Manca, any beggars around?
in Miscellaneous ·
feralbadger2 I can't quite make sense of what was said there... it looks like you might have missed the actual text! I'm sitting here with my coffee, ready to dive in, but I don't see anything to respond to yet. Just let me know what's on your mind whenever you're ready.
I used to hit up the local coffee shops here and there, though honestly, that was only if I happened to have some spare change on me. If my pockets were empty, I just wouldn't leave a tip.
I don't really leave any tips at the stores. It's just that if I'm ever short by, say, ten cents when I'm trying to pick up a pack of cigarettes or something else, I can't actually buy it. Then I have to go hunting for something cheaper instead. So, honestly... why bother leaving them extra money?
I’ll give a beggar a hand if I run into them for the first time, you know? But honestly, once I've seen the same person around a few times, I usually just pass by. It just feels... I don't know, impossible that it's only one thing they're doing. It's hard to justify after a while.
I'm hanging out in Denver right now, and man, you see them on every single corner. It’s mostly kids, usually with their younger siblings trailing behind them. We actually ended up chatting with one little girl the other day—just asking how much she makes from panhandling—and she told us she pulls in over $7 or $8 a week.$67I mean, during the week it varies, but over the weekend you can actually pull in maybe $150 or even $200 if things go well... it’s not nothing, I guess.$200Honestly, my heart just sank when I heard. And he’s one of those guys with at least five kids... so once you actually sit down and add them all up, it's just... yeah. $333 Just a little slice of life from the family. You’ve got Mom and Dad just chilling out on the grass in the shade, sipping on some juice and having a smoke. Meanwhile, there's this seven-year-old carrying around a baby only a few months old... poor things look absolutely famished. I mean, you can just imagine the scene.
Every now and then, this young woman would pop in with her little baby, and it was always the same thing—"Hey, give some to Mark." And honestly? We always did. Every single time. It became this little ritual. After we’d wrap up classes at the university, we’d all head out for coffee—usually a group of at least five of us—and she'd show up. It had become such a regular thing... $6.75 If only she had just taken it from us... I mean, I wish things could have gone differently. There was this one time, right after I finally passed my big exam, and we all decided to head out for coffee to celebrate. It was my treat, obviously—I wanted to do something nice—but honestly, nobody else had a dime on them. I was the only one with cash. But then, just as we were pulling up to the cafe, I managed to lose it. Somewhere between walking and sitting down, my wallet just vanished right out of my pocket along with my phone. Typical me, really. xD
It was just... honestly, it was so ugly. She walks right up to us and goes, "Give Mark some money." And I’m being straight with her—I tell her we don't even have enough left over to cover our own coffee, let alone hand out cash. We're basically trying to figure out how to make ends meet ourselves here. And then she has the nerve to look me in the eye and call me rude. Just... rude. So, I tried to be firm, telling her again that we simply don't have the funds to just give it away, and that she needs to back off and stop breathing down my neck. Then she calls me stupid. That was it. My fuse just snapped. I lost it and told her to get lost—just, you know, sent her packing. She tries to play it tough, though, saying something like, "I'm not afraid of you, size doesn't matter." I told her again to leave, that I didn't want to see her face anymore, and then the finger-pointing started. She began listing everything wrong with me, making me out to be this monster. I just sat there. Honestly, I just sat there and thought, *fine, go ahead and count your pennies.* I really wasn't about to get into a shouting match with someone over a decade younger than me. But then things escalated. She actually went over to my friend and slapped her. That was the breaking point. Everything just exploded. It was a huge scene—me, her, everyone sitting at our table, all the people at the surrounding tables... it was a mess. It didn't stop until the waiter finally stepped in and kicked her out. She hasn't shown her face in that coffee shop since. Not once. Not when she sees any of us. ☕😳
I had this moment the other day that actually warmed my heart quite a bit. I was just picking up a pizza for myself, minding my own business, when this little kid wanders up to me. He looks up and asks, "Hey mister, would you maybe buy a pizza for me too?" I mean, I didn't hesitate—of course I said yes. So, I bought him a slice, and he was so incredibly polite about it when he thanked me before heading off. Honestly, he was such a well-mannered kid that I ended up buying him a second piece too. I told him that whenever he sees me around, he should feel free to come say hi; if I’m in a position to help, I'll make sure he has some money or something else he needs. It was just one of those small, quiet moments, you know?
It just hit me way harder in the feels than when they say, "Hey, give me some cash," or start going on one of those long rants like, "God bless you, honey, I hope you pass all your finals and just live a happy little life." You know how it goes. They barely even look at you—they just grab the twenty from the box and slide it right into their pocket before you can even blink.
Yeah, I’m with you on that. When they’re actually decent people, I find it hard to say no. It reminds me of this one time, years ago, back in my hometown. There was this group of kids always wandering around—they were basically one giant, messy family. The dad was a heavy drinker, and the mom just sat at home all day, constantly pushing the kids to work. A friend of mine used to work at a local juvenile detention center, and she told me how much trouble this family caused with the courts and social services, but for some reason, the kids could never quite get placed in the facility. Anyway, one day, one of those kids wandered up to our place and asked... well, he was looking for something small, something to eat. My cousin felt bad and offered to take him out to buy something real, but he just turned around and walked away. I don't know... I guess I just have a huge soft spot for kids. And for the elderly when they're really struggling. But if I just handed out five or ten dollars to every single person I saw on the street? Man, I'd be broke by noon. We'd hit the grocery store and be out thirty bucks before we even left the parking lot.$13 just for a week...