I worked at a supermarket where one of our regular customers would buy all of her groceries with food stamps then she would get in her brand new XJ12 and drive home. Is the government providing Jaguars to people on welfare?

 

hahaha

 

Witness protection program.

 

That's my guess too.

In DC some panhandle and others appear homeless and sell roses at the freeway entrances. Supposedly at least one of them drove a fairly new Mercedes. A few bucks per light at a 2-3 minute interchange adds up to a lot of money with no taxes!

I have a hard time giving when the beggar is wearing clean new clothes, is clearly well fed and groomed, and/or feels entitled to my money. But otherwise, I'd rather give a few times to people that don't need it if that's the cost for the person that does need it. Sometimes I wonder if I'm part of a problem or a solution though.

 

[QUOTE=s2000raj,Mar 29 2010, 12:57 PM]I can smell a scam.

 

I once offereda homeless guy an apple. He refused. His sign said, "Please help. Hungry, God Bless."

#### giving him money.

 

i always offer food. when i get turned down i walk away. out of all the times i've been harassed, one guy actually did take me up.. i bought him some groceries

#### the scammers who ruin it for people who actually need help.

oh and the gas thing... i'll never give you a dime for gas, sorry. bullshit that you just happened to run out of gas right at the gas station

 

Several years ago I had a guy come up to me and my parents (from out of town) in a uptown shopping district and ask for a few bucks for gas. He had a story about running out of gas, just needed a few bucks to put in his gas can and he could get home.

I passed, but my dad gave him a ten. It's fine, I just wasn't buying the story right then. Ten minutes later I look out the window of a store and see the guy hoofing it back down the street with a heavy-ass gas can.

I was fixing a network once in a town about 150 miles away and when I got all done I was heading home and noticed I was almost on empty. My card got denied at the pump and inside at the counter from some mess-up at the hotel I staayed the week before. Luckily my brother lived there and was willing to bum me a $20 to get home. Not sure what I would have done if it happened somewhere else. Probably a drive-off instead of begging

I try and give money occasionally. It's not up to me to judge how deserving a person is, it's up to me to judge whether I'd want someone to help out me or someone I know, perhaps a family member. If a guy wants to spend it on beer and cigarettes, what do I care? I don't give to everybody, but if you are clean and dressed decently and act like this is a huge presumption for you to ask, you have a better chance because you obviously take care of yourself and it's not a habit.

 

on a side note, when I get someone asking me at a corner for some change or something, I usually tell them something along the lines of "at least you're broke, I'm in debt"

 

There was one time a guy asked me the same thing. The problem was just 30 seconds prior I saw him pocketed the money given to him by another gas station customer. When I told him no b/c I saw that he was given money less than a minute ago, he smoothly moved on to the next customer the pump over, no shame whatsoever about being caught lying.