Opinion on Bums

[Hockey Playa]

Hey i was just wondering what you guys thought about bums (homeless people). I encounter quite a few in my everyday life. In my university neighborhood, a bum comes around taking our empty beer bottles. At the local convenience store, and grocery store there is always a bum with a dog perched out front. I feel like i have mixed emotion towards people like that. In a sense i feel sorry for than, especially on cold nights, but on the other hand i knows it probably their own fault they are in that position. I usually always feel guilty and end up giving them some change, which they will probably spend on alcohol or drugs.
There is one thing though that pisses me off like no other. This one bum hangs around parking lots. He has a story planned out where he tells people , he has lost his wallet, and is from out of town. He says he needs 20 bucks so he can get back home.He says he owns his own business, shows the people his id, and says he will mail them the 20 bucks when he returns home. I fell for this once, but never again( i did not ask him to mail me the 20). I later found out that week , that one of my friends was fed the exact same story. Such gayness. Yah kind of a random topic, just something i noticed lately

 

[Upside]

I feel like i have mixed emotion towards people like that. In a sense i feel sorry for than, especially on cold nights, but on the other hand i knows it probably their own fault they are in that position. I usually always feel guilty and end up giving them some change, which they will probably spend on alcohol or drugs.

You have NO idea how many homeless have a mental disorder or some sort of mental defect. It is unfair to say that it is their fault for being like that. However, there are some that just use the money for beer and drugs but don't just assume every homless guy you see is just a lazy bum.

 

[speakeasy]

For the most part, I don't have much sympathy or care much about bums. To me, a bum is like the ultimate AFC that has let life determine his place in the world, rather than the alpha male who controls his frame and creates his own reality. Now if it's a situation where the bum is out there through no fault of his own like he had a catastrophic medical expense and was left bankrupt, or was a Vietnam Vet that went shell shocked that the country sadly neglected, that's a completely different situation and I have sympathy for them. But if you're talking about people who started messing with drugs and alcohol, let it take over their life and lost everything they have and ended up on the street, I don't feel the least bit sorry for them. I see illegal aliens coming here from Mexico with nothing and they'll stand on the corner waiting for any menial work they can and somehow they thrive and manage to send money back to their families in Mexico. I don't see these migrants panhandling, they work, even if they have to find sh*t jobs under the table paying crap wages. So why can't these bums do the same if they wanted to prove they weren't just lazy?

 

[FireOnTheMountain]

In the town where I went to college, there was a guy I'd always see in a wheelchair, because he only had one leg. He was always either going to or from a local gas station to buy alcohol. He looked like he hadn't shaved or gotten a haircut in years. But he always wore a Vietnam Veterans cap.

I'd also see him in bars sometimes, listening to local bands play. I saw others talk to him in the bars, but I never did myself. I always felt really bad for him when I was driving back on a cold day and it started to snow or rain and I saw him on the sidewalk.


This thread makes me feel like a bad person.

 

[I.A.F.Y.B.]

Some bums are FAKE! I was hanging out with a dude one time drinking a beer with some guys I know. He has a decent house and nice truck. A few weeks later I see him on the corner with a sign...

Other guys I feel bad for cause cause when I go to the park with my friends to drink a 40oz we will sit and talk to the homeless guys there. They been through some hard thangs. I also feel they could do something about how their living but dont.

But, not all bums are really "homeless". 1 of my home boys lets a homeless guy sleep in a van parked out side his house for the night since its cold. Other bums I've talked to have a place to go here and there. or we got shelters in my city for them to live at.

 

[Desert Fox]

One time I went to a walmart and a bum was askin for change and I gave him like 50 cents. Then I came out and the dude was like "yo gimme sme change" and i was like "dude i just GAVE YOU SOME *****!!" and he was like "o really? hahha my bad"

since that I've never ever helped out a bum. let them starve

 

[PrettyBoyA]

lol yeah i had this woman come up to me yesterday with a whole story about how she's never done this before and she'd even give me her ID and how stupid she was for forgetting her wallet etc, i turned her down but it was tough because i wasn't sure since her acting was pretty good

the next week later i see her again asking a bunch of other people for money telling the exact same story about how she's never done it before LOL

 

[Dust 2 Dust]

I live in a large city and I'm pan handled on a daily basis by homeless people when I go out. I'm ambivalent towards them for the most part. Although I would like to help out my fellow man you eventually see them as nothing but a nuisance after you're pan handled every day like I am.

It sort of reminds me of the homeless invasion South Park episode. I have never and will never give money to a homeless person. I did give a guy a cheeseburger from McDonalds once though. I don't trust them enough to give them money and I believe they'll use it to buy beer or dope.

 

[theunflushables]

This is a ridiculous topic. I would say most if not all homeless people have some sort of mental disorder or disease that prevents them from living a normal life. There are also hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs right now and many people are just a few paychecks from being out on the street themselves. Veterans make up roughly 25% of the homeless population. We're not just talking about Vietnam vets either, young kids coming home from Iraq are finding themselves out in the street.

Yeah, you can't give every homeless person you encounter change, more than likely it will go to help further their addiction, but you can still help them. When I was living in Chicago, I'd carry an extra sandwich with me on my way to work and if I was asked for change, I'd offer the sandwich. I've also bought hamburgers for people off the dollar menu at McDonald's.

For those unsympathetic to the plight of the homeless you may want to have a listen to these songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO0gSJGJ7Fs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjGmNYihLoM

 

[Levex]

I feel sorry for the homeless, you never know what hand they were dealt so they ended up like that. On another hand some deserve to sleep in the dumpster for being such POS. This one guy at a gas station was hitting up my gf for change while i was inside the store, and started getting pushy and rowdy when she politely said no. I dont know what would have happened if she was alone, but when i got back i had to smack him up a bit to get him from the car window. Scum like that deserve the life they have.

 

[theunflushables]

Levex, are you sure that guy didn't have some mental issues?

You can't really call him POS if you don't know what was making him get rowdy. Schizophrenia, can sometimes make people lose it. Or it could have been an addiction.

 

[Julian]

Living in the downtown of a somewhat major city Ive come across my fair share of street scum. Walking out the door in the morning and seeing a bum passed out against the door to get out of the building and having to use the door to slide the bum off to the side, and him not even noticeing..

Or the 6ft 7 albino meth head who looks like a cracked out clown walking around the neighborhood and tried assaulting you, cracked out meth heads are still smart enough to recognize a cannon when they glimpse one under your blazer.(ccw ftw)

Or just walking down the sidewalk, coming across a some bum chick passed out looking down over her and her eyes cracked looking up mumbling "Am i dead?". My reply no." Stepping over and heading to my apt.

Or the old fat crazy lookin guy who walked up yelling OBAMAAAA OBAMAAAA OBAMAAAAA about in my friends face LOL, then seeing him the next day again and watching him try to cross a busy street like frogger to reach us.

Or the old rugged bum coppin an attitude on me because I was on my cellphone and ignoring him. His words "JUST TELL ME TO GET THE **** OUT YA FACE". Me : "GET THE **** OUT OF MY FACE!" him : "Ok"..calmly turns around and walks away.

I have no personal problem with bums, most are mentally ill...which is sad, alot are alcoholics which is just as sad...knowing at some point these people lived a somewhat ordinary life...

But I digress...It really doesnt bother me too much because its not me and believe me bums look at the normal person like like an ATM and usually with as much disdain as you have for them, they have for you..if not more. I used to give out change or dollars every so often but when you live in the midst of street scum you make yourself a target and are a sucker if you hand these people dough.

Your better off avoiding bums at all costs and never trust street scum. EVER.

If you wanna play captain save a bum offer to take his ass an get a meal at the at the burger joint across the street, or a sandwich or something. Trust me most will turn you down haha, there is no shortage of food they get fed trust me...you never see a skinny bum im tellin u unless they are meth'd or crack'd in which case they aint hungry anyway.

Sooo basically thats my experience.

 

[Bible_Belt]

When I lived in Tampa, an ex of mine worked as a counselor for a charity that catered to a lot of homeless people. She met a lot of other counselors who worked with the homeless. One guy did his doctoral dissertation on the homeless. He found that when he was standing around observing them people would call the police on him and report him as a suspicious character. Then later he tried dressing as a bum himself and no one ever called the police on him. He also found that most homeless people had driven away all of the people in their lives who mattered, usually by being abusive alcoholics. They are all addicts or mentally ill in some way. My ex would counsel them by day, and then that same night we might see one drunk in the parking lot of a movie theatre, trying to pan handle change off of his own counselor and being too drunk to realize or care.

Having said that, though, I still usually give them change, probably because I come from a small town with no homeless people, or at least no visible street bums. We had a bag lady walking around years ago, and eventually the churches in town could not stand looking at her any more and just bought her a house and gave her a job. I think if there are homeless people here, they must be hiding, so that the church people are not bothering them constantly. Some people just want to drink in peace on the street corner and not hear about Jesus, which is why I always give them change.

 

[horaholic]

This one guy at a gas station was hitting up my gf for change while i was inside the store

That PISSES ME OFF. Aside from the fact that he was accosting your GF, which is grounds for an ass beating right there, but bums at GAS STATIONS 'spanging' makes me see red. "I DONT SEE A FVCKING SQUEEGEE IN YOUR HAND, MOTHERFVCKER!" They could at least OFFER to wash your windows. Even bums are spoiled here.

More of the ones I hate are the hippies and even punks that choose to bum money instead of 'conforming' to societies standards. I have NEVER panhandled, and I've been temporarily homeless, and was punk rock for years. I still am at heart, but I quit wearing the punk rock 'uniform' many years ago.

Back when I used to hand out change, I would make them work for it somehow. I would usually make them tell me a joke I've never heard, or do a trick, sing a song, do 20 push ups, or SOMETHING. Now I dont hand them shyt, because I really dont want to open my wallet in front of them.

I agree though,. that most of them are mentally disabled, and we should be empathetic, or at least not MEAN to them, but its too hard to resist sometimes though.

 

[DJDamage]

I pity homeless people due to their situation.

Nobody chooses to be homeless and the longer you are homeless the less likely you are going to get out due to your inabilities to cope with reality.

What I do have a problem with is aggressive panhandling tactics such as trying to intimidate you with their craziness or pop up behind you just as you about to pay for something and beg you for the change. After a while I learned to either ignore them or be rude back to them when they act like this because that's the only way they understand that you are not a pushover.

 

[speakeasy]

I pity homeless people due to their situation.

Nobody chooses to be homeless and the longer you are homeless the less likely you are going to get out due to your inabilities to cope with reality.

That's like saying no man chooses to become a 40 year old virgin. Well sme do because of their actions/inactions and have nobody to blame but themselves. There are paths you can choose to change your lot in life.

 

[DJDamage]

That's like saying no man chooses to become a 40 year old virgin. Well sme do because of their actions/inactions and have nobody to blame but themselves. There are paths you can choose to change your lot in life.

Well not everyone have a choice in the matter, it all depends how far down the hole you are dropped. You could easily lose your job, have the bank seize your house become depressed, be thrown out on the streets and have your life spiral out of control. I am not defending homelessness but all I am saying is that some people are stronger then others and the weak one's will fall and not be able to recover.

 

[STR8UP]

I pity homeless people due to their situation.

Nobody chooses to be homeless and the longer you are homeless the less likely you are going to get out due to your inabilities to cope with reality.

Although there are quite a few homeless people who are mentally ill (a lot actually....an ex g/f used to work with them) there are PLENTY who do choose to be homeless. A lot of them also choose to abuse drugs and alcohol which exacerbates the situation, but rest assured, it IS a choice for many of them.

The thing you have to remember is that many of these guys could make a fukking KILLING selling cars or something. You think the crutch under his arm is an accident? Hell no, chances are it's a PROP that is used to intentionally separate you from your money. I actually saw a homeless guy leaning on a crutch on the corner one day holding a sign. A couple of days later I saw him WALKING down the sidewalk like a normal, healthy person, CARRYING the crutch, not using it.

Most of these guys have a better sales pitch than the majority of salesman you will encounter. The showing of the ID, the "need one last quarter" to be able to buy something to eat, the "i aint no bum I just need a few dollars for gas to get back home"....it's all scripted, polished, and perfected over months or years of trial and error.

I personally feel sorry for the mentally ill, but overall I don't have much compassion for the homeless. There has been one too many times one of these fukkwads who is NOT mentally ill threatened to kick my ass after I politely turned him down or harassing me when I'm out downtown sitting outside trying to enjoy a beer and a burger I worked hard for.

On a side note, I have noticed SEVERAL guys in the neighborhood who seem to be "recently" homeless. You know, they guys who you can tell don't have a place to stay, but their clothes are fairly clean, they don't have scruffy beards, and their hair is cut. The recession is no doubt going to create more homeless people.

In summary- unless you're schizo or otherwise physically incapable of working, you have no excuse for mooching off of others. Hell, the last thing I want in the world is to be in a wheelchair, but I know that even if I was, I would still be able to be a productive citizen.

You could easily lose your job, have the bank seize your house become depressed, be thrown out on the streets and have your life spiral out of control.

Trust me.....my life DID spiral out of control over the past couple of years. To the point where I was on the brink of a breakdown. But I CHOSE to pull myself out of it and move on. People don't need productive citizens allowing them to make excuses. People need to be held accountable.

 

[azanon]

The reason there are bums begging for change on the streets is because people like some of you give them change. They'd all disappear, starve, get a job, or go to a place/facility designated for their plight if people would quit doing it.

Same with telemarketers. Why are their telemarketers? Because the same people that bit*h about them buy stuff from them, or donate money to them via the telephone. Same with door-to-door salesmen.

If you contribute to the behavior, at least don't complain. If you want to help, then please try to find a constructive way to give. Our city even has "on-street" metal gift boxes where proper distribution of gifts is ensured in a responsible fashion.

 

[CaptainJ]

Read "Down and out in Paris and London" by George Orwell and then compalin about beggars. a little out of date yes, but the principles still stand true.