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The cynic in me got used to ignoring them for a while. But now that I'm making a bit more money, I'll give a dollar if they ask. It does suck to have to walk by the same homeless people everyday though. Its like going through a toll booth or a guilt booth just walking down the street.

edit: i may be coming off callous, but i do have philanthropic plans for my future once i get a decent salary... back to the question at hand

Always. With so much economic uncertainty nowadays, I feel it's better to be on the right side of karma.

Hold the starbucks, give a few dollars? Definitely.

nope

Sometimes, yeah. But never if they ask or if they sat by a cash machine.

People say you shouldn't because, "they just spend it on drugs and alcohol" - well that's what I was going to do with it anyway :\

I come across as a right miserable arrogant cnut on here but am a muckle soft shite really, have to be do my job!

firky wrote: "they just spend it on drugs and alcohol" - well that's what I was going to do with it anyway :\

hahaha... thats a fantastic way to look at it tbh

but no, i never give them money.... however i did used to give them cigarettes when i smoked

Depends on how rude they are.

i do sometimes but usually not. i live in the city during school so i get asked 3x every block i walk. but sometimes im feeling generous so i do.

but one time i had like 10 bucks to my name and some guy came walking up or should i say jingling up and asked every one of my friends and me for any change or a cig. i was like by the sounds of it you got more money for me, hook me up with some change. sometimes the homeless people think just cuz were in college we have money, its quite the opposite actually.

and about the comment about buying drugs or alc with the money anyway. so true. but would you rather give someone else money to buy drugs or yourself? personally id rather my money go towards something better if im giving it away.

Depends if they ask or not..

I don't to those who ask - I feel like if they're in the position where they can freely roam the streets and ask people for money; they're not as worse off those dying on starvation perked up against a train station wall so yeah...

I dunno, a case-by-case basis; as human beings are judge on appearance a lot, if people seem like they're not that bad, we tend to not care.

Nevalo wrote:

firky wrote: "they just spend it on drugs and alcohol" - well that's what I was going to do with it anyway :\

hahaha... thats a fantastic way to look at it tbh

but no, i never give them money.... however i did used to give them cigarettes when i smoked

Me too, well if i have a pack on me i will give them a cigarette.

I`ll go buy them something to eat rather than giving cash.

Wouldn't give them cash, but have offered to buy them sandwiches from time to time. Most of the time though, the homeless around Tooting decline my offer of a sandwich.

legend4ry wrote: I dunno, a case-by-case basis; as human beings are judge on appearance a lot, if people seem like they're not that bad, we tend to not care.

this too.

yeah, if they look relatively sincere

i'd rather err on the side of giving someone who doesn't deserve it cash rather than not giving money to someone who does need it though.

Electric_Head wrote:I`ll go buy them something to eat rather than giving cash.

True shorty story:

I was at work one day and took one of my clients into star-bucks. The client was only 17 year old and had been on the streets since he was at least 16, more or less constantly. You can guess what he looked like, ex solvent abuse and recovering addict. I was his keyworker and as part of his ILS I'd take him to pubs, football matches, cinema etc, build up his confidence and so on. Imagine how that was wiped away when a fucking piece of shit pretend copper tried to remove him from Star Bucks because she assumed he was in their begging.

Never forget that. Maybe some truth in ACAB.

that must have been soul destroying for the poor kid

I don't always but if I do I try and have a chat to find out a bit about them too and how they got there. Quite a large amount of ex-forces that are just too fucked up to reintegrate into society and a significant number that were kicked out of their home by their partner and didn't have the finances to sort anything else out (didn't ask why they were kicked out so might not be completely innocent in the matter).

I've actually put a few homeless friends up on occassions which is cool if it's a stopgap but get's a bit grating if they just see an opportunity to take up space, eat your food and whinge about their situation whilst making my situation worse. I've come to the conclusion that some are unlucky and some are just self-centred wankers who brought it on themselves by never taking any responsibility for their own actions and reserve my sympathies for the former.

he was probably stoned and didnt mind

The hilarious thing is the UK Government's way of collecting date on homeless people. Basically they only count the 'seen sleeping rough' homeless people in major cities, so the average number of homeless people is only about 800 across the country IIRC. When in actual fact it's probably nearer 80,000 people when you take into account all the people in B&Bs or couch surfing.

(Worked for Crisis briefly before I went onto substance misuse)

I used to be a courier in london so I would see quite a few, used to give them cigs, if they were grateful and said thankyou and I saw them again I'd normally buy them a pack of crisps or something. Generally prefer to give the homeless food and drink rather than cash, quite a few guys said that they got mugged by other homeless people if they were given cash.