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.