With the long thread still going strong re the poster looking for a freebie trip to Hawaii etc, I have located a nice site for current and future information about panhandling, begging etc. It gives tips on appearance, props (bandages, crutches, etc), location, location, location etc as well as comments from both the beggar and beggaee (wha?).

It is/was a research project and you can actually take a test allowing you to select your monetary "donation" for differing scenarios etc.

Point your favorite browser to: http://www.pbs.org/weblab/needcom to take the test or bypass it and learn a great deal about this exciting art at http://www.pbs.org/weblab/needcom/home2.html

I spent 2 hours fasinating (and more to go) on seeing how I have been scammed over the years. Be certain to click on the hyperlinks with people's names for background info.

Interesting....because one of our national newspapers in Canada "The Globe and Mail" did an undercover week long story with one of their writers actually living on the street in Toronto and writing his article a day at a time.

He made about $100 CDN a day...tax free...not bad eh ? Up here that's like $150 "pretax"....or about $50,000 a year.

Those in Chicago or WSJ readers may be familiar with the guy who used to drive in from the suburbs to Michigan ave, park his caddy and proceed to get a days begging in. He claimed he never left with more than $150 and on a good day his take was around $450. He had made a good living that way for over 10 years. He said that the key to his, ahem, success, was always being nice to everyone regardless of it they gave him a dime as they may pass by again at a later time and give him something then. Apparently he even had regulars. I am not sure what happened to his "business" after the article came out.

It was a real eye opener for me. Though I still confess to being knaive at times and giving people the benefit of the doubt where perhaps I shoudln't.



[This message has been edited by Mvic (edited 07-01-2000).]

The classic story on the subject is Arthur Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes and The Man With the Twisted Lip". It's about a newspaper writer who, after pretending to be a begger to research a story, realized that he could do much better as a mendicant, and switched careers.

So like one day i am out coaching a group of eleven year olds and the guy comes up and asks me for a donation to buy gas to get home - has his gas can and everything. Tell him its his lucky day cause if he can wait a moment i have a full gas can in the trunk of my car and am willing to fill his can up as a "donation" Get my assistant to take over the team and turn around and the guy is gone. (go figure)

Jailer SH is one of my favorite literary characters. You are right, that is the classic example. I bet that guy in the caddy in Chicago wouldn't even understand the reasoning that led to the journalist/mendicant deciding to feign death.

There was a beggar begging on Wall Street.

He wrote "Beggar" on the cup he used to collect coins and bills. He received $100
after one day.

Then, on the next day, he wrote "beggar.com" on his cup. He received over $10,000 in cash, and offers from three underwriters and two law firms to do an IPO on the NASDAQ.

On the following day, he wrote "e-Beg" on his cup.

Before 10:00am, Microsoft, IBM, and HP had sent corporate vice-presidents to talk to him about strategic alliances, software development, and server access.

At noon, it was reported on both CNBC and CNN Headline News that e-Beg had opted for 95% Oracle technology.

At 2:00pm, I2 announced the launch of BegTradeMatrix, a spinoff industry portal offering total supply chain integration in the beggar community. At 3:00pm, MCI/WorldCom filed notice of a tender offer with the SEC.

At 4:00pm, Senator Orrin Hatch and Justice Department Anti-Trust Chief Joel Klein announced a joint U.S. Senate-U.S. Department
of Justice investigation of the beggar for egregious monopolistic and anti-competitive practices.

The Wall Street Journal OnLine Edition immediately posted an editorial severely criticizing the beggar for his naivete in
"trying to go it alone" without establishing a "Washington presence" to deal with "the realities of the modern regulatory state."

At 5:00pm, Al Gore's campaign chairman, Tony Coehlo, angrily denounced as a "George Bush lie" a report aired by Geraldo Rivera that the beggar had been told that a $5 million soft money contribution to the DNC would "make all his problems go away."

The beggar had no comment.

Very funny Shadow

I think we fool ourselves if we believe that every street person really earns $50,000 per year and drives a car.

See the numerous complaints about San Francisco Street people near the Hilton, in the Hilton section.

I doubt many of them are more wealthy than we and to think that just salves our concience when we don't give.

"i have a full gas can in the trunk of my car"

Realizing, of course, that this is NOT the point, it may well in fact be illegal to carry a can of gas in your trunk!

ahh the crazy days of youth and gas gauges that did not work.
Car now has so many whistles and bells telling me to do this and that want to put a gas can in the back and toss in a match
Back to the point my son while in college was met outside a sandwich shop by a pan-handler who wanted money - he offered the guy his uneaten/untouched sandwich and the guy didn't want it because it was not the right kind. Hope the guy never gets picked for the "survivor" program.

Markie....

I don't think anybody here is saying that all panhandlers are successful at their chosen vocation.

Here in Calgary we have a civic campaign currently in action that is designed to convince people "not to give" money to panhandlers. The interesting thing is that if you walk down our major pedestrian mall in the downtown core of the city, almost "all" are young adults between the ages of 14-20.

While I have a "small" charitable streak in me....I will not support someone who is apparently able bodied and capable of looking after themselves either.

The last time I actually gave cash to a guy it was where this older (60+), obviously poor, worn out street person was begging and he came up to me as I walked by this bar and he said "Hey Mister....can you give me some money for a beer?" Well, I looked him straight in the eye as I handed him $20 and said.....You're getting this because you were honest. Now, before anybody here gets all up in arms, here in Calgary we have several homeless facilities where people can be fed and can sleep in a shelter overnight....so don't complain that he needed the money for something else.

I think this story fits well with the "gascan" episode as well.

Carioca:

Thanks for correcting me. I am sure that your City is representative of the whole world!

I was being quite restrained in my comments about the tone of these posts, but not I'm pretty mad.

Why do you honestly think anyone - even 14-20 year olds - would sit in the street begging? Trouble at home? Abuse? Drug and Alcohol problems ?

No, of course, it's because it's easy money. What a fool I am!

[This message has been edited by Markie (edited 07-03-2000).]

Markie....

I don't understand what you mean about correcting you ?

Did you say something that is wrong ?

I'm just commenting about my slice of the world where I live.

I agree that giving money directly to "spare change" artists isn't the solution, and encourages behavior that I disapprove of - I wish I could walk a block in the Castro and not be accosted for money and/or have to step over somebody sleeping in a doorway because they "don't like" the shelters.

My approach has been simple: I define "spare change" as anything more than 35� at the end of the day (that way I always have enough to make a phone call or catch a bus with my disabled pass). Everything over 35� goes into a tzedaka box (Jewish for "charity" box; a jar would work just as well but mine is a travel souvenir as well, Delft from the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam ). Whenever it's full, I donate it to a homeless shelter that my synagogue supports, and while I do take the tax deduction (of course!), I don't count it towards my annual charity total.

This way, the homeless do, indeed, get my "spare" change...but in a way that I find socially acceptable, too.