Subj : Re: Panhandlers (was: Re:
To   : JOE MACKEY
From : NANCY BACKUS
Date : Fri Feb 21 2020 14:13:00

-=> Quoting Joe Mackey to Daryl Stout on 02-18-20  07:05 <=-

 > JM>  I have always tried to make it on my own.  I hate to ask anyone
 > JM> for help.
 DS> I hate to impose on folks.

 JM> I hate asking anyone for for anything.
 JM> I don't even ask for a ride somewhere.  I have always tried to get
 JM> wherever I'm going the best way I can.

As long as you have the options... :)  I've given people rides for
years, and now have learned to ask when I need one... and offer to go
together other times (me driving)... :)

 JM> Now in a situation like work, I have no problems asking someone,
 JM> "Can you give me a hand here".

Well, some things just need more than two hands... <G>

 >   Another guy got done with his "panhandling", got up from his
 > wheelchair, and rolled it to a nearby parking lot, put it in the trunk
 > of his Lexus, and drove off. That soured me to the entire process.
 JM> 
 JM> There are some people who actually need help and others who abuse the
 JM> good guys and give everyone a bad name.
 
One does have to be discerning... I'd be more likely to give help in
kind rather than in money, unless it was a person I actually knew and
knew the circumstances... and often even then, give the food needed
instead of money....

 >   If I could know their hearts and motives, it'd be a different matter.
 > But, because of the above example, I tell each of them that I'm broke.
 JM> Yesterday a youngish woman came up to me at a bus stop bumming
 JM> money.  I told her I just had bus fare and she went on her way.  I felt
 JM> rather badly about that.  

It's hard to tell with a chance encounter if the person is truly
needy... or what the person is needy for....  I'd be inclined to play it
safe and not give, even if I really did have it to give... unless there
was some way of really knowing what was needed and something I was
willing to help out with...

ttyl       neb

.... Workarounds are lifesavers... until they get waterlogged... ;)

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