# Clearly fake homeless people are swarming my area...



## HighGain510 (Apr 20, 2011)

So I live in a fairly nice area in Northern VA. Literally 3 weeks ago we had two guys working a little island next to the Chick-fil-a up the street from my house where there's a busy intersection with a LONG light. They hang out there begging for money all day and I've seen them with fistfuls of cash. On the VERY SAME DAY we had a group of men hanging out at the intersection 2 blocks up the road with the large contractor-size paint buckets with holes cut on the top and HAND-WRITTEN SIGNS taped to them that said "Food for Kids". That's interesting... never heard of that charity before. Keep in mind, the guys collecting the money look ghetto as hell. 

Now today there was this... urm.... "lady"... on the same island with THE SAME SIGN THE WHITE GUY HAD LAST WEEK! EXACT SAME SIGN! WTF!







Yeah, this bitch is fucking wasting away... PLEASE HELP ME!  Give me a fucking break. I'm getting pissed because they're starting to flock to my area and turning an otherwise very nice place to live into a haven for swindlers.  I truly have sympathy for folks who are homeless, which is why stuff like this bugs me to no end. When you are clearly not homeless but find it easier to stand at a light and yell at people's windows that you need money expecting them to open their wallets, you really deserve a punch to the nads... or in her case, her gunt. 

P.S. The dude is giving her MCDONALDS?! Yeah, that's what she needs....


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## vampiregenocide (Apr 20, 2011)

That is supposed to pass for a homeless person? I'm sorry but anyone who believes that she is homeless deserves to lose their money.


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## CooleyJr (Apr 20, 2011)

This is what's wrong with the world. Like people that don't need help from the state/government, sitting on their ass and getting money for it with their welfare/unemployment for YEARS.


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## HighGain510 (Apr 20, 2011)

Yeah it's annoying as shit because people either almost rear-end people because they stop when the light turns green or miss the light because someone is stopping to give her fat ass two big macs.


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## HighGain510 (Apr 20, 2011)

CooleyJr said:


> This is what's wrong with the world. Like people that don't need help from the state/government, sitting on their ass and getting money for it with their welfare/unemployment for YEARS.



Ugh don't even get me started on that... so much waste.  I wish I didn't have a conscience or a will to do some good with my life because it must be awesome to have everyone else pay your bills for you so you can sit at home and watch tv every day instead of working a job like the rest of society.


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## caskettheclown (Apr 20, 2011)

Homeless people who are homeless for a certain amount of time should be put into the military? Seems good in theory but it would definitely need some fine tuning...


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## CooleyJr (Apr 20, 2011)

caskettheclown said:


> Homeless people who are homeless for a certain amount of time should be put into the military? Seems good in theory but it would definitely need some fine tuning...



There's quite a few homeless people that I've seen, that are homeless BECAUSE they're too lazy to get a job. Those are the people that need to be shipped off somewhere and whipped into shape to function in society again. Then there's the people that are homeless because of reasons beyond their control. They should be getting help.


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## Opeth666 (Apr 20, 2011)

report them to the authorities and let them know that the local residents are complaining about them "dirtying up the area" they may not locked up but the cops will definately move their ass to a different location. my parents have done it twice where I live and it works.


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## caskettheclown (Apr 20, 2011)

CooleyJr said:


> There's quite a few homeless people that I've seen, that are homeless BECAUSE they're too lazy to get a job. Those are the people that need to be shipped off somewhere and whipped into shape to function in society again. Then there's the people that are homeless because of reasons beyond their control. They should be getting help.




Like I said the theory would just have to be done right to work
_______________________________________________________

Also i haven't had a job in months and i have people jumping down my throat all damn day and night telling me to get a job and calling me lazy even though my car got totaled last october (NOT my fault) and most of my rides places can't do it much. Even then i'm still busting my ass trying to get a job so I can save up for another car. You don't see me on the street begging for money. 

Sorry for the mini rant, so much stress built up inside of me and I kind of exploded... :\


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## josh pelican (Apr 20, 2011)

Don't get me started on fake homeless people. Halifax used to be run by "homeless squeegee punks", who made their money by cleaning your windows at one of the busiest intersection in Halifax. One of them asked to borrow my phone once to call their dealer. He pops open the wallet and there was more money than you could imagine. These guys only got like a loonie or a quarter when they washed windows. Half of these guys had apartments and were too lazy to get jobs. They would stand around local venues and throw garbage/food at people just trying to enjoy themselves.

Downtown Halifax? I've seen too many people with signs like, "Visiting from Montreal. Don't have money to get home." Not my fucking problem. I ONCE gave money to three females my age money who were trying to get back home. Why? They were cute. 

There are people I see on the streets all hours of the day/night. I know their homeless. When I see someone panhandling I don't recognize, I get pissed off because I know they're not homeless. Why? You'll never see them on the streets again.

There is ONE homeless guy I like in Halifax. He looks identical to Charlie Manson. When I say identical, I mean you would swear it was him. Same hair, same beard, same facial features. Michael Herman would shit his pants.


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## GuitaristOfHell (Apr 20, 2011)

They're clearly not homeless. Fat fucks...


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## leandroab (Apr 20, 2011)

She's begging for that McDonalds.


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## GuitaristOfHell (Apr 20, 2011)

leandroab said:


> She's begging for that McDonalds.


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## Guitarman700 (Apr 20, 2011)

Ask them how many rooms they have in their house. That usually trips them up.


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## metal_sam14 (Apr 20, 2011)

Cunts!

Liars and cheats.

Makes me mad


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## Explorer (Apr 20, 2011)

In many major cities around the US, there are "newspapers" which are themed around street people. They have names which often get corrupted to someting similar but more fitting ("Street Life" becomes "Street People," "Real Change" becomes "Spare Change"). 

Anyway, at some point I'm out at lunch with some coworkers, and this guy walks in dressed in full clean white biking leathers. I look at him, and realize it's this guy who sells the homeless newspapers outside a local supermarket. He's talking with the owner of the sandwich shop about taking a vacation for a few weeks. 






It turns out that you don't have to be homeless to buy the newspapers for resale, and a lot of people do it because softhearted people will buy a $1 paper with a 20 and tell them to keep the change. That's what led to this guy owning a Harley Fat Boy, and taking a vacation from selling homeless newspapers. 

Now when I see him outside that grocery store, I call out, "Hey! How's that Harley you bought last year workin' out for you?!" The manager of the store heard me one time and asked me what I meant. I pointed out the bike, and told him to look at his camera vids and see who rode it in that morning. They've been talking about making a change on allowing this guy to sell, so that makes me feel a little bit better....


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## AySay (Apr 20, 2011)

I don't think you get it. She looks like that because she IS homeless.
She obviously can't afford a home because she spends all her money of food.


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## TheSixthWheel (Apr 20, 2011)

Problem: Excessively well-fed fat people are being fat and posing as homeless people whilst being fat and raking in money at busy intersections.

Solution: Find some genuinely homeless people in town. Tell them that excessively well-fed fat people are being genuinely fat and posing as homeless people are posing as homeless people and collecting money & free mcdonalds. Watch as a horde of homeless people destroy said fat people. Distribute money & mcdonalds evenly.

Problem solved.


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## JamesM (Apr 20, 2011)

Kill them with a rock.


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## Cabinet (Apr 21, 2011)

Her ass looks like a giant bubble.
I don't even have a bad joke for that


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## MikeH (Apr 21, 2011)

josh pelican said:


> There is ONE homeless guy I like in Halifax. He looks identical to Charlie Manson. When I say identical, I mean you would swear it was him. Same hair, same beard, same facial features. Michael Herman would shit his pants.



Well now you KNOW we have to go look for this fucker when I come up to visit.

Also, a solution to this problem would be to punch that fat bitch in the face, steal her McDonald's, eat it in front of her, and take the change she's "earned" to said McDonald's and put it in the donation bins for the Ronald McDonald House.


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## timbaline (Apr 21, 2011)

AySay said:


> I don't think you get it. She looks like that because she IS homeless.
> She obviously can't afford a home because she spends all her money of food.



You forgot to mention that it's impossible to find a home with a 8ft wide doorway.


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## Soubi7string (Apr 21, 2011)

could just stab them to death


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## ShadyDavey (Apr 21, 2011)

I was homeless one Christmas - suffered a breakdown, split up with my Ex and was disowned by my family......even then I didn't beg like these fucks! If there's a genuine problem then it deserves to be dealt with sympathetically......malingering cunts cynically exploiting the government (any government) or people's generosity need to be dealt with appropriately.

Shop 'em to the authorities at least.....


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## Daemoniac (Apr 21, 2011)

HighGain510 said:


> Ugh don't even get me started on that... so much waste.  I wish I didn't have a conscience or a will to do some good with my life because it must be awesome to have everyone else pay your bills for you so you can sit at home and watch tv every day instead of working a job like the rest of society.



 I've been on unemployment since I lost my job a couple of months back, and I can honestly say that the paltry amount they give you (here anyway) is _just_ enough to stay afloat, but the thought of being on it for any extended period of time makes me fucking cringe.

I'm all for it in small doses (I imagine most Aussies at some point or another would have used the welfare system here), but once again; the few ruin it for the many. A few assholes who _could_ be doing something worthwhile with their lives instead deciding it's just easier to be a fucking lazy douche for the next 10-70 years, and let the government pay them.



ShadyDavey said:


> I was homeless one Christmas - suffered a breakdown, split up with my Ex and was disowned by my family......even then I didn't beg like these fucks! If there's a genuine problem then it deserves to be dealt with sympathetically......malingering cunts cynically exploiting the government (any government) or people's generosity need to be dealt with appropriately.
> 
> Shop 'em to the authorities at least.....



 completely.


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## Daemoniac (Apr 21, 2011)

Also, on a more "OT" note; The answer is guns. Lots of big guns.


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## Cabinet (Apr 21, 2011)

"Killing big things with big guns..."


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## CrushingAnvil (Apr 21, 2011)




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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 21, 2011)

I never give money to 'homeless' people, never have.

A) 90% of 'homeless' people aren't homeless at all
B) the 10% who are actually homeless didn't get that way by being a stand up guy
C) if they are truly homeless and they're asking you for money, guess what that money will be spent on? not on bus fare like they say it's for...
D) the less they are given, the closer they are to getting sick of getting nowhere, dusting themselves off and becoming a responsible person again.


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## vampiregenocide (Apr 21, 2011)

The Armada said:


> Kill them with a rock.


 
I think they'd just bounce off man.


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## HighGain510 (Apr 21, 2011)

Cabinet said:


> Her ass looks like a giant bubble.
> I don't even have a bad joke for that



New thought: That was actually her pimp, he's trying to keep that "bubble ass" in fighting form! 



timbaline said:


> You forgot to mention that it's impossible to find a home with a 8ft wide doorway.



I lol'd. 



Daemoniac said:


> I've been on unemployment since I lost my job a couple of months back, and I can honestly say that the paltry amount they give you (here anyway) is _just_ enough to stay afloat, but the thought of being on it for any extended period of time makes me fucking cringe.



Not sure how it works in your country but the amount of money these people are getting is often based on how many kids they have, so these fat fucks are popping out 3-5 brats they don't intend to take care of just to make sure they get a bigger check each month. Now they can swing high speed internet and television, because they NEED that. Honestly, IMO, if you're on welfare and they find a television/internet bill in your name you need to get cut off from the system because our tax money shouldn't be paying for that shit. Why can't they pay for my internet and tv bills? $120 a month is my responsibility to cover for them because I have a job? No thanks.  Sorry but if they truly don't have and can't get a job, they shouldn't be allowed to just hang out at home getting fatter on the couch.


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## Prydogga (Apr 21, 2011)

I've heard in big commerical areas being 'homeless' brings in a lot of money. I heard a few stories about people at national monuments bringing in $40+ an hour with nothing but a sign, sitting in an open space. Mind you they were real homeless people, but nevertheless, it's a shady operation.

Fuck these lazy cunts around your area man. Hopefully they don't stay long.


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## ShadyDavey (Apr 21, 2011)

Scar Symmetry said:


> B) the 10% who are actually homeless didn't get that way by being a stand up guy



Sorry Dave, that's plain wrong 

Background - for a long time I was close friends with a guy who helped run a homeless shelter in Peterborough. I'm no expert but I feel I'm informed enough to have an educated opinion, especially as it was an area which I considered working in. 

There are always people who end up being homeless through no fault of their own - circumstances often conspire against individuals and while there are certainly those who become homeless through their own actions you can't generalise and condemn every unfortunate individual.......shit does happen and I've seen it happen to those who least deserve it. 

I consider myself a stand-up guy.......I became homeless....that situation may represent a smaller percentage of the "homeless" population than those generally malingering but it's significant and shouldn't be ignored.....as for saying they should dust themselves off and become responsible individuals?

That's just offensively naive and ignorant - if they could manage to do so then I can assure you that a large percentage of them would like nothing better than to make a fresh start.


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## Varcolac (Apr 21, 2011)

I remember reading about some guy who commuted to central London from the suburbs each day to sell the Big Issue. Dude had a £2000 season ticket and a pretty nice house in the 'burbs, but made money by pretending to be homeless and needy.

Doesn't mean there aren't needy people, just makes me a little more wary of giving change. It sucks most for those genuinely suffering, because a minority of faux-homeless jerkoffs taint what sympathy people have for those on the streets with distrust.

Blanket "they're on the streets because they deserve it, they're all druggies and a few of 'em are cheats so fuck 'em" statements like Scar Symmetry's make me laugh. Bad things never really happen, they're just faking it to get your pocket change; and when bad stuff does happpen, it only ever happens to bad people, right?


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## HighGain510 (Apr 21, 2011)

Prydogga said:


> I've heard in big commerical areas being 'homeless' brings in a lot of money. I heard a few stories about people at national monuments bringing in $40+ an hour with nothing but a sign, sitting in an open space. Mind you they were real homeless people, but nevertheless, it's a shady operation.
> 
> Fuck these lazy cunts around your area man. Hopefully they don't stay long.



There was a news story last year about a guy panhandling in Bethesda, MD making shitloads of cash and someone tipped off the news team so they filmed him walking from his begging spot down the street and around the corner he was getting into his BMW!!!  They stopped him and questioned him about it and he was like, "What? I make more money doing this than I did at my old job! Why not?!"


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## Daemoniac (Apr 21, 2011)

HighGain510 said:


> Not sure how it works in your country but the amount of money these people are getting is often based on how many kids they have, so these fat fucks are popping out 3-5 brats they don't intend to take care of just to make sure they get a bigger check each month. Now they can swing high speed internet and television, because they NEED that. Honestly, IMO, if you're on welfare and they find a television/internet bill in your name you need to get cut off from the system because our tax money shouldn't be paying for that shit. Why can't they pay for my internet and tv bills? $120 a month is my responsibility to cover for them because I have a job? No thanks.  Sorry but if they truly don't have and can't get a job, they shouldn't be allowed to just hang out at home getting fatter on the couch.



There are a few different kinds of "welfare" over here; single parent income, job seeker pension, and "youth allowance" (to help people/their parents out while studying full time) are the "big" ones. I'm on the second of those, which gives me a bit every fortnight (not a terrible amount, but certainly not enough to sustain a nice lifestyle on - enough to cover necessities if you lost your job, which I did).

I'm very much for all of those things, but like I said; only for the people that need it, not the ones who totally abuse it and become full time students or full time welfare-leeches


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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 21, 2011)

ShadyDavey said:


> Sorry Dave, that's plain wrong
> 
> Background - for a long time I was close friends with a guy who helped run a homeless shelter in Peterborough. I'm no expert but I feel I'm informed enough to have an educated opinion, especially as it was an area which I considered working in.
> 
> ...



Seems like I hit a nerve there - for that I apologise.

However, you said yourself that the guys who end up on the street due to no fault of their own (which is a grey area IMO) are surely in the minority. It was clear that I was generalising, though I would've preferred to have been given the benefit of the doubt that I knew that this was not the case in all circumstances (and without having to detail it). Cut a guy some slack, I'm typing with one hand here!

As for the second part, I disagree. It is neither naive nor ignorant. People in those situations do have choices, whether they can see them or not. If there's one thing I've learned in life it's that 9 times out of 10 whenever you feel like you've exhausted all possibility and are in a cul-de-sac - you are far from. People give up and stop searching way too easily, I should know because I'm occasionally one of those people.

I understand that it's an issue that's close to home, but please let's have an adult discussion about this and not let emotions run high.


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## HighGain510 (Apr 21, 2011)

Scar Symmetry said:


> Seems like I hit a nerve there - for that I apologise.
> 
> However, you said yourself that the guys who end up on the street due to no fault of their own (which is a grey area IMO) are surely in the minority. It was clear that I was generalising, though I would've preferred to have been given the benefit of the doubt that I knew that this was not the case in all circumstances (and without having to detail it). Cut a guy some slack, I'm typing with one hand here!
> 
> ...



 I look at it this way: I'm in a situation where I have a VERY debilitating disease. Because they literally removed my entire colon, if I don't take two or three things daily I would be in the bathroom every 20-30 minutes. If I were a tremendous douchebag, I could easily sit at home and claim "inability to work due to debilitating disease" and collect a check every week to sit on my ass. Sure, I'd have to sell my house and move into something much smaller, but theoretically I absolutely could do so. However, that's the difference between me and *SOME* of the people out there asking for a handout; I choose to do something positive with my life instead of pulling the old "Woe is me! Society should take care of me because I suffer so greatly, I shouldn't be expected to work!" Fuck that, I suck it up and work 40+ hours a week, so I think that of all people I can truly say I'm in that situation and have manned up and accepted my challenges instead of taking the handout and the easy way out of responsibility.


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## maliciousteve (Apr 21, 2011)

I've never given money to beggars, the homeless or the random drug addict who asks 'got a spare 20 pence bruv?'

Anyone who asks for money from a random stranger because they can't be bothered to stand on their own 2 feet need to fuck right off and have some respect for themselves. 

There's no excuse for begging for other peoples money that they have worked hard for, I've never done it and I've been struggling to get full time employment for the past 4 years but I've always had money to my name and I've always found work some how. 

Yes it's tough to find work but there is work out there some where, even if it's very little money for hard work, just damn well do it if you are physically able to do so.


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## avenger (Apr 21, 2011)

ShadyDavey said:


> Sorry Dave, that's plain wrong
> 
> Background - for a long time I was close friends with a guy who helped run a homeless shelter in Peterborough. I'm no expert but I feel I'm informed enough to have an educated opinion, especially as it was an area which I considered working in.
> 
> ...


I could not agree with you more, people fall on tough times through no fault of their own sometimes. Even people who make a few mistakes and find themselves out on the street shouldnt be shot... geez.


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## wannabguitarist (Apr 21, 2011)

This goes on all the time in Mira Mesa. It's fucking disgusting


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## synrgy (Apr 21, 2011)

We've got some questionable panhandlers on my commute from Arlington to Alexandria most days/evenings, generally hanging out at the intersection by 29 and the Key Bridge. All I can say is that I find it hard to feel charity for a dude wearing a brand new pair of Timberlands.

Unfortunately, I'm a severely empathetic pushover. If I'm on foot and somebody asks me for help, if I've got change or any cash on me, I will probably give them what I can. I just can't help but imagine myself in a situation where I had no place to go and no food to eat, and I worry about my Karma.

That said, what I generally don't abide are what I call 'repeat offenders'. If I give somebody $5 on Monday, and they doesn't recognize me when they're asking me for money again on Thursday, I just keep walking. I made one lady in Old Town Alexandria real mad one day:

"Excuse me, Sir.."

"Sorry..." *I keep walking past her, as I've heard her story a minimum of 20 times already*

"Excuse me, Sir! EXCUSE ME!" She just kept yelling after me, like I'm _obligated_ to talk to her for some unknown reason.

That lady in particular, claimed to be homeless and 'pregnant'. I put pregnant in quotes because her corner was on my daily walk to work at the time, and she was 'pregnant' for over 2 consecutive years. It took everything I had to not toss a comment about how late her baby must be.


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## Blind Theory (Apr 21, 2011)

They had a story on 60 minutes about something like this. Some guy in L.A. or some place in California quit his job to be "homeless." He would stand outside on the same place EVERY day no matter what (sick, holiday, etc.). He kept track of all the money given to him and paid taxes, made it his actual business. He had business cards made (didn't hand 'em out though). His thing was like "money for a compliment" on his sign or some shit. He made 6 figures a year off of it (over $500,000 if I remember correctly). Some crazy shit out there...but I'm not very philanthropic so I never give "homeless" folk money even if they are actually homeless.


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## JamesM (Apr 21, 2011)

There are those in New York, based upon what I read, who make $60k+ a year doing this.


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## ROAR (Apr 21, 2011)

Northern VA.

Really good to the homeless!

Northern Virginiaiaiaia.

Really good to tha homelesss!


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## The Munk (Apr 21, 2011)

I always let these kind of people know that I don't have money to give away. I let them know that IF I give it to anyone, it's going to my kids or for my pets.
That aside, I have guitars to buy.


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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 21, 2011)

There's a 'homeless' guy that sits on the only road on the walk into town that I always ignore and one time he said "Don't be ignorant." to which I laughed my ass off, advice from a 'tramp'


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## matt397 (Apr 21, 2011)

When I was 22 I was working 2 jobs to support my self and my 6 month old daughter, living entirely on my own. I would go to my weekly job as a scaffolder banging up steel anywhere from 10 ft to 500 ft in the air an then go to my weekend job doing anything from yard cleanup to drywalling to stocking shelves at a grocery store on the weekends just to support my self an my child. There is no way in the name of sweet holy fuck Im going to let some lazy, stupid, pathetic sack of shit, who's either to stupid to figure his shit out or just to lazy to do something about it, get there hands on my _HARD EARNED_ money.


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## jymellis (Apr 21, 2011)

aeg airsoft drive by


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## JJ Rodriguez (Apr 21, 2011)

Soubi7string said:


> could just stab them to death



With a rock.



I don't know if there are too many cases of legitimately homeless people around here. The folks I see begging for change look sketchy as fuck and I can tell that the money isn't going to go towards getting their life on track. They're sitting there with coffee and smoking. I won't give them my money.

I lose over 30% of my salary to income taxes, then pay 15% sales tax on everything else. My taxes go towards social programs to help these assholes.

I'm not saying that there aren't cases where people really do just need a helping hand temporarily, but that's not the vast majority, and I would rather see those people go without than to give my hard earned tax dollars to some sketchy drug addict, just out of spite.

I don't even understand WHY there are homeless people in Canada. If I didn't have a home and had to sleep outside, I'd walk my ass to Florida or California or something, it's like not you have anything else going on.


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## HighGain510 (Apr 21, 2011)

JJ Rodriguez said:


> With a rock.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I miss you posting around here Jason.


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## synrgy (Apr 21, 2011)

I think what most bothers me most are these situations:

homeless: "Can you spare a dollar? I'm so hungry.."
me or one of my friends: "Come with me, let me buy you a meal."
homeless: "WTF?! I don't want that shit! Just give me the money!"

That, right there, is some fucked up shit, and I've seen it happen more than a few times.


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## HighGain510 (Apr 21, 2011)

synrgy said:


> I think what most bothers me most are these situations:
> 
> homeless: "Can you spare a dollar? I'm so hungry.."
> me or one of my friends: "Come with me, let me buy you a meal."
> ...



Yeah I've encountered that a few times myself, I guess that's part of what makes me so cynical when it comes to homeless folks. Typically, you can tell (by smell and awful/dirty-looking appearance of their hair and other things that would be harder to fake on a daily basis, unless they're bathing in their own urine to pull it off) when someone is seriously homeless or not. These guys out my way do NOT look homeless, and that lady... well, she ain't starvin' to death, that's for sure!


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## Origin (Apr 21, 2011)

Fuck the worthless leeches. It's hilarious when someone begs to get back from a trip they don't have the money to get back from. THEN WHY DID YOU LEAVE?

If you're not contributing to society, get the fuck out of it.


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## Vidge (Apr 21, 2011)

HighGain510 said:


> Not sure how it works in your country but the amount of money these people are getting is often based on how many kids they have, so these fat fucks are popping out 3-5 brats they don't intend to take care of just to make sure they get a bigger check each month. Now they can swing high speed internet and television, because they NEED that. Honestly, IMO, if you're on welfare and they find a television/internet bill in your name you need to get cut off from the system because our tax money shouldn't be paying for that shit. Why can't they pay for my internet and tv bills? $120 a month is my responsibility to cover for them because I have a job? No thanks.  Sorry but if they truly don't have and can't get a job, they shouldn't be allowed to just hang out at home getting fatter on the couch.


Aye, I was just about to post about section 8 gov housing families popping out kids for the sake of lesser rent.

Also with section 8 housing, the ratio between what the tenant and what the gov pays is based on how many hours the parents are getting at their job. So of course you have the parents trying to get as least hours as possible at their job... if they have one in the first place. And these families will be on section 8 housing for years, while they keep pumping out kids. Obviously theres no incentive to be responsible in this system, and the family will do what they can to stay on it as long as possible.


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## Soubi7string (Apr 21, 2011)

JJ Rodriguez said:


> With a rock.



agreed


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## ShadyDavey (Apr 21, 2011)

Scar Symmetry said:


> Seems like I hit a nerve there - for that I apologise.
> 
> However, you said yourself that the guys who end up on the street due to no fault of their own (which is a grey area IMO) are surely in the minority. It was clear that I was generalising, though I would've preferred to have been given the benefit of the doubt that I knew that this was not the case in all circumstances (and without having to detail it). Cut a guy some slack, I'm typing with one hand here!
> 
> ...



For the first part - absolutely have an olive branch - I have no desire to fall out with you so regardless of whatever else we might say I'm not going to suddenly think the worst, especially as it is a subject which is very close to home (hence my emotive response) and after realising you were generalising due to your perspective on the grey area of cause and effect.

Let's agree to differ on that simply to avoid flagellating an equine that's past it's sell-by  

The for second part I feel that you can't take a course of action that you're unaware of and sometimes....just sometimes simply being in that situation can place emotional and mental blinkers on an individual which prevent them from noticing all their possible options,

Point in case - when I hit rock bottom it was so hard that I bounced a couple of times before I stopped moving and whilst I know some forumites frown on those who wear their heart on their sleeves, I'll admit I was in such a state of mental instability and distress that I simply wasn't aware of any options....I was quite literally crushed. 

There was at least one option (perhaps two) and it took me a chance encounter after some days living under a disused bridge to discover it but after that juncture I managed to at least stand up on my own. The trauma which lead to that impasse in my case (and in others I've seen first hand) doesn't lend itself to a logical introspection which leads to a 20-20 oversight on the situation.......it both cripples and blinds. There's a lot of healthcare professionals that deal with the causes of homelessness that simply have to be there because sometimes.....it's not a sign of weakness to give up, and it's a sign of strength to admit you need a helping hand.

Actually raising your head above the mire can be hard enough though dude and context/perspective is all.


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## ShadyDavey (Apr 21, 2011)

HighGain510 said:


> Yeah I've encountered that a few times myself, I guess that's part of what makes me so cynical when it comes to homeless folks. Typically, you can tell (by smell and awful/dirty-looking appearance of their hair and other things that would be harder to fake on a daily basis, unless they're bathing in their own urine to pull it off) when someone is seriously homeless or not. These guys out my way do NOT look homeless, and that lady... well, she ain't starvin' to death, that's for sure!





I've seen people fake it, and I've seen the real "_Been sleeping under a box in the middle of winter with advanced cancer_" thing. Fakers don't get anything other than short shrift in my book and thankfully it seems the government over here are at least starting to clamp down on work-shy malcontents bleeding the place dry.


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## JJ Rodriguez (Apr 21, 2011)

synrgy said:


> I think what most bothers me most are these situations:
> 
> homeless: "Can you spare a dollar? I'm so hungry.."
> me or one of my friends: "Come with me, let me buy you a meal."
> ...



I won't buy them a meal either, because then you're still contributing. Chances are they'll spend the money they bummed on food eventually, so you're still giving them "money" in a sense. Fuck that.


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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 21, 2011)

ShadyDavey said:


> For the first part - absolutely have an olive branch - I have no desire to fall out with you so regardless of whatever else we might say I'm not going to suddenly think the worst, especially as it is a subject which is very close to home (hence my emotive response) and after realising you were generalising due to your perspective on the grey area of cause and effect.
> 
> Let's agree to differ on that simply to avoid flagellating an equine that's past it's sell-by
> 
> ...



Thanks for the olive branch, I shall accept with my good arm 

As to the text highlighted in bold I absolutely agree. What makes it such a grey area for me is that it's difficult to know whether you have tried your hardest to explore all possibilities as patterns of thought are very habitual. 

Thus, although within your normal line of sight mentally you may have tried your hardest, had you adopted a different way of thinking and applied it to the given problem, you may or may not find yourself having various degrees of success. (I don't mean you personally, just using the word for sake of making my point.)

This is the thing that I see people doing most, it's often that when you are faced with what can seem like an insurmountable problem the answer is extremely simple, you just don't have the processing power (or wisdom, or both) to reach the solution.

The last few words I underlined to show that essentially we are making the same point, just approaching it from different directions


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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 21, 2011)

Scar Symmetry said:


> There's a 'homeless' guy that sits on the only road on the walk into town that I always ignore and one time he said *"Don't be ignorant."* to which I laughed my ass off, advice from a 'tramp'


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## ShadyDavey (Apr 21, 2011)

All good amigo, we're both singing from the same song-sheet and I wholeheartedly agree about the lack of sympathy displayed in general by yourself and the other posters concerning people who fake homelessness in order to exploit what can be a compassionate society.

Regarding perceptions and opportunities I can only answer from a personal perspective - the whole situation hit me almost from out of nowhere and my reactions to it were mainly ones of total shock. I didn't even have time to assess the possibilities (habitual process or no) and although that set of circumstances would be statistically minimal when compared to the demographics that's a story I have heard repeated several times - lack of processing power! 

To be 100% honest it's actually quite difficult to be entirely objective about the causes of homelessness but I'll be the first to admit that there are those individuals who bring the situations upon themselves and make no attempt to avoid it even whilst being fully cognisant of the options (habitual gamblers, addicts, criminals and malingerers exploiting the system) and those that make some bad choices when they see life without a roof coming over the horizon.

There are of course those who fall through the cracks, and without belabouring the issue several degrees of culpability which if nothing else underlines the need to deal with a subject like this (in genuine cases) on an individual basis. Bottom line, there are _generally_ options even if you don't fully recognise them.



Live and learn dude, live and learn.


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## Randy (Apr 21, 2011)

Cardboard cutout homeless people WTF.


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## Randy (Apr 21, 2011)

Anywho, I didn't get a chance to read this but scanning though I believe I saw a couple people with the same sentiment as my own...

Homelessness, in this day and age, is mostly an issue of a diminished mental capacity or standard of living. We feel spit in the face offering food and being turned down because they want money for booze/drugs instead of food but that's just as unfortunate a predicament as the homelessness is... maybe worse. 

The most unfortunate part of this is that, by the time somebody's at that point (barring some exceptions), there's not really much we individually or societally can do to help them... ("you can take the girl out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of the girl," etc.) They're just either stuck a drifter or a burden on society.

EDIT: Reminds me of that episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations when he was in Haiti and during one of the scenes while he was sampling the local cuisine, you could see dozens of starving kids showing up. Feeling burdened by this, he decided to work out a deal with the producer to pay for them to feed the crowd. Seemed a charitable enough task but once they started forming the line, people started butting in line, piling up and eventually violence broke out all over the place. As much of a humanitarian as I am, I know that "just feed them" or "just give them a chance" isn't going to fix things; sometimes only make a bad situation worse. Shit's complicated.


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## BrandonARC (Apr 21, 2011)

just get a couple tomatoes and go to town on them lol.

i keed


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## Scar Symmetry (Apr 21, 2011)

BrandonARC said:


> just get a couple of rocks and go to town on them lol.
> 
> I'm being deadly serious



Fixed, you're welcome


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## Grand Moff Tim (Apr 21, 2011)

When I have spare change, it spare it. I'm also a sucker for buskers and street musicians. Have I been scammed? Probably. For whatever reason though, that doesn't really bother me. If the money I spared helped somebody in even a few of the cases, I'm prepared to ignore the idea that it was a scam in a few others.


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## tacotiklah (Apr 21, 2011)

avenger said:


> I could not agree with you more, people fall on tough times through no fault of their own sometimes. Even people who make a few mistakes and find themselves out on the street shouldnt be shot... geez.




I agree here as well. Me and my ex had to live in a homeless shelter for 9 months and it was one of the worst things ever. I ended up there because I was a live-in caregiver for my ex's mom, who was terminally-ill. One day my ex and her mom get into a fight and my ex went to tackle her mom and I stopped her. Her mom still freaked the hell out, fired me and kicked us both out. I lost my job and my place to live in the same day, for basically doing my job.

It's not always the fault of the person going in. I did see what I call 'career bums' when I was in the shelter though. Tbh, more than quite a few of the people there really were trying to make the changes necessary to function in the world. Dave is also forgetting things like the american economy going to complete shit. Places like California and Michigan had (possibly still have) unemployment rates at above 10%. (with the 10+million people in california, that's a helluva lot of people without a job). No job = no money = no home. 

Still, I tend to buy food rather than give spare change. Occasionally when I come across a truthful homeless person who wants liquor, I will actually buy them some if I have the cash; provided they share of course. 

One of the worst things about being homeless is how fucking boring it is. The shelters kick you out at a certain time of the day (usually like 8-9 in the morning) and since you have nowhere to shit/shower/shave so that you can look for work, you have to find something else to fill your day. I've seen some people bum cash to go to the movies. I never judged because as a person that has so much negative shit on their plate, I too would wanna take it off my mind for a couple of hours and watch a movie.


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## Dan_Vacant (Apr 23, 2011)

There are multiple thing in here that make me think wtf like "they are homeless cause they are to lazy to get a job." Well on of my friends is homeless cause his mom kicked him out and I don't think he could get a job cause he is going to school twice a day so that also proves he isn't lazy and then my dad has been homeless and it isn't from being to lazy its from not being able to get a job cause he has arthritis, asthma, and a few other things. My dad has been to hearings for social security and they said that there are 0 jobs he would be able to have with his medical condition. Then "there is no way she can be homeless" if you are judging on looks you haven't seen real homeless people the 18 yr old friend of mine he doesn't look homeless but he is and most homeless people dress decent and if it's cause she's fat homeless doesn't mean not eating.


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## matt397 (Apr 23, 2011)

Dan_Vacant said:


> There are multiple thing in here that make me think wtf like "they are homeless cause they are to lazy to get a job." Well on of my friends is homeless cause his mom kicked him out and I don't think he could get a job cause he is going to school twice a day so that also proves he isn't lazy and then my dad has been homeless and it isn't from being to lazy its from not being able to get a job cause he has arthritis, asthma, and a few other things. My dad has been to hearings for social security and they said that there are 0 jobs he would be able to have with his medical condition. Then "there is no way she can be homeless" if you are judging on looks you haven't seen real homeless people the 18 yr old friend of mine he doesn't look homeless but he is and most homeless people dress decent and if it's cause she's fat homeless doesn't mean not eating.












> _Well on of my friends is homeless cause his mom kicked him out and I don't think he could get a job cause he is going to school twice a day so that also proves he isn't lazy_


Yes, In fact your friend *is* lazy, and apparently not to bright seeing as 1) theres no reason for him not to get a job for after school and 2) there are hundreds of programs for students out there including housing programs for underpriveledged students. 



> _My dad has been to hearings for social security and they said that there are 0 jobs he would be able to have with his medical condition._


If this was the whole story then your dad would be more then eligible for disability and then problem solved, he might not be living in a friggin mansion on a disability check but he certainly woul be able to afford a one bedroom apartment. 



> _Then "there is no way she can be homeless" if you are judging on looks you haven't seen real homeless people the 18 yr old friend of mine he doesn't look homeless but he is and most homeless people dress decent._


I work mostly out of downtown Toronto, trust me, I know a homeless person when I see one. More importantly, I don't care if your wearing a 3 piece suit or a shit stained track suit with miss matched shoes, you sit on the corner asking for change and Im going to tell you the same thing, no one is getting there hands on my hard earned money after the shit I've been through. 



> _If it's cause she's fat homeless doesn't mean not eating._


No, being fat and homeless means you don't know how to prioritize. Cut back on the cheeseburgers so you save up for a place to live. When it was just me and my daughter and I was working 7 days a week just to get by I was living on kraft dinner an soup cause it was the cheapest thing I could find ( meanwhile my daughters living it up on all the expensive formula, alphabet snacks an baby food  )



brutalwizard said:


> hmmm.....
> 
> from what i understand most people dont like people that dont work, ect
> 
> but i am sure any one of us would love to win the lottery and not work anymore



If thats what your getting out of this thread then you either need to get your fucking eyes checked or re-read the whole thread. People have a problem with people who _WILLINGLY _don't work and beg for _YOUR _hard earned money.

Anyhow, any of you hear about the shaky lady from Toronto, ON, Canada ? She would stand on the corner shaking like she had parkinsons or something begging for change with a sign that said something like "can't afford medication or food." Then at the end of the day she would go change into nice clothes, get in her BMW and drive home to her gated 5 bedroom house in Markham ?


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## Jakke (Apr 23, 2011)

Edit: double post


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## Jakke (Apr 23, 2011)

we have organized criminals here that round up poor people from eastern europe to panhandle here. The worst thing is that you can't give them money because all that will go to their criminal masters.

Plus, I got scammed once, I vowed never to to be screwed again. Therefore I do not give out any money at all


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## Dead Undead (Apr 23, 2011)

I believe there is another that reads, "Parents kidnapped by ninjas, need $20 for karate lessons."

At least some of them are creative.


I know a couple of the homeless people around here (on an island 4-5 miles wide by 12 miles long) and they're pretty cool people. They won't beg you for money desperately or harass you. Some of them are actually quite interesting. One of them is a Vietnam Vet who loves coffee. Interesting person. Has a cool beard.
There's another guy who always has a walking stick. He walks across the three bridges of our causeway to a bigger city every day, to and from. A really nice guy.
But there are far more faux-homeless here than there are who actually need assistance of some sort, and it saddens me to say that.


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## Varcolac (Apr 23, 2011)

Dead Undead said:


> I believe there is another that reads, "Parents kidnapped by ninjas, need $20 for karate lessons."


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## nostealbucket (Apr 23, 2011)

Superjail was made for this.


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## josh pelican (Apr 23, 2011)

I had a guy here in Halifax with a sign saying he needed to finish building his rocket ship to get back to his home planet or something fucked up like that.


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## neoclassical (Apr 23, 2011)

When I was in college at New Paltz there was a group we called "the got change?" kids. During different parts of the day/night they would beg change, but they had local jobs making $2-3 and hour more than I did. It wasn't hard to figure out what they were doing once you looked for them in the different settings, so after a while the locals caught on and they just got the tourists and new students to give.


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## tacotiklah (Apr 24, 2011)

Still seeing people blast homeless people indiscriminately and it saddens me. Just be grateful that you haven't gotten to that point, although it might teach you the value of gratitude for the simple things that you DO have.


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## Randy (Apr 24, 2011)

josh pelican said:


> I had a guy here in Halifax with a sign saying he needed to finish building his rocket ship to get back to his home planet or something fucked up like that.



2:17


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## josh pelican (Apr 24, 2011)

ghstofperdition said:


> Still seeing people blast homeless people indiscriminately and it saddens me. Just be grateful that you haven't gotten to that point, although it might teach you the value of gratitude for the simple things that you DO have.



I would never bash on homeless people, but I will bash on fake homeless people any day of the week


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## tacotiklah (Apr 24, 2011)

josh pelican said:


> I would never bash on homeless people, but I will bash on fake homeless people any day of the week




I'll give you that. I've seen some people in the shelter that were on SSI and STILL were living at the shelter. Their problem was both alcoholism and poor money management skills. The latter is a symptom of bi-polar disorder (which was why they were collecting SSI to begin with in one particular case) so I'll make an exception there.


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## matt397 (Apr 24, 2011)

ghstofperdition said:


> Still seeing people blast homeless people indiscriminately and it saddens me. Just be grateful that you haven't gotten to that point, although it might teach you the value of gratitude for the simple things that you DO have.



Maybe you can direct that comment to some people but I know for my self for everything I've gone through in my life I know I will never end up homeless and I am more than just appreciative for the things I have. 
At this day in age I can't see how anyone could possibly end up homeless for any length of time then lets say a week. It all comes down to how much your willing to work. For fuck sakes, theres so many jobs out there and maybe there not corporate jobs in an office or whatever but there is work for anyone. I can remember one weekend I helped pick fucking rocks out of a farmers field for roughly $5/hr.

You can go ahead an blame drugs/alcohol/this that and the other thing but when it comes right down to it, it all comes down to making choices. Im sure you could come up with a some extremely specific scenario of a person with all sorts of syndromes that would certainly justify being homeless, you seem like a smart guy, but when it comes right down to it I would say 95% of homeless people have wilfully chosen this life.


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## HighGain510 (Apr 24, 2011)

ghstofperdition said:


> The latter is a symptom of bi-polar disorder (which was why they were collecting SSI to begin with in one particular case) so I'll make an exception there.





matt397 said:


> You can go ahead an blame drugs/alcohol/this that and the other thing but when it comes right down to it, it all comes down to making choices. Im sure you could come up with a some extremely specific scenario of a person with all sorts of syndromes that would certainly justify being homeless, you seem like a smart guy, but when it comes right down to it I would say 95% of homeless people have wilfully chosen this life.



Yep, that post is pretty much exactly what I was going to respond with. You can come up with 100 reasons for why it's not their fault but in the end it is THEIR responsibility to get their shit worked out, not the burden of every tax-payer out there because they have a drinking problem or claim they have (insert "disease") that makes them do things to stay homeless. 

Aaaaaanyways, you have steered this shit WAY off-topic (in OT, to boot), if you want to start a "Welfare - Is it right?" discussion, feel free to take it to the politics section. This thread is not for boo-hoo'ing homeless and/or fake homeless, it was a discussion about the recent surge in pan-handlers (I'm not even going to call them "homeless" because clearly they aren't) in my area.


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## Hemi-Powered Drone (Apr 24, 2011)

matt397 said:


> Maybe you can direct that comment to some people but I know for my self for everything I've gone through in my life I know I will never end up homeless and I am more than just appreciative for the things I have.
> At this day in age I can't see how anyone could possibly end up homeless for any length of time then lets say a week. It all comes down to how much your willing to work. For fuck sakes, theres so many jobs out there and maybe there not corporate jobs in an office or whatever but there is work for anyone. I can remember one weekend I helped pick fucking rocks out of a farmers field for roughly $5/hr.
> 
> You can go ahead an blame drugs/alcohol/this that and the other thing but when it comes right down to it, it all comes down to making choices. Im sure you could come up with a some extremely specific scenario of a person with all sorts of syndromes that would certainly justify being homeless, you seem like a smart guy, but when it comes right down to it I would say 95% of homeless people have wilfully chosen this life.


+1

One of the major reasons we have an unemployment problem right now isn't because their aren't enough jobs(granted, that may be true), but because many people are too proud. Yes, you may have a degree in architecture or chemical engineering or whatever, that doesn't mean you need to be an archetect or engineer or whatever. If you can get a job, get a job, no matter what it is. Maybe you'll get a job that will fit your intelligence level, but you need to get off your high horse and get into the workforce.


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## ShadyDavey (Apr 25, 2011)

> Aaaaaanyways, you have steered this shit WAY off-topic (in OT, to boot), if you want to start a "Welfare - Is it right?" discussion, feel free to take it to the politics section. This thread is not for boo-hoo'ing homeless and/or fake homeless, it was a discussion about the recent surge in pan-handlers (I'm not even going to call them "homeless" because clearly they aren't) in my area.


Agreed. 

Entirely arbitrary and random statistics coupled with sanctimonious preaching do not a convincing argument about homelessness make, but as far as pan-handlers are concerned I have zero tolerance.


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## noob_pwn (Apr 25, 2011)

i had a junkie doorknock me doing this exact same thing for a false charity and got him arrested.

I dont give money to people on the street because once upon a time i did and the guy tried to steal my wallet, but i regularly donate clothes and money to the smith family and youth off the streets.


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## HighGain510 (Apr 26, 2011)

Holy shit! Solution to my problem has arrived!!!

Don-8r the panhandling robot set to make the homeless obsolete (video) -- Engadget

Tell me you wouldn't rather give your change to this:









over this:


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## Xaios (Apr 26, 2011)

HighGain510 said:


>



Truly, is nothing sacred?


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## FoxZero (Apr 27, 2011)

I'm actually writing a novel about a homeless person and the lower class, and I forgot about panhandlers! Thanks for reminding me! And making me laugh 

Although I've got to say after doing a lot of research some of what you guys are saying disconcerts me. Don't let these panhandlers represent the lower class for you. There's more myths about the lower class than most people realize. Like what I'm seeing you guys post about welfare woman having more kids to get more money. This has been a myth for decades! It barely pays for the kids and politicians have been putting caps on the money since the 80s. Why else would baby food be such a hot commodity on the black market? My store just got wiped! Anyways I don't have my novel's sources on hand. I'm just saying don't believe all the "common knowledge" out there, and don't be so quick to judge.

Oh, and did anyone see the King of the Hill episode on panhandlers? I think that show hit the nail on the head!


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## ayambakar (Apr 27, 2011)

Hm, to think that most of you guys live in European / North American countries... that are already developed well... Might as well give an insight on a less-developed one.

I remember back home, I can only find fake homeless people in major, developed cities (like Indonesia's capital city, Jakarta). But in the villages (non-city areas), you don't find beggars - they all actually worked , as a maid, as a rice-field farmer, pushcart food seller, etc. (albeit lack of minimum wage laws for non-governmental jobs ).
People moved to bigger cities hoping to earn more money, get a decent job - only to be ripped off by drugdealers or pimps.

I'm just wondering if modernism actually renders people... evil and lazy, for lack of a better word.

That said, I also wonder if anyone ever thought of actually removing the welfare program completely. Won't there be problems like the OP posted? And less taxes?


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