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We Went To A Popular Chinese Restaurant Monday Evening For Dinner…

Got out of my car and the boy was walking ahead and he turned to me and warned “There’s a guy near the door & I think he’s asking for money.” He was standing off to the side and not right in front of the door. This guy was young, mid-20s, no shirt & a huge belly, wearing slide-on plastic shoes a size too small & jogging pants. He was doing a small step pace back and forth while holding his arms down around the bottom of his belly. Stops when he sees us walking up & says in a quiet almost childlike voice “Can you give me some money?” I said no and we went inside. I told the boy the food & shelter place was a few blocks away and if he lives around here he would know that. Maybe he was hungry for Chinese food or needed something from the Dollar Tree but he can’t go inside either one without a shirt. Seemed something off about him if he was mental he was too subdued about it. I also noticed when we were about to leave that he was not standing in eye-shot of the restaurant’s windows. So he definitely knew how to stay out of their line of sight. The boy went to school the next day and talked about this guy at lunch. One of his friends told him that he sounded exactly like a guy they saw while visiting Scissortail Park in Oklahoma City, he described his size, what he was wearing and the fact that he was doing the small-step pacing back and forth while not moving from the area. I told the boy if this guy was really mental how did he travel from OKC to our town to stand around and panhandle? And he goes where the people are, Scissortail Park was probably having some kind of event up there when the other boy was there. Small world. All kinds of panhandlers these days trying different schtick’s get sympathy and money.
4meAndyou · F
They had one in Lansing, Michigan. I gave him $20 and begged him to go home and get warm when I saw him out playing guitar in the snow.

I really don't have much experience with beggars, and I felt like the naive idiot I am when I saw him playing a shopping mall parking lot clear across town. I asked about him, and found out everyone knows of him, and he moves all around town to milk different areas.
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@4meAndyou when they are working their game within a short distance of a meal & shelter place they are just wanting $ to blow on junk that charities don’t provide. The police have said when you give them money they’ll go buy alcohol or drugs and then create problems where the police get involved….and it’s every day in this city. Has created a burden for police on top of their other calls.
Virgo79 · 61-69, M
Similar thing ive seen, there was a guy supposed to be homeless and living in a tent under a bridge.
He was always on the corner looking for handouts.
All was good until someone saw him carrying out a big screen tv.at Wal-Mart.
Think he got rich of figured he'd quit after it was posted on Facebook
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@Virgo79 there was an elderly white-haired woman standing at a busy intersection with a sign in Oklahoma City saying she needed help. This man, a Mexican who worked in construction said he would stop several days a week and give her his lunch money because he felt so bad for her being elderly and all. One day he saw her walking and watched her get into a new car. He went to the local news and they tracked her down and asked her why she was begging on street corners. She said she asked he pastor if it was OK and he said yes. And she also said she paid for the car with cash. They got her name and talked to her grown children and they had asked her to stop but she refused.
Lilymoon · F
The amount of homeless people here is almost doubled from a few years ago. Sad sign of the times.
But there are scammers too. :/
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@Lilymoon they are taking resources away from those in dire need. There are social workers here who will assist them in getting their SS cards, their birth certificates, ID cards to get them signed up for help but at least 40% refuse to do it. They would rather play people and get what they want that way.
Lilymoon · F
@cherokeepatti Yeah that's pretty sad..
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@Lilymoon A man on the other side of the city told me you can drive up to Chick-Fil-A in that area of the city and there’s always a long line of people at the drive-through waiting to order. And always panhandlers there from starting about 10 a.m. asking people in their cars for money. He told me that he tells them about businesses that are hiring and always needing new employees and that’ll shut them down immediately, they don’t want to work. They want donations and tax-free ones at that.
Ontheroad · M
I'm often a bit torn in situations like this. The sad truth is that there are those, and not just a few, who make a living out of doing exactly what the person you described was doing... that or something similar. You just never know for sure. I hate not helping someone who is truly in need, but it also gals me to get caught by the professionals who do this as their work.

In the end I remember what my ex used to say. "Do what makes you feel right, leave it at that, and the rest is on the person you attempt to help".
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PissFun · 70-79, M
So what are beggars going to do when the world becomes cashless?
Surely that'll put the mokkers on their lifestyle?
Tastyfrzz · 61-69, M
There are lots of jobs out there so I'm told so why don't they just get a job?
Confined · 56-60, M
Long time ago there was a guy in NY asking for money outside where my dad worked. After 2 weeks my dad asked him what was the deal.
He said he was a school teacher and he would more then double his salary in weeks.
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@Confined easy money for them, probably paying for a nice vacation in the summer and other things.
SW-User
He sounds harmless. I mean someone like him could be a thug who mugs people instead of asking directly in a childlike voice.
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@SW-User Harmless but annoying. Anyone who wants a job here can get one. Why do that though if you can stand around and manipulate others who do work to part with their money? And it’s illegal to panhandle in this city so he pretends to be mental instead but he did ask for money. Probably his way of not getting reported to authorities. And don’t think that there are thugs that pretend to be helpless and when people approach they’ll get them. Read about Ted Bundy, that’s how he got his victims.
SW-User
I don't know. I have sympathy for such people. Never know what they've been through. @cherokeepatti
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@SW-User And they never know what I’ve been through either.
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cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@Stereoguy it’s usually their vehicle that they get into that gives them away. Then they get followed home. Have read a few stories about these con artists.
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