don't know. Hell, I don't really trust people I do know unless they've done something truly selfless for me. As a result of that lack of trust, I don't even like asking people for help as, like Sheldon Cooper, I fear they'll expect me to repay that favor in spades.

[Loony BoB]

Regular donations: I've done this for Huntington's Disease and currently donate towards WWF on a monthly basis to help save jaguars.

Recent other donation: I just donated NZ$20 towards the 40 Hour Famine as my sister and her entire family (husband/daughters/son) are all eating nothing but rice for 40 hours to highlight issues in Malawi.

General nature: I am a tight bastard with money, but I save so I can give. When people come over to Edinburgh and/or when I go to visit friends, I try to buy them things where possible, like food and drinks and whatnot. But yeah, all other times I'm not instinctively giving.

Tips: I tip where I feel a tip is earned, because in the UK minimum wage is a thing that is enforced equally for waiters just as it is for anyone else in another occupation. I regularly tip (generally around £5) at most restaurants because most restaurants I go to offer good service. I tip with taxi drivers, too. Generally £1-2.

I don't give money to the homeless and there are so many buskers in Edinburgh that it's rare for me to stumble across one that I simply must dish out some coins to. But it can happen! Slow saxophone dude on Rose Street during an 11:30pm sunset was just perfect, wish I'd have given him more in retrospect as that was a moment I never forgot, it was like something out of the movies.

[Aulayna]

I used to donate about £100 a month to various charities when I lived in the UK. Having lost family members to cancer I donated a lot to Cancer Research UK and also used to donate a fair amount to Shelter and a handful of smaller charities.

These days I just give whatever loose change I have to local charities and the local cats and dogs shelter. Living on my own is great, but I have very little money to donate to good causes right now.

[escobert]

I donate a dollar at registers now and then. I donate to local kick-starters like the one to save our nearby Drive in theater.


I'm just very picky and want "the most bang for my buck".

[krissy]

20 for UNICEF/month
40 for MSF/month
20 for a local sexual assault support center/month

Used to buy stuff from oxfam for Xmas

Used to buy heartt and stroke lottery if that counts

[Night Fury]

I have a similar story to Mr Shauna's...

One night I was walking to meet my pals to go eat, and a guy came up to me and asked me for some money for some food, I genuinely didn't have anything on me, so I politely told him I couldn't as I only had my card. His response was to follow me and shout "Well you can buy me a smurfing meal then can't you?!" Unfortunately, these people are rife around Newcastle, I know a guy who took out his wallet to offer the guy some change and he swiped it and ran off... Or they will ask for change and if they see a note, they'll ask for that instead. These people are criminals and it's a shame that they're ruining it for people who are actually really in need of money.

Anyway, I give about $15 pm automatically to IFAW, and if I'm ever out shopping and see a charity raffle or something I'll always buy a few tickets. I think this month I've probably given about $60 to charity, which isn't a lot really but you know, I try to help out with what little I do have.

I've recently thought about taking on some foster cats that need a home until they're adopted, but it's a big commitment so I need to think about it some more.

[escobert]

If any if any of you would like to give to a good cause check this out only a day or two left!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/180189302/save-the-fairlee-drive-in-0

"We are an iconic motel/drive-in theater serving small rural communities in the Upper Valley of the Connecticut River, in Vermont and New Hampshire, searching for a way to pay for the movie industry's switch from 35mm film to digital.

We're one of only two motel/drive-ins left in America -- and we're looking for you to help save an incredibly rare species: us.

Our drive-in & motel also has the unique addition of a snack shack open during movie times that serves our own "Thunderburgers" made from beef from our own cows. Yes, our family, the Trapps, own a farm just across the river from Fairlee, and when we're not busy with the motel or theater, we raise our own cattle. Even the coffee, butter, and whipped cream we serve is from Vermont."


A video about the situation made by Honda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh2ULhXtqYU#t=50

[Calliope]

I have a similar story to Mr Shauna's...

One night I was walking to meet my pals to go eat, and a guy came up to me and asked me for some money for some food, I genuinely didn't have anything on me, so I politely told him I couldn't as I only had my card. His response was to follow me and shout "Well you can buy me a smurfing meal then can't you?!" Unfortunately, these people are rife around Newcastle, I know a guy who took out his wallet to offer the guy some change and he swiped it and ran off... Or they will ask for change and if they see a note, they'll ask for that instead. These people are criminals and it's a shame that they're ruining it for people who are actually really in need of money.

Anyway, I give about $15 pm automatically to IFAW, and if I'm ever out shopping and see a charity raffle or something I'll always buy a few tickets. I think this month I've probably given about $60 to charity, which isn't a lot really but you know, I try to help out with what little I do have.

I've recently thought about taking on some foster cats that need a home until they're adopted, but it's a big commitment so I need to think about it some more.

I just cannot understand this attitude that homeless people are criminals. It isn't a crime to ask someone for money, or to ask them for more money. It is a crime, obviously, to take someone's wallet and yes, it is a shame that some people ruin it for everyone. However, I'd argue that it's more of a shame to let one or two people who are so desperate for help that they are rude, flippant or steal; ruin so many people's sense of goodwill and genuine generosity. People ask me for money or help all the time - but it's asking. It's not a demand, even if someone is begging. They are asking you for help and you have the autonomy to say yes or no, so there's no need to be offended or rude, anyone. If you've ever worked in sales you'll know how abysmal that can be - let alone doing the job without food or medicine, on the street, with everyone looking down on you for having the wherewithal to try to do something - anything - to better your situation, even if only for a few moments you might have a cup of coffee or a cigarette. It doesn't diminish a person to be kind.

[Pumpkin]

I remember a man near the bus station (greyhound bus not city bus) who told me he was in a rough spot and needed a few hundred dollars for a ticket out of the city. I didn't have any cash but I was headed to the greyhound bus station myself so I offered to pay for his ticket with my debit card. he said no and walked away. I'm not sure why he did that.

Also, I've been in positions when I was very young (under 10) where I needed to beg for change for a "payphone to call my mom" because the person who was supposed to be taking care of me spent all of his money on drugs and alcohol and I literally had no food. Neither did his son. So I would ask for payphone quarters and buy cheap stuff like ramen noodles.

That is part of why I hate refusing to help someone

[Colonel Angus]

I remember a man near the bus station (greyhound bus not city bus) who told me he was in a rough spot and needed a few hundred dollars for a ticket out of the city. I didn't have any cash but I was headed to the greyhound bus station myself so I offered to pay for his ticket with my debit card. he said no and walked away. I'm not sure why he did that.

Because it's a scam. Seriously, there are people who go around town here saying they're from "Seattle" or something & that they need $400 to get their car fixed/buy a replacement train/plane ticket or whatever.

[Ayen]

I don't. I'm a hoarder. I hoard things. I couldn't even part with stuff I don't use in a garage sale. If I gave you something you must be pretty cool.

I don't go to restaurants or anything by myself so I'm never the one to have to worry about the tip.