@insomniac7809 Except according to the story the guys specifically said ' few dollars he could have to get something to eat.'
People are more inclined, I would imagine, to give money to get food rather than to get a bus ticket or whatever.
@insomniac7809 Except according to the story the guys specifically said ' few dollars he could have to get something to eat.'
It's probably pretty demeaning to have someone over you shoulder while you decide what to get.
I've both taken someone to a place and let them pick out what they wanted to eat, or I have asked what people wanted and brought it back to them. In neither case did the people I was helping to feed find it disagreeable, but those are the people I interacted with, so YMMV.
@insomniac7809 Except according to the story the guys specifically said ' few dollars he could have to get something to eat.'
It's probably pretty demeaning to have someone over you shoulder while you decide what to get.
I've both taken someone to a place and let them pick out what they wanted to eat, or I have asked what people wanted and brought it back to them. In neither case did the people I was helping to feed find it disagreeable, but those are the people I interacted with, so YMMV.
I can understand the desire for people to get their own food. Do I get something small and inexpensive that won't satiate or something large and more expensive that will deal with my hunger... and will this person pay for that?
He/Him
To be fair, if someone specifically claims they are starving and need the money to buy food, then turn down food being bought for them, I'm not going to think they intended to buy food in the first place.
Whether that's cover for some other totally reasonable need or not isn't going to matter at that point.
Feeding the 'homeless' who ask you for money isn't helping anyone. Ever. I am a former homeless person. I can regale you with all the tales of homelessness you like. The ones who approach you and ask for food/money are junkies or scammers, for the most part. You're just enabling bad habits or a toxic lifestyle.
If you want to help the homeless give to one of thousands of reputable charities.
@insomniac7809 Except according to the story the guys specifically said ' few dollars he could have to get something to eat.'
It's probably pretty demeaning to have someone over you shoulder while you decide what to get.
I've both taken someone to a place and let them pick out what they wanted to eat, or I have asked what people wanted and brought it back to them. In neither case did the people I was helping to feed find it disagreeable, but those are the people I interacted with, so YMMV.
I can understand the desire for people to get their own food. Do I get something small and inexpensive that won't satiate or something large and more expensive that will deal with my hunger... and will this person pay for that?
In the times I have done this the people I fed have been given nothing less than a full combo meal from a fast food place at the least, but again this is what I have done and been party to, so YMMV.
Access to food really isn't a problem here. A person could-- in theory, and assuming they had $3 for a day bus pass-- eat 6 meals a day by hitting each of the three soup kitchens in the area for breakfast and lunch. This would be in addition to what they could scavenge from the dozen or so food panties and of course they would still have their EBT benefits to fall back on.
@Admiral said in RL Anger:
Feeding the 'homeless' who ask you for money isn't helping anyone. Ever. I am a former homeless person. I can regale you with all the tales of homelessness you like. The ones who approach you and ask for food/money are junkies or scammers, for the most part. You're just enabling bad habits or a toxic lifestyle.
If you want to help the homeless give to one of thousands of reputable charities.
When they specifically are asking for food? Sorry. Going to have to agree to disagree with you.
EDITED: Maybe they are scammers or junkies, but even if that is the case I am helping to feed someone who is hungry and still find this an acceptable use of my donation as opposed to just handing over $ which may or may not be used for the things that were requested. I would rather feed a scammer/junkie than give them the $20 to get their next fix which might be the one to kill them.
@insomniac7809 Except according to the story the guys specifically said ' few dollars he could have to get something to eat.'
It's probably pretty demeaning to have someone over you shoulder while you decide what to get.
It's also pretty fucking demeaning to have someone apparently in the very comfortable position to give charitably to all comers condescend to you when you are not in the position to give to anyone, but still do, just with some discernment attached re: 'this request seems credible, this request seems sketchy'.
@Admiral said in RL Anger:
The ones who approach you and ask for food/money are junkies or scammers, for the most part. You're just enabling bad habits or a toxic lifestyle.
This is what I mean when I talk about people writing off addiction. It's not a bad habit; it's a serious disease that kills people.
Would I prefer that my state focus on harm reduction by implementing enormous structural reform? Yes. But I'm also okay with giving someone some funds so they can go shoot up now instead of ODing and dying alone under an overpass because they went overboard after going into withdrawal.
@surreality What are you talking about?
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I make things via patronage.
The Long Dig
tbh maybe it's terrible and horrible and people will block me and hate me for this
but I just want the guys who hang out at my bus stop and harass me and shout at me to stop and go away
I hate feeling uncomfortable and leered at and harassed while I'm just waiting for the bus so I can go home
Saying the quiet parts out loud since 1996.
Your safety comes well before any duty you may have to give to homeless people. I still look like a six foot tall guy in his twenties; I have the privilege of not being accosted, for now.
@wahoo Take a look in the mirror, please. Seriously. You talk about how it's demeaning to accept certain kinds of help? That's condescending as fuck. Sorry, but no. You're spitting on good actions by good actors and for all your own good intentions, that's insulting as fuck.
No one here is trying to micromanage someone's food and sneer down at their food choices; they are trying to help in the way someone specifically describes needing help, and you are nit-picking at the helper for not doing it in your preferred manner.
Seriously. This is a 'get the fuck over yourself' moment, goddamn.
People taking shitty attitudes like this turn more people off to giving than any panhandler ever fucking did.
Not really going to wade into the topic wholesale but did want to point something out...
@Derp, you're smart. You are, in fact, very smart. You are also educated. Not everyone is one or both of those things and that makes a huge difference.
I'd rather give an addict money than learn that he or she committed a crime to get that money and those drugs.
@surreality what. are you. talking about?
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I make things via patronage.
The Long Dig
@wahoo Feign ignorance all you want; you can follow a quote chain like any other poster here.
Your heart bleeds Niagra Falls, we get it.
I think she took your post as criticism of the giving instead of you explaining why someone might decline even if they are truly hungry.
@Sunny ^ That.
Oh fucking well.
Yeah. I took it as explanation of why objection, and if that is what she meant, I can understand exactly why she was confused.
ETA: I had to struggle to get to my correct boiling down.
@insomniac7809 Except according to the story the guys specifically said ' few dollars he could have to get something to eat.'
People are more inclined, I would imagine, to give money to get food rather than to get a bus ticket or whatever.
