Strangers who ask for money...

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Reply 40

EskimoJo

fox_the_fix

Says the person with a star wars quote.

a) yes, says me
b) I have never watched Star Wars in my life - I just like the quote :dontknow:

Reply 41

chipchop92

i usually give tramps, beggars at least £5-£10 , because i am far more fortunate than them. it makes my day to see how happy it makes them feel, but i usually regret it as i don't have enough money left for the bus and i have to walk home

Reply 42

Deano-101

I never give change to the smack-heads, I don't even lie and say 'I don't have any change'

Just a firm NO.

If a random asked me and wasn't clearly off-it, I may be obliged to help out if their story was convincing enough.

Reply 43

Rob_dob

chipchop92

I'd rather not fund their crack or alcohol addictions directly (OK not all of them are but you never know). IMO the best thing to do is give money to charities if you want to help people out. They're likely to use it in a more productive way ie providing shelter, food etc.

I work in a town and I usually get 2-3 people asking me for money every time. I had one cheeky lady approach me at a cashpoint, hoping to instill a sense of guilt in me perhaps. I have a generic response to them all though: "no sorry". And I am sorry, I hate to see them on the streets looking so desperate but I work hard myself and I can't afford to give donations to every single one. I have more respect for those that sell the big issues, I'll occasionally buy one of those.

Reply 44

kinkajou

I'd like to think that if i were in a situation where i'd lost my purse/been mugged etc that someone would help me out and let me use a phone, give me 20p to use a pay phone or give me the bus fare.....so for that reason i'd be quite happy to give someone the money.

I've given money to kids in shops before too who have got to the till and not had enough and they've looked genuinely upset and said "okay ill put it back" so i've just offered to buy it for them.

But in streets i am very reluctant to give to homeless people or beggars, especially those sat with alcohol and dogs etc.

Reply 45

Joseph90

Once on my way to work a young bloke and his brother asked for some change. I felt bad as he really needed it, he wasn't threatening and asked really politely. I had no change to give him.

Another time some guy asked me for a pound. I said no. He started acting threatening saying "Do you think I'm joking?" I handed over a pound and he kept asking for more. I handed over all my change and it was obvious he wanted everything in my wallet. My friend managed to call the Police though.

It wasn't even a mugging but I still had to go to the Police station and give an official statement of the incident. Well I suppose if they catch him, it's one less little scrotum off the streets of Derby.

Reply 46

tastes.like.lemonade

The most polite homeless guy asked me for a pound once for coffee at euston station/liver pool street station ( i cant remember which) and he ran into the mcdonalds and got one, i was happy for him and proud of myself for helping make his day with some warm drink.

Sometimes its genuine guys, he was polite and seemed unconfident, tramp/druggies/alcoholics i can spot miles away

Reply 47

SpiritedAway

It depends on how scary they are :p:

.
I will either say no, point blank. Pretend I can't hear them over my music and walk on, pretend I can't speak English or pretend I'm deaf :h:

Reply 48

Deano88

I get asked for money in the street all the time. Normally it doesn't really bother me, but one thing in particular really gets on my nerves. You know when people ask for money for chips from mcdonalds or a burger. I'm like, wtf, if i was begging for food on the streets i would but a loaf of bread with that money and eat for a couple of days rather then just a burger. Though they probably just want to buy some smack or something, but still, they should learn to be more convincing.

And one time this tramp came up to me and asked for some of my drink. He then reached out and grabbed onto the bottle i was holding.

Reply 49

Olivia_Lightbulb

Tantrumfly

Fourteen years ago, I was abandoned in a foreign city with my seven month old son by my (now ex) husband. I had nothing! no cards, no passports, just some coins in my pocket. I went to a place of worship to ask for help and the minister and some congregants chased me away.

I had a few coins and went to try and buy milk for my baby. I was short of money and burst into tears at the supermarket. I walked out totally destroyed that this could happen to me. A kind man came up to me, he had bought the milk, I couldnt afford and gave it to me. He then took me home, sent his daughter to buy nappies and had his wife make me a meal, and prepare a bottle for the baby. Over the next five days this complete stranger and his family helped me get back to my family. I went back five years later and repaid them every penny.

I dont drink or smoke or take drugs. The people who I thought would stand the moral high ground and help me decided, with no evidence whatsoever that my baby did not deserve his mother being helped. A complete stranger made a split second assessment of a situation and decided to intervene. The irony was that this guys wife told me that he never ever stopped to help a stranger before.

So when you refuse someone help, think that for the ten people that use the "bus fare" for drink or drugs, one might really need it.

I always give and if they say its for food, I always buy a sandwich and a drink. I cannot morally refuse. Pay it forward.

This is such a lovely story :h:

Reply 50

a_t

ChosenOne

I was in Central London the other night, some crack head come to us asking for a pound and offering us a line of his cocaine. He had it all ready to snort, didn't even try to hide it or anything lol.

Bargain, considering you generally get 7-8 lines of coke out of a gram, that line was worth at least £5

Reply 51

Tinkerbelle ♥

Me and my friend took a tramp to the chinese and brought him food rather then actually give him the money for it, he was soo grateful and beaming from ear to ear and couldn't say thank you enough. We ended up feeling bad that we hadn't trusted him with the money to get it himself but o well - you never know.

Reply 52

u4m1r

i usually give it if its not a big amount, but ive had some funny experinces.

one guy came and asked for £40 i was like are you crazy.
and another guy, asking for some moeny for food but he dug a grave for himself by saying "ive just spent £4 on alcohol and thats all i had" !

Reply 53

Reue

Only ever given money to people on the street once.

There was a guy who used to sit on a corner of a Sydney city centre street. Everyday id pass him and everyday he'd have a different message written on a chalk board beside him which made me chuckle. The morning before my flight out of Australia, I went and found him, thanked him for all the times his sign had made me smile and gave him all the Australian dollars I had left.

Reply 54

screenager2004

Nick_000

Do you work in a charity shop?.

I wish. Fast food :biggrin:

Reply 55

ChosenOne

a_t

Bargain, considering you generally get 7-8 lines of coke out of a gram, that line was worth at least £5

Well we're not dumb enough to do that ... on the street

Reply 56

DominF

A guy once asked me and my friend for 40p for the bus, I said no so he started racially abusing my friend (who's from Hong Kong). I told him to **** off so he attacked me. Still glad with how it turned out though. :biggrin:

Reply 57

theronkinator

In San Francisco when I was there a few weeks ago it was literally 10 times a day, stupid homeless people. Thne I was like yeah I have no change, he was like can I have your subway, if they weren't about to murder me I'd of said no but you can **** off. But due to wanting to live I said no and gave him 4 cookies out of my tub (it was a set up to mug me, he was on my left and two more who I walked past 30 seconds before were approaching from behind so I was like here cookies then I walked very quickly away).

Reply 58

Dr Zeuss™

i get it all the time when im in glasgow. especially the main in the ass drunks/bums

Reply 59

Craig_D

It happens to me all the time, and I'll admit that it makes me really angry.

When I first started college at 16 I was really shy and quick to avoid confrontation, so much for that I probably looked in fear of the person. As the last couple of years have passed i have got more arrogant with them, so much so that if I see anyone walking towards me and saying "oi" or whatever I will immediately say "I haven't got any money" and will keep walking. The reason I am angry is that more often than not these are the sorts of people that bullied the other kids at school, and they don't deserve sympathy. They could have got jobs, even if just as a binman or at McDonalds or whatever. They were just lazy, got addicted to smack, and ended on the streets. Now they are stuck there.

I have many interesting stories on this, any Nottingham regulars may know some of these ... a man that needed to get to his children in Derby, a man that needed to get to his pregnant wife in Derby Hospital, a man that only asks for chips, a man that pretends he needs to get back to Australia after getting stuck here, a woman who claims she needs money to get herself into a hostel and a guy that demanded that I go into a chemist and buy him Lemsip because they refused to serve him - and I mean he demanded. Then one guy who I walked passed (and was very scruffily dressed), he walked behind me and said "oi, oi you", I just quickly said that I had no money and rushed on, and he shouted after me "I wasn' gonna ask for moneh!" ... yeah, sure. Well, he wanted something.

I almost forgotten, there was also a guy roughly in his 60s who approached me and my friends at about 3am after a night out. He had a small kid with him (about eight), and he claimed that he was the kid's Dad, and his Mother had abandoned him, and they needed money to survive. Trust me, he was not the kid's Dad. I had happened across this guy before, and he had demanded money from me before - and he's never had a kid with him before. I'm sure that this unfortunate child had ran away from home and this guy had 'taken him under his wing', knowing that he could use him to advertise for money. Poor kid. Anyway, I said I had nothing.

It must seem like Nottingham is crawling with them ... funny then that Major General Edward Whalley claimed to have cleaned Nottingham's streets clean of vagrants in 1656, the only Maj-Gen to make such a claim ... God, I'm glad I've finished studying Cromwell.