Tried to Hire a Homeless Man Today

I had a read of the first couple of pages and couldnt be bothered to read any more... the attitude regarding homeless people seem to go mainly along the lines of either...

1) "They are all scammers who actually live in house and drive nice cars but make lots of cash begging"

or

2) "They are lazy bums who enjoy living on the street"

Well if these opinions are what help you to alleviate the guilt of passing by those who are less fortunate than yourself then so be it... but to answer those opinions...

1) There are those who scam it, for sure, but they do not represent the majority. And those that are scammers should not be used as an excuse to turn our backs on the genuine cases. It’s quite logical really, the scammers are just that, scammers. Not homeless!! If a builder does a bad job on your home, and then runs off with your money, do you say "all builders are scammers?"

2) There may be a small fraction that enjoy living on the street. But my time working for a homeless charity showed me that most do not enjoy sleeping in a shop doorway, on a cold winter night, only to be woken at 2am by a group of drunken city bankers who think it is fun to urinate on you!!!


During my time working with the homeless i see all sorts of different people... Teenage runaways, people with mental illness, Ex Service men who couldn’t fit back in and often suffered from PTSS, alcoholics etc...

Does this mean all homeless people are lovely people just waiting for our hand of friendship and an offer of work??? No, of course not... If you are looking for endless gratitude and a lifelong friend then you’re helping people for the wrong reasons.

People are people... good and bad in all... If you want to truly be a good person then you will help all people, good and bad!

It is easy to have compassion for the good.... but to have compassion for the bad is a true blessing.

Peace

reply to post by Char-Lee


Basically you are saying you should condemn the homeless instead of have compassion. If this is the answer, then why do we still have people that are homeless and/or in extreme poverty after thousands of years of poverty. Condemning is what humans have learned to do since we discovered agriculture and were able to stockpile and stratify society. I'm not saying compassion in and of itself will solve the problem, but it is required to be ABLE to solve the problem.

This idea that people have to EARN their right to live is absurd considering the caring capacity of the earth, combined with science and technology. EVERYONE I know, that is living a half way decent life, have been CARRIED by someone else at some point or several points in their lives. The homeless just, more than likely, didn't have anyone to carry them. Until it was too late anyway.

See, you think compassion equals weakness. I think compassion is a key part of the next step in human evolution. Condemnation divides. Division is what leads to poverty and lack of progress. Not compassion.

As far as people seeing themselves for who they are, how in the WORLD is a homeless person going to see their self for who they are, considering half the people I know can't even do that very well? It's like telling a 4 year old to learn quantum physics in a week!

Originally posted by angus1745

Originally posted by roguetechie
reply to post by onehuman

 

Your experience is Not in the slightest uncommon.

Before I continue I should mention that I have spent time homeless and on the streets. And when I was on the streets I would accept offers of work from PEOPLE I FELT I COULD TRUST!! I learned the hard way to carefully evaluate which offers I accepted due to working for 6 hours for a guy one time and then him telling me to F*** Off and get off his property when it came time to pay up! He also lived about ten miles from where I was staying at the time! This happens more than you'd like to think... and consequently I do NOT blame homeless people for being wary of what work they accept
.

I'm at a loss to understand why you did not call the police on this dirtbag? Do you think the homeless have less rights than the rest of us? Do you think they would have not helped you and made this jerk pay you for the work he contracted you for? what? I dont get it. I also find it hard to beleive all homeless would be such victims, would get exploited like that and do absolutely nothing about it. What made you be so damned meek about it??

As far as the usual workshy a-holes that the OP describes, They are almost always, lazy, addicted or mentally ill or a combination of all 3. There is no helping these losers, they are comfortable in this lifestyle despite trying to appear as in hardship. The only reason these beggars exist is because idiots give them money. If nobody ever gave them money they wouldnt die or starve, they'd just stop begging as it would be pointless.

Of course they dont want a measly 20 bucks to rake leaves. If they did they would simply need to go door-to-door offering and I'm sure they'd get plenty of takers.

Sorry, Nice Lady, they dont want your kind offer. They want the easy handouts the gullible will fork over willingly so they can feel like they helped someone out. They arent helping the homeless, if anything they are enabling drug addicts and professional scroungers.

I have to concur with your overall assessment. Twenty-some odd years ago, I saw a 22 year old "cleaning up" with handouts near a very busy interstate exchange. He worked "his" spot for months, always with a smug look on his face. This location was within a few short blocks of a high volume car dealership where I worked. One day a shop foreman announced that he had stopped and asked the guy if he'd like a good, decent paying job as a shop porter. The guy answered with an emphatic "NO", his reason being that he made over $350.00 a week in TAX FREE money!
Unfortunately for me, I've seen many instances of this type of abuse over the years because panhandling is not illegal in my city - it just takes a $5.00 license to do it legally. But recently I read where someone came up with a novel idea - a small donation buys a one way city bus fare to the nearest homeless shelter, with addresses preprinted on the ticket.
On the other hand, I have had some experience with hiring "street people' to do some odd jobs. There are a few with impeccable work ethics, believe it or not! As to what they spent the $$ on was none of my concern, they earned it honestly. Just my 2-cents.

Man do I miss the wildlife in that region. You got pigeons, rats, cockroaches, and most famously, [smiling] all different flocks of bum creatures. You guys know that. [half-pause] Jesus Christ.. [half pause] The bums in california are incredible - the way they ask for change is like an artform. [half-pause] But there's always one genius bum that comes along and, he gets cha. [half-pause] One guy pulled the sympathy card and said he was on the way to the grocery store to get milk for his 7 kids. Milk I say? You have 7 kids and you're going to buy milk? Fool you need some friggen condoms is what you need! Stop having kids and get a Vasectomy! A lady-bum in her wheelchair rolled up to me, and I felt bad, so I gave her a few bucks. I saw her the next day in running shoes, jogging around the same block. [half-pause]…I actually saw and witnessed a guy beat the hell out of himself and ask for change to go to the hospital…[half-pause] Another lady-bum, she came up to me and asked me for change so she could go to the store and buy some tampons…She goes, deep lady-bum voice: Watch I’ll show you [turn around and point to ass] look there’s the blood! [pause] The best is when they pretend to be blind or deaf. [half-pause] I had one guy hand me a piece of cardboard saying he's deaf and can't talk. [half pause] So i asked him if he could lip read, and he said no. [confused look]

Originally posted by onehuman

Can someone tell me what is wrong with this picture?

Yes, I can. You are trying to judge all the Homeless by the standard of your interaction with one individual.

I had a bad experience about thirty years ago where I became homeless briefly. I learned a valuable lesson.

Many of those who are homeless become so due to no fault of their own. In my case I bankrupted myself putting my Ex through Alcohol Treatment Programs while trying to raise a Daughter from age 2 months to about 3 years. When we split I paid all the bills a couple of months in advance, filled a closet and freezer with everything needed for our child and walked with my clothes wrapped in a sheet and $0.13 in my pocket. My Ex had escaped from a court ordered program and sold our luggage for some Old English 800.

My Family is all deceased and I was in the city where my Ex's family lived. Nobody to call for help and I knew nobody other than her family. I'd lost my job because of my Ex. She would do things like go to the corner store for diapers and not come back for days, which left me unable to go to work as I had a baby to care for.

I soon found many in the same condition existed on the streets.

You see when the average person falls on hard times, they simply move in with a family member or friend and nobody thinks the worst of them for it. For many they don't have that option. They end up on the street. They are not bad people and they are willing to work.

Imagine trying to find a job when:
You have no address.
You have no phone.
You have no way to get clean clothes.
You have no transportation.

Employers won't even begin to consider you to hire and you loose all hope.

In my case I was helped by a Christian financed Charity that I ended up working for. At first, my job was to go out in the streets and find children, mostly teens, who's parents had thrown them out. I would try and get them off the streets fast before they got involved with the criminal crowd and deep into drugs and crime. I was good at it.

Then I was trained and licensed as a Drug and Alcohol Councilor and gave a year and a half of my life to repay my debt for the help I'd received with no strings attached. They even helped me go back to school to take the core of an MBA. All they asked of me is that I stayed away from crime and put in an honest effort. No demands to be Christian or pressure to believe as they believed. The donor's came from dozens of different Churches.

I ended up running the Program after-hours when the Clinical Psychologist who trained me was not there. I dealt often with people threatening suicide and those who fell off the wagon in trying to get off drugs and alcohol. Even dealt with Gambling Addicts who had destroyed their lives. Three years out, 24 of 29 people I ushered through the Program were still employed and clean. No government money, meant no useless twelve step nonsense and a real comprehensive Program that worked.

Federal Judges were giving Inmates early outs to spend six months to a year in the facility, it worked so well. When you left the Program, you had a job, two months income in the bank, an apartment with all you needed to get started. Other Programs just clean people up and then throw them back in the streets. That is why they have such horrible success rates.

I also saw many come in for help who are like I was. Not bad people and willing to work, but had nobody to turn to for help. It's impossible for people who can turn to family for help to comprehend what it is like for those who have nobody to turn to. They are looked down on while the out of work person who moves back in with their family are not. They are the same people in different circumstance.

Even now, I have a mentally ill homeless man I invent jobs for to help him survive. He is a fast willing worker who does the best he can but his illness means nobody will hire him. He should be in an Institution but there is no funding. I let him do work around my home and clean my office and whatever I can find.

Since I've known him, he has been mugged many times. He has twice been held hostage when Crack Dealers took over his room and threatended to kill him if he told. The Police know, they do nothing. The Courts know, they do nothing. Imagine if you were held hostage? You suppose the Police would look the other way? Hell no, they would charge them with Kidnapping and it would be front page news. Walk a mile in that other person's shoes before you judge.

If you think about it,
when TSHTF,these guys will already be prepared.
who knows,the next leaders in the making!
They will be showing us how to survive.

the main problem here is...you get more money for begging..than for real work..some people have 3 jobs and dont even have enough for food...thats where the failure is...

begging for moneh is his "job" noone would do something else where he get lower cash..for doing more work..
sure ..its possible hes a lazy C*** but remember he did that for ages now and some people never learn how to work hard for money

Lol about everyone who is saying homeless people are lazy. Look at freaking Russia, I tried to hire some students for $800 to make 800 geometry problems. That's $1 per problem, granted that each problem needed images that could be made in paint etc. Still they did like 80 and said it's too much work ROFL. Thank god for USA, where people at least try

reply to post by onehuman


I'll tell you...first off if your a woman I wouldnt recommend picking up a homeless guy for anything...2nd those people you see holding signs im hungry will work for food etc its probably a scam after a days work of just standing there collecting money there off to buy their hit of crack coc aine. There are real people out there lookin for money cuz there hungry but the majority of them are scandalous

My God!,
What a lot of anger some of you are directing towards this particular social underclass,if you could somehow channel that sense of outrage towards those who really deserve it our problems would be over ! quite honestly the sight of troops coming home in coffins from an illegal conflict,or some waste of skin banker pocketing a multi million pound/dollar bonus outrages me far more than some homeless guy begging for change.

reply to post by onehuman


People like you think you are doing someone a favor, offering them to in this case rake your leaves for $20. You aren't offering to do them a favor, you are insulting and trying to take advantage of them.

I suggest this "Homeless Man" has a better education and has made more, done more and is more than you will ever be in your lifetime; that you are not worthy to shine his shoes.

So many of you think because you have jobs, you are better than some guy on the street. Well, I am here to tell you that many of these homeless served this country in the military, went to college, worked careers, paid taxes and in many cases were exceptional people until something or someone broke them, like some wife who betrays or some company that throws away when they outsource or downsize. My bet is this guy you speak of would rather starve than be the source of your BS illusion that your a great guy out to do someone a favor.

Be glad it wasn't some of the homeless men I have encountered; you'd be lucky to escape in that cab you drive.

Now, go call a "Yard Service" and pay them the $60-80 they would charge to do your lawn or go take advantage of some neighbor kid.

There is sever karma coming for all you who think so much of yourself; better human beings have come and gone and I seriously doubt you will go down as nobly.

Take your $20 and buy some character.

Originally posted by angrydog
begging for moneh is his "job" noone would do something else where he get lower cash..for doing more work..
sure ..its possible hes a lazy C*** but remember he did that for ages now and some people never learn how to work hard for money

edit on 9-4-2011 by angrydog because: (no reason given)

So.......I would like to work less and make more money. Does that make me a lazy C***? Everybody I know would love to work less and make more. What's with this double standard? These panhandlers are fracking brilliant if you ask me.

Is panhandling really any worse than the jackasses that sell bottled water? I see morons I work with walk down to water vending machines and feed them a buck when there is a water fountain on every floor of the building.

Some people can actually make a lot of money pan handling. Been cases where they made tens of thousands.

If they want to live that way fine, but no hand outs from me.



Entirely different subject, but people on welfare should be made to do work.

Originally posted by nake13
My God!,
What a lot of anger some of you are directing towards this particular social underclass,if you could somehow channel that sense of outrage towards those who really deserve it our problems would be over ! quite honestly the sight of troops coming home in coffins from an illegal conflict,or some waste of skin banker pocketing a multi million pound/dollar bonus outrages me far more than some homeless guy begging for change.

Heck, if people would get together and pull down those scumbags I would happily join them.

reply to post by yadda333


lol id like to know what a lazy C*** means i just cant guess those letters o.0

Originally posted by Amaterasu
So when you see a homeless person - don't assume that the person is just a bum on drugs. Though many are, these days, a great many are not.

Well said and I think people should take that more into context dismissing the stereotype.

I've met a few people that are comfortable being homeless, it gives them a freedom-to do whatever, go where ever without consequence of bills or things to take care of(beyond their habits(whether they be drugs or alcohol, or___?) or daily means of getting food, clothing and staying warm at night)-, even though it's still a tough life. I've been there a few times(bad judgments, employment issues, etc) and I do not choose to live that life, nor did at the time, it just happened that way. I can say it was hard, and it's the hardest way to fall into it is being a single woman being homeless, as services(place to sleep, eat etc., when cold out for ex.) are offered most to men and women with children. Not every homeless person's situation is the same. However, the saddest I've seen is where kids are pulled into the situation. One lady I've heard of traveled around getting big bucks by putting her 5 yr old on the street to ask for money. Other I've seen/met where run away teens.

In conclusion for the OP, seems $20.00 was not worth it for him. Some do abuse the "got any change" situations, others actually do buy food. I've asked people who where not homeless and offered to pay them to repair my car, etc., and no one showed up.