(September 28, 2012 at 2:03 pm)Napoléon Wrote: I was walking through Derby town centre today, and I saw a homeless guy on the floor begging for money. Not too weird, until some guy walks up and gives him money then starts preaching how it was because of jesus that the homeless person is getting his spare change.

I gave the man some spare change myself, and was tempted to tell him it was because of the devil that he was getting mine, just to see what the preacher's reaction would be. Alas, I didn't have the bottle for it. I instead wandered off mumbling to myself about what a wanker that preacher was.

Is it just me who thinks the guy was a wanker? Because if I was homeless the last person I'd be thanking is fucking jesus.

You see, I'm enough of an arrogant dick that I'd go through with that.
The look on his face would be more than worth any awkardness caused.

(September 28, 2012 at 2:10 pm)cato123 Wrote: What a fucking cunt. I don't think I would have had anything to say to the homeless person, but doubt I could resist asking the cunt this question:

"So, let me get this straight; without Jesus you would not have helped this person? What a cunt." Then walk off.

Yeah, that, totally. I don't usually give money to homeless people, but I would have been sorely tempted to do it this time; I would do it mentioning I'm an atheist who just cares about the general welfare of people, God or no.

It's a rare thing when I give a homeless person money. Most (not all) in THIS country are there because of their own laziness and/or stupidity.

My usual response to beggers is, "I don't think so pal, if I'm going to buy boos, they're going to be for me."



If that makes me callous, I don't care. I give my charity to actual charities that do actual good with the money.

(September 28, 2012 at 7:16 pm)Cinjin Wrote: It's a rare thing when I give a homeless person money. Most (not all) in THIS country are there because of their own laziness and/or stupidity.

Or mental illness. It's scary, on multiple levels, how many of the homeless are pretty damn delusional.

(September 28, 2012 at 7:27 pm)TaraJo Wrote:

(September 28, 2012 at 7:16 pm)Cinjin Wrote: It's a rare thing when I give a homeless person money. Most (not all) in THIS country are there because of their own laziness and/or stupidity.

Or mental illness. It's scary, on multiple levels, how many of the homeless are pretty damn delusional.

Most of the homeless are people who either are mentally ill and never got help, never accepted help, or couldn't afford help. It scares me when I realize I've lost jobs because I was in such a massive state of depression the thought of getting standing up seemed like a waste of time, let alone going to work, and that I can't afford to go to therapy or a psychologist or get medications or anything. The only affordable alternative is weed which dispels any/all issues I seem to be having rather well [a temporary fix, perhaps, but a couple tokes of a high-grade will be enough to get me through the day regardless of how miserable I woke up feeling], but then weed is illegal and jobs frown upon you taking it even if you have a medical reason for it, and if it shows up in a piss test you can't get a job or you will lose your job, so... That shit kind of scares me.

Others are people who basically drank themselves into homelessness. There are a few who basically got dealt a shit-flush in the great card game of life, though. Best way to tell; if you someone who is homeless and begging for money, ask them the following: "I can't give you any money, but I can go buy you a sandwich or a burger or something, that alright?" If they're starving or not an alcoholic homeless person [there's quite a few actually] they'll accept the charity gratefully or without complaint. If they're just looking for their next fix of booze they'll throw a hissy-fit, and at that point you can be morally and ethically justified in shrugging your shoulders and walking away. I wouldn't give money to my best friend if she was an alcoholic and asked for money to feed her addiction, why would I do it for a total stranger? But I WOULD buy my best friend food if she was starving and had no money, and I would also do it for anyone else in that circumstance, too.

Best kind of work you can do for the homeless? Volunteer at a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter.

The way I manage my depression is by volunteering. When you are helping others you tend forget about your own turmoil. Drugs can deaden the pain, but they also have side effects that I have found tends to keep one in the same place as the problem.

(September 28, 2012 at 6:28 pm)RaphielDrake Wrote: You see, I'm enough of an arrogant dick that I'd go through with that.
The look on his face would be more than worth any awkardness caused.

I would have if I was with someone else to share the laughs, but I was on my own and really couldn't be bothered, this guy looked really arrogant too. The kind that arguing with him wouldn't be about who had the best argument, but who had the loudest voice.

To be fair, not all beggars have good intentions (as some have mentioned here already). A guy at the bus terminal asked all passengers for some money for a ticket to the capital and all declined. I was the last person he asked, I and thought why the hell not, I should be a kind human being (especially since I got my pay check the same day and actually could afford the guy's ticket). Though, I'm not born yesterday. I said to him that I'll be willing to assist him, but that I will only hand the driver the money needed. The guy mumbled something incoherent and walked away. Guess that bus ride wasn't that important after all..

We don't have many beggars here in Finland. Of course we have our fair share of homeless and such, but they get at least some monetary assistance from the state. The problem is that recently there's been an influx of east European beggars that are part of a bigger organization. The people out on the streets begging are not the ones who will get the money, but the crime lords higher up in the organization will feast on the spoils.

Uh, yeah, tl;dr. Fuck those who can't help a fellow human being without needing his imaginary friend to tell him so.

Some high school girls were walking the opposite way down a street to me one day in town. As they approached one asked me for the money to get a bus ticket. I leaned in slightly toward her and said, "Nope!" and then kept walking. Good times, good times.

You just reminded me of a time Sam and I were in our local McDonald's. Some young bloke came up to us and started with the old sob story of how he needs to get somewhere urgently - I think a hospital entered the narrative at some point - only he didn't have enough for the bus fare and could he please borrow some? Instead of asking how he intended to pay back the money he was 'borrowing', I had a sudden brainwave. We'd been out somewhere on the bus ourselves and we'd bought an all-day bus ticket, which we no langer had any use for, so I offered it to our friend as it was still valid. He took it with all the ill-grace you'd expect of one who simply wanted the money; then a few minutes later we heard him hustling some other poor mug with the same story. It was one of those golden opportunites when everything just aligns perfectly.