Ever give money to a stranger

[loki]

Currently away from home tonight with work in the sulubrious heights of Wolverhampton. Que the usual night at the Bilash for a Ruby. Anywho on the way back to the hotel I was stopped by a stranger asking for some money. Story this time was a bit different in that the asian guy who had stopped me had been told that a gang of white kids told him he was P*** scum and that no good white boy would give a P*** any money to get back to Manchester.

Now coming from Manchester maybe the tried and tested story of him being born and bred Mancunian was lost on me as he sounded as mancunian as I sounded as Swiss.

Anyway cutting a long story short I didn't have any money on me even if I didn't want to give him any. It got me thinking, are there any genuine people out there who do need just that little bit of help just to get on with a particular situation. It's probably very easy to castigate people who live on the streets as parasites and why can't they make there own way in life. That said I would hate to be so low that my life was dependent on asking a complete stranger for a peg up

[Blighter]

Dejavu

I don't normally. If it's some odd person that needs 10p for the bus as they are short then fair enough.

[loki]

Originally Posted by Blighter

Dejavu

[Mark]

Simple rule: Those who beg don't get. If they're genuinely struggling then that's different.

[Del Lardo]

I won't give money to a begger but I will buy them a hot drink or some person/dog food if I'm in the mood. I once paid for a week in a hostel for a homeless guy after I saw him helping out a lady who was being hassled but I went there with him and paid the hostel.

Too many experiences of beggers with sob stories who are just after money for stuff other than food and shelter. Had a guy stop me when I was walking home from the pub one night asking for £12.50 for a night in the shelter, I asked him which one and as it was on my way home I offered to go with him to pay. He said he'd rather have the money so he lost his chance. Sounds like a rather harsh attitude but I don't like being lied to, strange thing is that if he'd asked for £10 for 4 cans of Tennants and a packet of cigarettes I probably would have given it to him as I was in a very good mood that night.

[Jonny69]

I've bought food for beggars but won't give them money.

[Burble]

Nope. Never.

[SidewinderINC]

I stood in Guildford train station for an hour waiting for my sister to come and pick me up a few months back, and I saw something incredible.

Two blokes (who acted for the most part like they didn't know eachother) walking around asking for 40p to get them their train fayre, and then standing in the queue after being given the 40p, only to leave it after the person had wandered off to get their train.

This continued for the whole hour I was there, god knows how long they were there before I arrived but they both asked me (on several occasions) whether I had 40p for them.
The final time they came up to me I was blunt with them and said "I've seen what you've been doing, it's a cunning scheme, how much have you made today?" and after giving me a load of verbal about how I didn't know anything they said they'd made about £150 between them so far that day in about 4 hours.

Safe to say now that if a stranger asks me for money I'm not so keen to reach into my pocket.

[Stan_Lite]

I've given a quid to beggars a couple of times when I've been in a good mood but I don't make a habit of it.

A couple of other times, I've helped out people who were a bit short. Once on a bus, a young woman with a little girl didn't have the correct change and the awkward bus driver wasn't going to let her on unless she gave him the correct money so I paid their fare. Another time there was a little old lady in front of me in the supermarket who only had a few basic items. She didn't have quite enough money in her purse and was trying to decide whether to put back her pint of milk or her loaf of bread (she insisted the cat food had to stay). I was pretty sure both these items were important to her so I bunged her 50p so she could keep them both.

I would be very wary of these people who claim to have lost the money for their train fare home etc. - apparently it's a very lucrative business.

[Pheebs]

I went and bought the big issue man a cup of tea yesterday He looked freezing and was really pleasant.

But money - no.

It's a hard one though as when working alongside the drug squad, you did come across so many crack heads that would beg and do anything for money and any money they did have they'd use to feed their habit. People always say no to giving money beggars because of this, but what bothers me is if you don't give them money (which I don't) they *will* find a way of getting money - be it lawfully or not (most of the time not).

Example: Young girl aged 16. Her family history was actually not too bad but due to a divorce she went a bit off the rails and ran away. She stayed with friends - did the normal thing of rebelling but got in with a crowd which wasn't so grand. Folks got pretty naffed off (she flitted back and forth to them but started doing things unlike her - stealing money, bad tempers, lows, highs etc. She'd got hooked on crack and basically it was eating away at her. Not an ideal home as they were still going through a break up but both parents were so supportive). Anyway, grade A student, absolutely stunning girl ended up within a year leaving home and before you know it she's a prostitute trying to feed her addiction. She'd regularly crop up in dodgy areas and we'd always receive phonecalls from people saying "this tramp girls back begging for money again".

I don't know what's happened from that point onwards but things weren't looking too grand. She'd been admitted of ODing a number of times and stopped once, wavering on a bridge about to throw herself off.

Now for me... it's hard for me to say "don't give her money, she'll spend it on crack" when I know this once beautiful, young girl will go out anyway and shag the nearest stranger to feed her addiction. It's a quandry in my head as - ideally you'd give her support but if you're not able to do that and have a choice of giving her money or not... do you give her money knowing it might keep her out of dangers way for a day or do you refuse and let her get into a car with some stranger for a tenner.

It's soul destroying.