Tried to Hire a Homeless Man Today

I was in a truck stop parking lot once near an interstate, sitting in my vehicle. A man pulled up in a newer, nothing fancy, but nice car. He parked, got out, was dressed nicely, business casual. He went to his trunk, opened it, pulled out some dirty, ratty, overalls and put them on over his clothes, also a dirty stocking cap...and, of course, a cardboard sign. He then went walking over to the interstate exit ramp.

It's a great way to make some extra money, especially on a Sunday afternoon. Personally I wanted to go and have a vehicle/pedestrian 'accident' over on the exit ramp...

Some of these folks aren't homeless and needy, is my point. The real homeless know where the soup kitchens and shelters are. You only need cash for alcohol and drugs.

I was reading an article yesterday entitled "Canadians giving up on finding new work" at the Star was saying how it looks like the unemployment rate has dropped, but the fact is people are getting fed-up.

Canada’s unemployment rate dropped slightly in March, but that was only because fewer people were looking for work, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday.

but the scary thing is they say:

“They’re pulling out. They’re saying it’s not worth it, and that’s not a good sign,” said Bethune.

One wonders that all those people will do when the unemployment insurance runs out. Will we be seeing those people on the streets too? We're talking thousands here.

Sobering thought...

It is very sad, that our governments allow huge salaries which have no true justification for some, and spend their time making it so hard for the ones who do not work for what ever reason, there is enough to go around and not everyone can have a job all the time.

reply to post by onehuman


He is probably thinking ipod mentality etc. with 20 bucks you can buy a lot of food on the taco bell dollar menu. You wont be able to buy at the ritz carlton, but you will have some food. Heck buy lots of ramen. I had to eat like that at one point. You can live off of 20 bucks food a day easily.

There is no easy answer to this one. As has been said every "homeless" person has a different story to tell. We cannot generalize about them any more than we can about each other.

I usually feel more inclined to give a little when someone seems truthful, like wanting "x" amount to get "a beer" or whatever. The second thing is, never do this for what you think you will get in return, like karma or whatever. Just do it, to do it, expecting nothing in return.

Because it is sometimes hard for me to do, I try to remind myself to look upon the person with respect and dignity; even if they seem not to have any for themselves. I don't question their motives; knowing it is my good fortune, and not just my hard work, that I am not in their place.

Now there is that lady who speeds around on her motorized scooter; nearly running people over all the time, constantly begging for money. She is a pest and I don't feel guilty denying her.

Each of us enters this life alone. Each of us will leave it the same way. What goes on in between these two lonely events will hopefully involve some community, sharing, giving and receiving without judgement clogging up the channels.

Originally posted by marsend
reply to post by jonnywhite

 

You are right, experience is a great teacher.

I'm not denying they don't do booze and drugs. I know they do. Heck, I offered a guy a banana that was panhandling (this is a few years after my journey) and he was blunt about it. I told him I had bee in a similar situation. He said he made enough money and all he cared about was the liquor and he was going to be moving to another city soon. I felt kind of angry about it, but at the same time I know nothing about this guy and his version of comfort could mean holding onto his bottle of liquor and doing what he knows works for him. But you know he's going to die young if he keeps doing it. The average lifespan of homeless people is 50. They really don't have anything to fall on when something goes bad. I want to get angry at them, but I can't. They're people that might have once been happy or even successful (yes, this happens... i know it does). Some of them have found god at the churches. There was one guy that was determined to convert me to christ but I told him I had alreayd been through that. I liked him, though. There's hope on the streets for people but it comes so slow and answers for them are not the same answers that apply to people who have security and comfort living with family or on their own. You have to really approach homeless people differently if you want to hope to help them.

I think a good way to help is to find a homeless person and point at a restaurant nearby and ask him if he wants a meal and talk. I think that's probably a good way to break through the wall. It's safe for them because they can see it and know that you can't pull any tricks. But where it goes from there is up to you. Keep in mind that the person you're talking to could have a lot of issues so don't press it. Try to be congenial and give advice maybe about work around the area that a homeless person could do. Maybe show some humor. But if you can make em smile then you've probably helped in some way but that's no guarantee. Like I said answers don't come easy. Many of them have been homeless for years and it's especially true for them.

Ultimately, if you're happy eating bread and old junk food then you'll never need food as a homeless person so long as you can walk a couple miles per day or so. If you're happy sleeping under a bridge or on a street then you don't need an apartment. If you're happy knowing you'll have an average lifespan of 50 years of age then you don't need health insurance or even health food. If you're happy knowing your money could get stolen or you could could beaten up then you don't need police or a bank account or keys (you can bury your money though). For some of them this sh** is life and it's all they know and it's going to take a miracle for them to take the risk of crossing a bridge away from what they know to something they don't or no longer trust even.

I have my days...being a Bum:]]

Originally posted by austingoeshard
reply to post by onehuman

 

yea man homeless people are generally insane assholes.

I know a girl that gave a homeless man some McDonald's coffee and hashbrowns and he threw the coffee on the girl and said, "I WANT MONEY B*TCH"

she was like seven too

That's crazy. I had the exact opposite happen to me. We had just wrapped filming downtown, i had a car full of equipment (trunk and backseat) and had to give another guy a ride to his car. This homeless guy came up, complimented me on me hat, and wanted me to take him to get something to eat. Obviously, i had neither time nor room, so gave him some change, whereupon he cussed me out for giving him money and not taking him to get something to eat.

Needless to say, I was shocked outta my boots. I explained to him the situation, and even said, "Hey, at least you got something, you should be grateful." He was still walking down the block cussing and screaming.

Granted, he could have been trying to lure me somewhere to rob me or something, i dunno.

Generally, i will give to homeless people, but not the same person who sits in the same place every day (like this one overweight homeless lady who everyday holds a sign that says "homeless. hungry." She certainly hasn't missed too many meals).

Then again, there's this other homeless man who always just wants a cup of coffee; that's all he does is walk around and ask people to buy him a cup of coffee.

And this other woman who always just wants a quarter.

And this other man who says nothing, just sits there with his hat upside on the ground. He nods when you pass (if you look at him), but never says anything. I think he too escaped from corporate slavery, but i have seen people giving him food, and buying him food, or drinking a soda, which seems to be what he wants more than anything. That man actually tasted, and relished that soda, like the men working on the roof drinking beer in The Shawshank Redemption. Sometimes you never really appreciate things until you do not have them.

Oh the things we take for granted with our money and our materialism....

~

Back to the OP, i think it boils down to laziness. People, i think, at least a large number of Americans, don't want to work, plain and simple, if they do not have to (i know i don't, or at least i would rather do what i want to do, work-wise). The guy is correct, why work when he can make that kinda money just sitting?

A homeless friend of mine, who i help from time to time (i gave him a thermal sleeping bag during the sub-freezing temps of winter) got a job as a dishwasher. He had that job for a couple of months, i guess, until he quit because of the hypocrisy and bureaucracy in the industry. He, however, has an advertising degree (so he says) and seems to like where he is compared to the world of corporate slavery and such.

But really, the mental attitude of many people is: if i can make $20 doing nothing, why would i want to have to labor to make it. It's good logic, if you ask me. 'Course, it doesn't say a whole lot about character.

You went to the wrong place.
Every town has an area where you can (and these aren't my words) "rent a dirtbag"

You just say "hop in, I have some furniture to move"
They move it, you pay them..Works every time.

You don't know your town so well. I guess.

In my area they are usually Hispanic, usually friendly, and hard workers.

You just wanted to tell a story.

reply to post by onehuman


In reading this story and some of the replies, I wanted to add my own experiences with this sort of situation. I noticed many of the attempts at kindness here resulted in negative outcomes or non-results, and statistically that's to be expected. I mean, everybody's different, including those who are less fortunate on the street.

My setting was downtown L.A. I was a fashion design student, female, barely over five feet tall, and usually with a huge bag of books and school supplies dragging behind me on a luggage trolly. I would walk the two blocks from the subway to my school on Grand ave. Occasionally, often really, I would see homeless folks and did as I was taught growing up - I ignored them. Mostly for my own safety, since I'm kinda small for a human.

I would get asked for money, and I never carried cash. Always my bank card only in my wallet. So that was usually my stock reply, "sorry, I don't have anything."

One day, I was asked by a very tall black man in ragged clothes, and I just decided I was tired of saying I had no money for them. So I offered instead, "Could I buy you something to eat at least?" It's been a while now, and so I don't exactly remember the reply, though I recall is was somewhat of surprise, and I insisted on going to the nearest restaurant, a Burger King. I decided was hungry too, and he led me to this place. We both went inside and I waited patiently for this man to order anything he wanted, and I got myself some fries.

"You're not eating much," I remember him saying as we both sat down across from each other, my bulging school bag parked next to me. I'm pretty sure I smiled really big to him, and told him as sincerely as I could that I just wanted to be sure he ate something, the fries were enough for me. He seemed taken aback by this and said something about how a lot of people wouldn't do what I did, and I'm sorry to say that he's probably right. I'm just glad that I did, at least.

I didn't want the praise he gave me, though it felt good at the time, and I also don't ask for it now. I don't usually tell this story at all because of that. I felt I did something good and made a person happy for a little while. That encounter ended well.

Same subway stop, there was a gentleman down on his luck asking for thirty cents for the subway fare to get to the hospital, and boy did he need one! John Sullivan I believe he told me his name was, and he was bit by a very venomous spider. I saw the festering wound and I couldn't give him the thirty cents (no money at all, just card). Instead, I bade him to watch my big bag of school stuff so I could run down the two flights of stairs to the subway kiosk and by the fare he needed with my card. I ran back up and breathlessly handed him the ticket. He seemed a little shocked, but smiled at me big.

Next time I saw him, the bite wound was healing, and he had a flower for me. That was the last time I saw I'm too, as I eventually stopped going to that school. But another positive outcome, and many interesting experiences.

Namaste.

There is a difference between homeless and the panhandlers . Where I live , I am off a highway exit.

There have been the same two guys on the corner, now for THREE years. They are not homeless.
I have seen then go across the street when they are done, into their very nice pick up truck that
is always parked at the truck stop across from them. When you get to that light, they stare at you. Makes me mad. Last month the next exit down the road, there were three regular people down there, and it was in paper , one killed another man over his SPOT.

I was homeless once, when my car got impounded, a state away from home, and I was stuck no money.
I will never forget the guy who bought me breakfast. I dont know how he knew I was hungry, but to this day I ask God bless that guy in my prayers. I met others that were REALLY homeless during this time. They are not out handing out signs. They are going to soup kitchens, trying to find a place to stay warm,., looking for work, doing day labor. I got a day labor job, slept on a side walk, and finally got the money to get out of there. Was hard.

If you want to help the homeless, find your local soup kitchen , they are homeless. If I had someone offer me 20 bucks to rake leaves, I would have done it. Being hungry sucks.

Hey OP for what its worth I would have helped you rake those leaves for $20 ;p

Originally posted by THE_PROFESSIONAL
reply to post by onehuman

 

He is probably thinking ipod mentality etc. with 20 bucks you can buy a lot of food on the taco bell dollar menu. You wont be able to buy at the ritz carlton, but you will have some food. Heck buy lots of ramen. I had to eat like that at one point. You can live off of 20 bucks food a day easily.

Are you kidding. $20 of oatmeal is half of the number of calories you need in an ENTIRE month. And a lot of them eat garbage food like bread and old junk food. They rarely eat vegetables or perishables because food bankers and churches and shelters don't carry it as much. Sometimes shelters will get vegetables but in the one I was staying in they stopped moving them and just put them in dumpsters instead to save money. Basically, oatmeal is a much better alternative than bread in the grains group. But bread is a lot tastier, easier to eat, and popular.

If you can tolerate gluten (sometimes is in oatmeal) and you can spare a little bit of money for some fish or chicken once a weak and add a few compliments to give taste to it you can cut your food costs drastically in a month. You just have to be willing to work for it and sacrifice a little. It's easier to make a cheese sandwich, but that might cost more and won't be as good for you either. We live in a fast food society. Who wants to make their own food and worry about making it taste good? They wnat it prepackaged. I have a friend that couldn't live on $150 a month for food but it's her fault not anyone elses. I try to give her advice but she doesn't listen to it.

Many are still not aware of the significance of thread, but fortunately, some do.

2000 years ago, a mortal being taught a simple truth. 2000 years later, despite our evolution and progress, as well as continued tirades from clergies, priests, legislatives who claim to follow the bible or the Koran or holy scriptures from different lands, and even bible belt oath swearers in US, it seemed many could not, had not, or even wanted to, comprehend a simple truth.

"Give a man a fish, and you feed him a day. Teach a man how to fish, and you will feed him a lifetime." This was what the Great Man taught.

Teaching is not just some imposed upon attendance at classes. To truly teach, it requires time and more critically patience, plenty of it, something that we ordinary masses may not be able to spare as we each have families to take care of.

The onus for such noble guidiance will have to come from our pool of resources, to help others as a society, so that NONE gets left behind.....

Wow...someone took religion onto the forum.

There are so many people on this board, myself included, who know the real story behind these freeway panhandlers that it makes you wonder: Are the people who give them money ignorant of what's going on, or do they know and just want to help a fellow human?

My money is on the former. And I don't know what is more sad, the fact that there are so many people ignorant of that reality, or that there are so many people making that reality.

reply to post by Wertdagf


be wary.. my husband had a friend about 10 yrs ago that made his living doing this. He would pack his cooler with sandwiches and drinks and make a freaking killing every day. had a car and had a home too. he went every day and sat on his butt and everyone felt sorry and pd him... he never worked..

I am really surprised this thread has grown the way it has. You didnt try to "hire"anyone, you tried to pay him for a task and he declined.
If you were a business owner and tried to give the guy a position in your company, that would be considered a hire, not raking your damn leaves.
Get off your bigscreen and rake them yourself.

Originally posted by Frankenchrist

Originally posted by onehuman


Now I have to be honest How can someone be hungry with that kind of money?

Ummm ? How about drugs? Lazy perhaps. Heck, that guy makes more an hour than the average American citizen.


Screw those people.

Using anecdotal evidence (that might be situational or fabricated)attempting to give people your opinion.

I agree. Homeless people are evil,useless the our system, and have to be beaten with a fascii.

Compliance is king!

Originally posted by kalunom
I was in a truck stop parking lot once near an interstate, sitting in my vehicle. A man pulled up in a newer, nothing fancy, but nice car. He parked, got out, was dressed nicely, business casual. He went to his trunk, opened it, pulled out some dirty, ratty, overalls and put them on over his clothes, also a dirty stocking cap...and, of course, a cardboard sign. He then went walking over to the interstate exit ramp.

It's a great way to make some extra money, especially on a Sunday afternoon. Personally I wanted to go and have a vehicle/pedestrian 'accident' over on the exit ramp...

Some of these folks aren't homeless and needy, is my point. The real homeless know where the soup kitchens and shelters are. You only need cash for alcohol and drugs.

So for a petty crime that is nonviolent, you advocate attempted murder??