Put down the crack pipe and get a job...

[Captain Rhett Butler]

Then you can contribute, instead of holding a hand out. People who donate to the homeless often result in nothing but more homeless folks needing a hand out. Throwing money down a dry well. My wife did some volunteer work at the Helping Hands Food Pantry, yet when they had to turn someone away for one reason or another folks would get angry, cause a huge disturbance and cuss out the volunteers. Needless to say, she doesn't volunteer there any more....my method of dealing with the homeless is tell them bluntly to put down the crack pipe and get a job. I'm really tired of the "but what about ..." argument.

 

[JawJa]

Not sure if I have told this story at the Hiway... if I have... sorry for the repeat:

One gets used to driving the same routs day after day... and starts paying attention to the curious things they see on the road.

One day, driving up the hiway (no, not this forum... grin)... followed the exit ramp and stopped a few cars back from the light.
Ahead of me was a Cadillac Escalade... the homeless person who was begging for spare change at the corner... got into the Escalade, and another homeless person got out and started begging. So I looked carefully into the vehicle (as well as I could)... and saw the guy who had 'finished his shift' hand over the $$$ to the driver.

That did it for me... they NEVER get any more $$$ from me... EVER!
When confronted on the street... I just politely say: there is lots of work out there... go work for a living, like the rest of us do...
Always be polite... yet IMO always be real and clear with what you say...
NEVER talk in riddles or play PC games... speak the truth simply and directly... with respect.

They can take it or leave it... not my problem.

 

[Captain Rhett Butler]

My wife goes grocery shopping at several different stores to get her bargains...Kroger, Ingles, Food Depot, and Publix. While she was in the Kroger parking lot on 278 @ 61 loading her groceries into the car, this homeless guy approached her, asking for a ride...big sad eyes and long sad story, blah blah blah... Sorry Charlie, we don't run a taxi cab. She won't pick up strangers, ever. I think she's finally learning. And this happened in broad daylight when you'd like to think it's safe for your wife to go shopping at Kroger. It chaps me big when I see panhandlers and beggars and bums.

 

[JawJa]

My wife goes grocery shopping at several different stores to get her bargains...Kroger, Ingles, Food Depot, and Publix. While she was in the Kroger parking lot on 278 @ 61 loading her groceries into the car, this homeless guy approached her, asking for a ride...big sad eyes and long sad story, blah blah blah... Sorry Charlie, we don't run a taxi cab. She won't pick up strangers, ever. I think she's finally learning. And this happened in broad daylight when you'd like to think it's safe for your wife to go shopping at Kroger. It chaps me big when I see panhandlers and beggars and bums.

Note that GA is not advocating the behavior... however...
Saw a similar situation at a Walmart parking lot...
Lady looked at the guy and raised the edge of her jacket... to reveal a firearm...
Perp saw that and just walked away.

I hate it that our society has gone down the tubes like this...
However if we do not do something about it... like clean the govt house all the way from the street sweeper to the governor (we did the govr last fall)... INCLUDING the Atlanta mayor and city council...
It is only gonna get worse!

 

[Guard Dad]

I really don't like the situation we're in today.

I like to help people who really need it. But it's become so hard to tell the truly misfortune from the bums and scammers.

I have no desire to help the lazy or the sorry, and some of the ones out there begging are just that.

I believe many of the actual homeless are mentally ill. Part of me wants to help them and another part of me wonders if I'd just be fueling an addiction or perpetuating a destructive lifestyle.

A young guy standing in front of a Racetrac hit me up Friday with the "Got any spare change" line. He looked healthy and able bodied, didn't appear to have gone hungry, I really didn't have any spare change, I empty my pockets every morning and rarely carry coins, and wasn't about to pull out my wallet in front of him, so I told him no. A minute later he took off walking down the street.

One part of me wondering why, when we're technically below full employment, he can't get a job. The fast food places are begging for help and will hire anyone who can walk erect. Yeah, not glorious work, but it's honest and honorable work. I worked fast food as a kid.

I know I'm rambling, but it's so hard to know what to do sometimes.

 

[JawJa]

Sadly... there are folks that believe scamming is a lifestyle...
And our current political climate does not discourage that belief system.

Until we have a societal change... where it is not acceptable to live that belief system...
I do not see a change.

Curious thing...
I moved to GA (state) in my late 30's...
And after living in Texas, a short stay in SanDeigo, Austin Tx, and N VA (outside DC)...
I can say there are more panhandlers in the Atlanta area than anywhere I have been...
And this includes all the travels I got to do all over the world when I was connected to PanAm airways.

Atlanta really has a problem in this area...
Yet it seems nobody in govt wants to address it.
IMO the problem is political...

 

[The Sound Guy]

I really don't like the situation we're in today.

I like to help people who really need it. But it's become so hard to tell the truly misfortune from the bums and scammers.

I have no desire to help the lazy or the sorry, and some of the ones out there begging are just that.

I believe many of the actual homeless are mentally ill. Part of me wants to help them and another part of me wonders if I'd just be fueling an addiction or perpetuating a destructive lifestyle.

Yep. I went out with a mission team to give food out to the homeless around the I75/I20 interchange (the ones that live under the bridges).

Found one lady that I later learned has a home she could go to, but her daughter won't let her do the drugs she wants to, so she lives under the bridge. Its a lifestyle choice for her.

I know there are those that are truly in trouble, but its' tough to figure out who they are.

 

[lotstodo]

The one thing we do need is a better grip on the mental health crisis in this country. Yeah, the panhandlers and drunks are visible, but the mentally ill make up a big portion of the homeless.

I remember when the lefties succeeded in shutting down all the mental health hospitals, calling "warehousing" the mentally I'll cruel. GMHI over on Briarcliff was a horrible place, but these folks had horrible problems. Now that the left got their way these people are no longer warehoused in clean warm buildings with three hots and a cot. Now they live under bridges and starve. But if course it's evil selfish Republican's fault.

These people need hospitals back.

 

[Guard Dad]

The one thing we do need is a better grip on the mental health crisis in this country. Yeah, the panhandlers and drunks are visible, but the mentally ill make up a big portion of the homeless.

I remember when the lefties succeeded in shutting down all the mental health hospitals, calling "warehousing" the mentally I'll cruel. GMHI over on Briarcliff was a horrible place, but these folks had horrible problems. Now that the left got their way these people are no longer warehoused in clean warm buildings with three hots and a cot. Now they live under bridges and starve. But if course it's evil selfish Republican's fault.

These people need hospitals back.

Agreed. Sometimes, the cost of dealing with it is less than not dealing with it.