Anyone ever have a bum issue?
 

I'm hoping for some insight from someone who's spent longer living in a neighborhood with a homeless problem - just dealing with them and seeing their faces several times over etc.. Is it better to just be that nice guy giving money left & right? Or make a stand and let them feel unwelcome in your area?

Man I love this neighborhood but every time I walk up the street I get asked 1-4 times for money everywhere I go.

I started out nice, politely saying no but 3/5 times they would be like "come on, I really need help" or "I know you got money, help me out" etcetera. - just pushing after a polite no.

So eventually and for the last few months I've been an asshole to them. I look them in the eye and give them a firm "No", "absolutely not" or "I have nothing for you" - act like a dick to prevent any further pandering. I've had a few of them comment on "why i have to be so mean" etc., but in general it results in them leaving us alone rather than pushing the issue.

Anyway - so they have been wandering further down more into my block and this morning when I took my dog out I really got into it with a couple dudes. I told 'em this was my spot and that if they wanna ask for money go back to Colfax - but they're not going to do it here.

They crossed the street and one of them started yelling at me and being a tough guy and I was like either get on up the street or come back over and let's sort it out.

They left, telling me they were gonna kill me & my dog. I went back in and started to think about it - do I need to start carrying a gun just to go up and get groceries now?

Anyone ever have an issue with bums - any solid advice to a bum newb?

Thanks

When I worked in telco, I worked downtown. There were plenty bums and panhandlers down there. Including a bunch from some type of half way house. I do not recall if it was for mental illness or substance abuse, but it was a few blocks over.

I did the same as you. At first flipped them some change, then had gotten annoyed and said no, and then I would just walk by and ignore them like I did not hear them. I simply found disengaging them and not even acknowledging them worked best for me. Otherwise I would feel bad.

I really feel bad for the bums, but at the same time I worked hard for my money and get annoyed being bothered for handouts on a daily basis. Going into the building, going out for lunch, going to and from my car.
:disgust

Having lived near the beach for several years I have gotten used to the bums. I have found the best way to deal with them is to act even more crazy then they do. They get scared and leave you alone:thumbsup

Luckily no. :)

I just say I gave all my spare change to the last guy who asked...

I lived on Whyte Ave in Edmonton for years. So I was pretty used to going for a stroll up to the Uni and passing tons of bums. Best strategy is to just look forward and say nothing. Ignore their existence. This was when I started smoking Menthols too. I'd get as many bums asking for smokes as I did change. While smoking menthols I had the benefit of putting on a nice guy show by offering, but not even the bums would take my menthols...

For the most part if you just keep walking and say nothing, or just give them a quick no, they aren't gonna bother with you. These bums deal in numbers, and for the most part aren't gonna bother following you down.

I remembr once this streetkid came stolling up to me and asked for a smoke, I said no. SO he raised his skateboard up at me like he was gonna stroke me with it. I straight kicked him right in the fucking gut and folded him on the spot, then rolled his fucking board out into traffic. Not sure what picture that paints of me, but I don't care. I still look back on that moment with fondness... :1orglaugh

I'm pretty understanding with most homeless people. We have a guy in town where I live now who lives in an old truck camper someone left for him up on the side of town. he collects recycle and whatnot around town t feed himself. So my roommate and I offered him to come pick up our recycle if he wanted to.

One night we leave a cooler full of beers on the deck, and wake up the next morning to this bum and his buddy sitting on our deck drinking our beer. He said he "thought we left it for him". GTFO. bum ain't picking up our recycle anymore...

When I read the thread title ..The first thing that came to mind was piles :Oh crap

We always used to buy a young guy who lived on the streets with his dog, hot food and hot drinks in the winter time and on the odd occasion we would give him money

when I lived in the city, I would ignore people who would ask for money.
But there was one who ask if I had some spare work for him to do to earn some money. He would come once a week and cut grass, yard work, and help with repairs outside. He lived under a train track bridge 2 blocks away and was a alcoholic, but nice guy

If you have nothing to give them to help out, (or you don't want to), you just have to learn to tune them out. It's no different than being constantly hounded by vendors in Mexico trying to sell you everything under the sun. I tell them (Mexican vendors) no thanks and walk on by.

I don't think you gotta be a dick to them (the homeless) or an asshole. Don't create unnecessary confrontation. Just tell them "sorry, no change today buddy." and walk on by. They are never going to stop asking... they have nothing else to do.

Be polite dude. A guy who already has nothing to lose probably wouldn't hesitate much to kill your dog or fuck you up if you're essentially asking for it. But be prepared to lay the smack down if they get aggressive. If one of them assaults you, a couple of well placed strikes can easily snap a collarbone or knee, fracture a pelvis so he can't stand, crush a trachea or shut down a kidney. Move quick and use enough force to put him out of commission. Then go call the cops so he can get medical attention.

:2 cents:

hopefully they wont damage your property.. if they do you will be at loss and they will have good meals and place to sleep behind bars if they end up getting caught. hopefully nothing bad will come out of this situation. in NY there plenty of them.. sometimes I unload some change sometimes just ignore them, but it not worth it to get their blood boiling to point of them seeking revenge - they have nothing to loose.

bum issue
 

i got a toilet paper cut once

You must have fire hydrants on your block, right? Get a fire hose, a couple of friends and a case of beer ... I'm sure you guys will work out the rest.

:1orglaugh:thumbsup

:1orglaugh


Some good advice, seems the consensus is to just tolerate their behavior and avoid confrontation. Sound advice, I'm sure - as who wants to live in constant negativity - especially just walking up the block.

I just let my temper get the better of me sometimes - guess if it brings about a situation I'll have to deal with it.

Small part of me wished I would be the guy they all knew not to ask but the world just doesn't work like that.

Great reply. I do much of the same if I'm constantly asked by the same panhandlers.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

When I worked in a shitty part of town we had a HUGE bum problem. Really just out of control.

They would go through our garbage looking for metal/copper, literally shit and piss in our parking lot, break beer bottles everywhere, and sleep under the overpass that went over our property.

There were about 20 of them all together and they'd roll in groups of 3-4.

Let me just say FUCK avoiding confrontation. If you don't want them on your property, grab a couple big cans of pepper spray.

Our policy at first was warn them a few times, try to walk them off the property, and if they didn't listen we'd call the cops. The spray was just a scare tactic. Then they started getting worse, started ignoring us and literally moved a couch into our parking lot.

As you can see - we didn't appreciate that at all - and quickly did away with the couch in a reasonable and mature manner.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...iphone3024.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...hone3023-1.jpg

After that, we would warn them to get off the property slightly before or during spraying them down with police grade pepper spray.

I personally sprayed one guy in the dick that was pissing (pants around his ankles) in the middle of our parking lot in full view of one of the busiest intersections in the area. Sprayed another guy in the face that was in our dumpster, and sprayed him again when he pulled a bowie knife on me when he could see again. Sprayed ANOTHER guy who wandered into our lot and took a swing at a doorman that was trying to get him off the property peacefully...

And we even had a couple stand-offs with the group of Nigerian refugees that would come sell drugs around our business. We knew one of them carried a gun but could never figure out which one, so when three of them were harassing the people at the bus stop and 5 of us walked out there with our (holstered) guns, it was a pretty intense moment while we waited for them to back down.


The only thing you can do with these people is be tough with them, unless they are looking for work, not hand-outs. We had another guy that we'd pay to pick up cig butts, sand down the tiles on the front entryway, do general repair work... even gave him some free beer on occasion because he wanted to WORK for the money we gave him.

The other guys/girls though, they will annoy the fuck-all out of you until you finally put your foot down. They're transients so it's not like they're going to give a shit if they go to jail for a few days. They'll be back bugging you again. And if they're on your property or you think they're going to harm you - pepper spray the fuck out of them. Check with your local PD first on the matter but when we talked to 2-3 different supervisors all of them said just spray them instead of calling.

Jon Oso, although you're totally right for not wanting them on your property, just be glad they didn't return a favor by burning your house when no one was watching.

The average pandhandler makes $20/hr.

Yes carry a gun and/or pepper spray.

I just give them a few bucks honestly - support someone elses drinking problem

I lived on the strip in Ft. Lauderdale all through the 1980's. And that place is Bum Central...especially in the winter time. They are everywhere. I never shied away from them. I would look them straight in the eye and say: "NO" when they begged for money. It really would irritate me to have a full grown healthy man ask me to give him my money and take it away from my own families needs.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Only chance they would have had was to burn my car down, which I think they broke into once and stole an empty briefcase LOL.

They would have had to walk 25 miles to my house because I lived and worked way far apart. Plus I live in a nice area so they would have been stopped LONG before they got there.

I knew retaliation was possible, but we were also dealing with a gang problem at the time, so it was the least of our worries.

Ehh, I just walk past and look the other direction and pretend I don't hear them. Usually works until one of my asshole friends or a girl I am with says hi back or something and then I feel like an asshole when they chat for a minute and they are like can I get a buck at least and OF COURSE the girl or friend I am with is like oh I don't have any money but do you have a buck and then I have to pay.... wtf

I just dont like when I am in my convertable and a bum rushes up to me at a red light because I feel like I could easily be attacked and im shocked they have them in nicer areas of town so much lately...

Usually stick with completely ignoring their existence or if I'm walking fast enough just a nasty 'no'.
Could always get some mean dogs from the pound and let em loose in the neighborhood but then'd you would have a dog problem ha

i carry around a bunch of quarter shaped metal slugs and throw them at them when they ask for change..

You could always throw on some smelly hole-filled clothes and stagger past them. You know, blend in as one of their kind, like they did with the zombies in Shaun Of The Dead.

haha, fucking great movie.

I always offer to buy them a meal, I point at the nearest fast food joint and say If you want a meal I will buy you 1, only had 1 guy take me up on it and the rest just say no, but I will take the money, to which I say sorry I don't have any I was going to pay with my debit card, they seem to just leave then . . .

If you have to ask.. .

Be yourself, don't let other people shake you up.

I live in motherfucking NEW YAWK-motherfucking-SHITTY man, so I 'deal with' homeless fucktards in one of two ways (and please: 99% of the homeless in NYC - don't know about anywhere else - are drug addicts/alcoholics, not mentally-deranged or anything. It's a fact. And this does NOT apply to women or, heaven forbid, children, or homeless families, etc.)

1. If they walk up to me, palm up and filled with change, I take a coin out of their hand and say 'Thank you!'
2. I stop, turn slowly - VERY slowly - look them directly in the eye and whisper/ask: "You want some change, friend?" Then I reach out my hand, palm facing them, and scream at the top of my lungs; 'CHAAAAAAANGE!"

Fun times.

Damn that must have hurt.

Get a guard dog instead,wow judging by some of the stories posted you need a Hyena on a chain or the fuckers will shank you one day when you don't expect it.Sorry buddy ,no change is my common reply or can you do a 30 second jig,singing Oklahoma for 5 bucks?

Did you offer them work? Because it's so easy to get a job when you haven't bathed in weeks and on the address part of the application you put "under a bridge". I mean companies are just lining up to hire you.

most addicts have mental problems and are self medicating.

There are organizations in place as well as funded social programs designed to help the homeless and get them back into society as at least functional if not productive human beings. At least here there are, I'd like to think they have such things in place in every city, at least in the US and Canada. I tend to donate money to those causes rather than handing booze money to street bums.

help the poor souls

Awhile back when I did a daily commute in my car I had to pass through an area with bums that would come over to your car at a stop light with a plastic jug pretending to be collecting for a charity. Everyday they would come over to my window. One day I got me a plastic jug and put a sign on it saying " Please donate and send me on a Hawaiian vacation " and carried it in my car. When they walked up to my window and asked if I'd like to make a donation I'd say " no, but would you like to make a donation to my charity " and hold up the jug. The look on their faces was priceless :1orglaugh

Eventually I was able to actually go to Hawaii with money I had saved working and walking around Honolulu I was amazed to see all the bums and I remember thinking " how' the hell did the bums beat me here " :winkwink:

We don't have that much homeless here. When i was in the usa i was surprised there where more homeless people than in a third world country.
Here everyone can get money from the government and a small house to live. The few homeless here are on drugs or alcohol. I ignore them cause they are the ones that keep me out of sleep when the are drunk at night and start drunken screaming. And they threatened once they would throw a stone to my window when they were pissing at our car and i put a basket of water over them.

When i am in a third world country i give sometimes some money, but ignoring is better cause you can't help everyone. Better give it to people that are building on their country by working for it.

But the USA is different, not so much government help as here. When i walk in thirld world countries i am glad we have a good social system. You pay some extra, but you don't have hundreds of homeless people in your neighbouthood. You have to pay for a nice environment to live in.

I should move if i were you. All those negtive energy isn't worth living there.

If other people in your area are disturbing your precious life so much why don't you just move?

Also life must be hard if you can't spare change...

Anyone can spare some change, but being hassled every single day on the block you live can become extremely bothersome and irritating.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

And don't forget they use the spare change for cheap liquor and after that they start shouting and pissing over your car.

:thumbsup