Tried to Hire a Homeless Man Today

what i find wrong with the picture. Is nothing.....you offered a hobo crumb pay that is even too low for a bum,so he rejected you.

reply to post by CasiusIgnoranze


Plus the person looking for dope and booze money. The thing is, many were outcast from society for any number of reasons. Some are conditioned, and some won't go to the shelter because of the restrictions. Plus, some shelters are more dangerous than a prison yard.

reply to post by eueseh


Yep. Just jealousy. I suspect the OP is confused as to why he goes to some crappy job day in and day out when he could make more money on the corner with a sign.

reply to post by Ahabstar


I wouldnt call this cat a scammer. There was an "exchange of energies".

You expended energy for your money, he did for his art. It was a mutual barter.

Artists tend to be a little nuts in many cases anyway. Most of the ones that I've met anyway.

prefer not to talk...

Wow you folks have been busy while I was out raking my yard... As the OP of this thread, and after reading the responses, I would like to point a couple things out that seemed to have been lost along the way.

First of all, I wasn't expecting them to do it all themselves while I was inside drinking pina coladas. I was going to be outside working right along with them.

Secondly, I would have more then likely feed them as well ,because that is just how I am.

Thirdly, if the person had shown any type of appreciation by doing a decent job, I would have more then likely found other things for them to do at a future date. It wouldnt have necessarily been just a one shot deal. That would have been up to them and their attitude as to how far we would have gone down the road.

I work hard for my money myself and only have so much to spare. Someone mentioned I don't know my town so well, like it is my fault I went to the wrong place to try and help someone. Excuse me for even trying in my ignorant way of trying to help.

I am certainly not trying to just post a story. I almost resent that in a way.I really was a bit taken aback by the whole situation and just wanted to present it here to see what people thought., and obviously from the replies, they seem to have many different thoughts.

One other little thing I would like to point out is the fact that some seem to just be assuming Im a perfectly healthy person and quite able to do it all myself. I promise if I was , I would have. I have over the years. It really isn't anyone business Why I needed help, but I did. The ol grey mare just aint what she used to be.

So, I hope that clears a couple things up about how this all came about and what my intentions were. I know one thing though, I sure won't reach out like that again which is sad, because maybe now someone I could have helped will miss out completely, unless of course I decide to get more familiar with my city.

I think I will stick with the Kids from now on and just teach them about gardening as we go along. They seem to get a kick out it and it is much nicer to see the wonder in a youths eyes as they watch something grow, as opposed too... well, I'll let you fill in the blanks there.

Matthew 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ "

I apologize for my hypocrisy, as I abhor bible quote dooshs. But you did the right thing. You reached out and gave someone an opportunity.

There is a difference between charity and work for pay. Charity, you should have gave the guy $20 if you wanted to help someone that day. Work for pay, you should have offered the guy $100. I can't imagine the hardship of living on the street, and $100 would have made him feel like a king. Life is short but cheap is forever.

Is it really much different from you kissing your boss's ass. Or your boss kissing your ass to get you to do something. Or a Pop star kissing ass(singing) for his supper. Or politician's playing to their base. Or athletes pumping up on steroids to please their fans. Or teacher's trying to please the parents. etc... etc...

Wow this thread has made me incredibly sad....

The rage people have has been SUCCESSFULLY redirected from where it BELONGS to targets of convenience like the POOR and those that need some sort of HELP to get through their daily lives!!!

REALITY CHECK!!!

That lilttle bit of money the homeless are asking for is NOTHING compared to the BILLIONS big corporations DON'T pay in taxes!!!

And besides that why do we even have homeless anymore? I thought BILL GATES AND the sage of OMAHA BOTH DONATED all their money to charity?

Oh wait that's right ... what they really did was engage in a complex tax evasion scheme that allows them to keep their money TAX FREE and even MAKE MONEY ON THAT MONEY and pass it on in PERPETUITY creating by default a New american ARISTOCRACY!!

Yes that's right they didn't donate sh** all they did was stop paying taxes. and make it so their kids and their kids kids kids won't pay taxes on any of their MASSIVE fortunes!!

But you don't want to give a homeless guy 5 dollars? And you go on the internet and get HATEFUL and NASTY towards people less FORTUNATE THAN YOU?

HAHA we're screwed! You all can be mad at people for being POOR ... go ahead and pat yourselves on the back for denying ignorance while you continue to throw insults at the SAFE TO HATE groups the MSM has told you to hate Rather than the people that really deserve your ANGER!!!

To clarify my last post

here we have an entire thread of people ripping on the mean old scamming homeless people when GE paid a grand total of NOT A DAMN THING in taxes last year

but it's the homeless that are dragging us down .... OMFG give me a break.

There will always be homeless people just like there will always be the unemployed.

Life isn't fair and people are not all born equal.


You just have to take life for what it is in my opinion. There's only so much that we can do before fate takes over.

reply to post by onehuman




i really wished you would have told the first person you asked exactly what you just said in this post. the incentive isn't a ' dead-end ' vision for them and i believe they would have more than likely tagged along.
homelessness can give a serious blow to a persons being, and $20.00 for a 1 day in a 365 day calender probobly could even be depressing. but an incentive for future possible work and a respectable free lunch would be a very nice bright light and motivation.
PLEASE do reconsider asking again with those terms next time you need a helping hand

There is no judgement until you witness it for yourself. I too have asked homeless people to do the odd job's I have no time for, I even give them the trust of being alone at my house while I'm away at work. They still refuse. I was successful in getting ONE out of TWENTY to work under the table.

Originally posted by LargeFries
Matthew 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ "

I apologize for my hypocrisy, as I abhor bible quote dooshs. But you did the right thing. You reached out and gave someone an opportunity.

There is a difference between charity and work for pay. Charity, you should have gave the guy $20 if you wanted to help someone that day. Work for pay, you should have offered the guy $100. I can't imagine the hardship of living on the street, and $100 would have made him feel like a king. Life is short but cheap is forever.

You know I did used to work landscaping and that is exactly what I made, $10.00 an hour to do the exact same thing and then some, like mowing, trimming ,edging. I really don't think I was being cheap making that offer for something that was really only going to take a hour and a half at most.

Im also pretty sure the aliens in our country that have taken a lot of the jobs work for way less as well. Perhaps they would have felt like Kings with twenty bucks for less then two hours work.

I am not pointing a finger at you, but $100.00 to come my way in a day would be pretty special as well. I made the best offer I could afford and tried to be more then fair about it. Believe you me, I hate having to ask for help, I am very independent and that $20.00 could have gone for more food for me as well if it were to stay in my own pocket.

I really had no idea what can of worms I would be opening with this thread. People sure seem to have strong opinions though on it. Quite curious in a way.

reply to post by onehuman


It's very simple.

You didn't offer them a real job. You offered them 20 dollars to rake leaves!
Better question would be, why would they elect to help you? They are on the street and have acclimated to that life. If they can get 20 bucks by pan-handling then that's their gig. In a perfect world it'd be great if the dude helped you rake, then you gave him an xtra 10 for doing a good job. Gave him a hot meal etc.....

Sadly though, it's easier to stand and receive through pity than it is to rake.
-Now if you had promised him a 500 dollar a week job or something and he refused then that would be entirely different.

reply to post by onehuman


They've given up on life and shouldn't be pitied. If they wanted to earn a living, most of them can, they just choose not to because there are enough social services and suckers (us) that will feel sorry for them and give them money. If they were really hungry/homeless they would've jumped at the chance to make the money.

The saddest part of this is that where I live in Arizona, there's a dozen illegals in every other Circle K parking lot begging for work and will jump in the back of a pickup truck and do landscape work for $40 that takes all day.

The difference? They know that if they pop in for social services they'll be picked up and deported (rightly so as well). But it's still sad that I have to find an illegal to help me out instead of the 'hungry war vet' that knows that he doesn't have to do anything for his booze money or soup kitchen dinner. It's all a scam.

Sure, there's a select few that need help, but the vast majority can swing into their local McDonald's and get hired, but won't. Americans don't have any self reliance anymore. Too many years of politically correct programs to help out ANYONE that asks, whether they need it or not.

Blah, I'm done.

I live in San Francisco, where we have an enormous homelessness problem. I grew up in and out of homeless shelters, ate at soup kitchens every day as a kid, and many of my family's friends and associates were homeless, and I can tell you from this experience that there are roughly three kinds of "homeless" people.

1) People who, like us at the time, just couldn't get a break no matter how hard my parents worked or struggled to find work. These people try their damndest, and take advantage of every opportunity given to them, yet somehow slip through the cracks. For many of these people, once they find themselves in this predicament, the psychological trauma suffered is too great to bear, and they slip into addiction (often alcoholism at first.) I think the reason my parents didn't succumb to this was simply because they knew they had to take care of me. But to this day they suffer psychologically due to that period of their lives, despite our better circumstances these days. There are a lot of these people, sadly.

2) People who have become accustomed to being homeless, and either can't or won't change their lives because they have become comfortable with the routine and lifestyle of homelessness. (Some of them are even quite intelligent, deep thinkers, and I've actually had quite a few tell me that this life affords them more freedom than a "normal" life would. I couldn't agree with them personally, but hey; if they're genuinely okay with it, then more power to them.) There are a lot of these people, too.

3) People who aren't homeless at all, but who act like they are in order to pan handle. People may not believe this, but I swear it's true. There are some ostensibly homeless pan handlers who literally make hundreds of dollars in a day if they play their cards right, and then go home to a nice, well furnished apartment and play computer games all night. Lol. I couldn't believe it either, but this stuff really goes on! I swear! I've seen it!

So, my reaction to this depends on which of the three categories this man falls into. If he's in category #1, then he might just genuinely feel like he can make more money doing what he's doing than raking up and bagging your leaves, in terms of time spent and money made. If he's in this situation, he needs to make such judgment calls all the time in order to keep his head above water. He can't be concerned with whether it's "honest" work or not. All he can worry about is how much he'll make, and how long out of his pan handling or other survival activities it will take. It doesn't sound like he's in that situation if he's making $20 dollars an hour, though.

If he's in category #2, then he just doesn't mind being homeless bad enough to rake up your leaves.

And if he's in category #3, then he doesn't need your money. He's doing fine. And you're lucky he didn't try to scam you out of even more lol.

I find it hilarious the people defending SCAMMING pan handlers, and the pan handlers who are offered a job but wont work are the same people who go ape # off someone on welfare, or someone on disablity but able to work.

What the hell is the difference between these people and the lying homeless people?


You guys are taking the reverse role here instead of saying but not all homeless are scammers how about saying not all homeless are in need and some are actually scammers?


Nothing wrong with helping someone who needs it and is down on their luck but your a sucker to help a con man, and thats exactly how they make money...


You people are the same ones who will give a pan handler 5 bucks knowing they are gonna go get drugs with it, but call a parent who lets their grown jobless kids live free under their roof and take money from them for drugs enablers!!!

What the hell is the difference?! Don't be hypocrites!!!!

I was walking down the street with a few friends drunk one night when we saw a bum that would always beg.As we came close to crossing paths I thought it would be funny in front of my friends to ask for a dollar before he could spit it out. To my amazement he pulled a buck out and gave it to me .My friends couldn't believe it. I think he was pretty drunk too.It made me happy and I used it to get a beer.

Really hard to have a valid opinion about your story from only hearing you tell your side of your story. Mommy always taught me not to accept rides from strangers. If they offer me candy or money, then something is up. If anything else is out of the ordinary, red flags abound. Now, how normal do you suppose you made this experience for his homeless man? I think I know what happened after you drove off.

Homelessman1: Did you see that crap?
Homelessman2: Nah, what happened.
HM1 :Some Jeffrey Dahmer mother------- just tried to get me in his car with 20 bucks.
HM2: What? Why the hell would anyone offer one of us 20 bucks to get in their car?
HM1: I dunno but that ---- just didn't feel right.