Do you give change to the homeless?
 

Whenever i get to go for groceries there is this homeless guy playing his Harmonica. Little dog with him, staring at me with these sad watery eyes.

I cant help but throw in some money every single time, and he off course wishes me all the best and health and whatever.

Any of you suckering for this too? Or is it just because im not used to 100s of them on every corner :)

I flip em a loonie now and then

Yes.

If its obvious they're drunk or under the influence, no.

I'm usually the guy sat in the gutter, with my hand outstretched...

First time i heard that term was during my roadtrip 4 weeks canada couple of monthd ago lol.

Guy asked for a loonie and i responded "whatcha callin me?", then my girl quickly told me it was a dollar lol :)

Anyway, i was in a lama monestary for 2 weeks some years ago, and learned a lot about karma.

Just dont give because you expect something back ;)

It depends. If he looks like a drug addict (real skinny, looks kinda like a zombie), No.

If he looks like the typical bum, pushing a supermarket cart around with all kinds of crap in it, Yes.

We actually have a homeless guy in town that we help a lot.

His bicycle was stolen and we bought him another one with a better chain and two locks. We also give him food or a couple of dollars. We've seen him go spend the money on food.

He is a nice and grateful guy. He only comes out at night because his skin is so damaged by the sun. We see him plenty and he's never appeared to be anything but 100% sober.

I am happy to help people like that.

Nope....

No I dont.

Getting ready for new gig Frisky?

Same here, if they ask politely why not.

Some people though are rude or have a tone of entitlement in their voice, they get nothing.

I do every time. They can be smelling of booze or whatever. I don't attempt to play judge on what they might use it for. If I have it to give, I give it.

Good money in busking / begging / stinking of piss if they get the right location.

Never. Because most likely they spend it on booze. And if I see healthy man begging for money I know that he could work if he wanted. Why should I encourage him?

I don't like to encourage it so as a rule, no. But once in a while I might have a weak moment. Every single person that ever *approached* me for money was capable of working in my opinion and should be. Not to mention there's no reason to be homeless in this country (Canada).

Not usually. I'd rather give them food or clothes instead of money to buy more beer.

I did however give the bus boy at IHop this past weekend a nice tip. Wife and I noticed he was busting his ass since the place was packed and working a lot harder than any of the lazy ass waitresses. Hopefully I made his holiday a little bit better. Not too often you see people actually working anymore, just doing enough to get by.

In Montreal I deal with those everyday. With time, you realize half of them are teens that fled from home to make a buck during school break. Funny thing is that their personal "rebellion" always end at the same time as when winter starts. They return home, enjoy their 80m square suburban room and return in the streets the next spring.

The real homeless out there, are the one that don't beg for money. They are so desperate at the bottom of the barrel that They hide in a corner.

To those, I give.

I just buy them a bottle of cheap booze or bottle of beer.

..only if the change in my pocket is jingling too much and annoying me when I'm out trying to spend money.

i just leave money for people sleeping on the street

sometimes I do, sometimes not. A few weeks ago some guy was asking, so gave him all the change in my pocket, came to over a dollar or more. So he looks at it, looks at me and says, Hey man you got more ? I said WHAT ? He did'nt think I gave him enough, so I'm just sort of taken back by this and said WTF man , if you dont want the fucking thing, give it back NOW and grabbed for the money back....... he says no no no man.......... no thanks, no nothing, pissed me off.:mad:

Only when coming back from a bars as alcohol makes me more generous.

Why you have nothing better to do with your money?

Thats a common misunderstanding.

Lot of them bumped onto the streets for various reasons, but to get back in society and get a real job again etc etc is VERY difficult.

Think about it, you dont have a home, no adress, no bankaccounts. How would you want to get a job?

Would never give money to a bum with a sign or whatever just standing there.

I do give money to buskers if they sound good.

If they're just standing or sitting there doing nothing but asking for change with a sign then no.

If they're at least trying to be creative or can make me laugh or something then I'll give them like 5 bucks, which rarely happens. If I gave every bum change that I run into it would add up pretty fast, $5 here and there to the ones who look like they're at least trying is actually cheaper.

The ones that drive me nuts are the ones in the median with a sign that walk back and forth. They get nothing.

There is a one legged guy I could easily feel sorry for and give money to but he is always shit faced drunk.

It's always amazed me how many homeless people there are in Montreal with our bitter winters. I lived downtown for 10 years and went out for a walk just about every night with a pocket full of quarters, it was like feeding animals at the zoo:winkwink:

I would talk to a few of the regulars, buy them a hot dog and fries from time to time.

I have always felt very blessed and live very well, I think it's important to give back. Every Christmas eve I go out and give out blankets, hats, gloves and socks. I get donations from a few stores and buy some stuff, I usually budget $250 for the night. Whatever is left over goes to the mission.

After the first year I learned socks are one of the most appreciated items. More issues stem from wet feet that I ever thought of, I leaned something from chatting with the guys!

As for the wanna be emo punk kids, they don't get a fucking dime from me.

i might have used to, but the same shithead begs everyday. looks the part, dresses it, whatever. one day, he's at a restaurant couple blocks away, walks in, orders a glass of wine and whips out his iphone. after that, never will.

You mean, he asked for a loonie and i ran away and shitted my pants because i thought he wanted to kill me.

I'm the same :2 cents:

I usually suck their cock.. and then I take whatever change they may have

yeah i found montreal worse than toronto for homeless people. old ladies with their signs that say they have to feed 5 kids blah blah. went to the mcdonalds on st catherines street at 2am one night and it was like a homeless shelter in there.

Yeah, I give change, a couple bucks, etc.

I've also worked with organizations to give blankets, coats, etc. to the homeless when it starts getting cold. I don't just talk the talk, I walk the walk when it comes to helping those who are less fortunate.

Same here.

Exactly. And yes, I've been there, before anyone tells me that isn't the case.

Yes have done and do.
I feel sad when I see young people in such desperate situations and I know it sounds wrong but when a homeless guy has a dog with him, I really feel for the dogs.
That`s the animal lover in me I guess.

Next time you walk past, give him 50 Euros, then go home and check your sales; you'll see a lot more sales than usual. If it doesn't work, ask him for a refund :winkwink:

I'm in DTLA and sometimes the homeless women with kids will get me.

or that one guy and his 3 kids with the makeshift band. They play beatle covers on the train. I'll give them a dollar or some change.

Last month the grandmom of my wife died. On the funeral we were in church and then came that beggar who started to annoy people at this very sad moment of our life, asking for money - the guy was so annoying that caused the indignation of the people. I had to give him some change so he had to walk away and live us in peace.

I have in the past. I used to work at a place where there was a homeless guy that lived right next to the building I worked in. He was a nice old guy who was clearly mentally ill and people that worked there, myself included, would give him money, buy him food and other stuff all the time.

if someone looks really pathetic maybe. usually some food. if it's kids, drunks or annoying people no.

No cash since I got to know some people who made around $30 an hour that way for years. I might offer to buy a meal, mostly because it's entertaining to see these professional scammers get all pissed off and tell me to go fuck myself because I offered to buy tnem a burger.

Normally they'll have some story about their car being broken down or whatever. For a while the popular one here was to claim to be a Katrina refugee. I'll confirm it's BS by asking a simple question or two, like what town they're from. If you need help, I'll help. If you try to scam me by saying you're out of gas, but refuse when I offer to buy gas for you, I'm not going to just give money to a scammer.

I don't judge the drunks and the druggies either. I also don't assist in their suicide usually usually. That's not judging them as people, but choosing to use my resources to help someone rather than hurt them. I buy dinner for a drunk who is sobering up several times a year.

you know the dog is a sympathy prop right? oldest trick those street urchins use. have tons of them in my neighborhood.

well, as you, Jack Sparrow, probably know the people who are selling those "homeless" papers and/or pretending to be homeless, are from Romania as explained in a tv-broadcast on Dutch Televison.

but if not, you should read news papers and check in on TV broadcasts other then the Disney Channel.

You have "a" homeless guy? Try navigating downtown Toronto sometime.

I`m aware of the sympathy vote winner that they use mate but it doesn`t change the fact that it`s the winter season, the guy could actually be homeless and they have a cute dog sitting on the cold pavement who may or may not have eaten for a day or two.

My wife says I think more about dogs more than people. She`s probably right.

Honestly can't even remember ever seeing a bum where I live (medium sized coastal town).

When I lived in the city, no never as they were very very aggressive with the way in which they begged. Also it was pretty much give one a dollar and you'd be surrounded, so the blinkers went on whenever they were around and begging.

If you think all homeless people are from romania you might need to get away from that local newspaper you are reading. You would be learning something if you would watch disney instead.

Talking aboit ignorant...