The salt-of-the-earth loving liberal in me understands that there are antecedents and causes that have put these people in this situation - I want to help if I can, especially with elderly or obviously mentally ill people. I know that seventy cents will be far more valuable to them than it is to me.
But the harried, calloused urbanite in me gets sick of it - "This is a goddamn ATM! It only gives out twenty dollar bills!! Only twenties! Do you expect me to give you a twenty?!"
And I'm tired of people shitting on the sidewalk.
The San Francisco area is becoming like a mini-Calcutta. How do I deal with this and still retain some humanity?
― andy, Wednesday, 4 February 2004 19:49 (twenty years ago) link
― Huckadelphia (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 19:53 (twenty years ago) link
― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:01 (twenty years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:04 (twenty years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:05 (twenty years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:06 (twenty years ago) link
xp orbit is faster.
― Kingfish Funyun (Kingfish), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:07 (twenty years ago) link
― andy, Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:08 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:09 (twenty years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:10 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:10 (twenty years ago) link
You talking about LaRouche supporters?
― andy, Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:11 (twenty years ago) link
I was asking how persistent SF homeless are compared to Seattle homeless.
I've gotten used to it here in Seattle.. granted, I've never seen homeless people shit on the sidewalk here (or at least seen the results, since the city does a pretty decent job of cleaning up the streets).. and as you said, I do give out change when it just feels right.
But I swear, many of the younger, more relatively well off guys who ask for change DON'T KNOW WHEN TO FUCKING STOP. And the more persistent they are, the more scratchy and whiney they sound. (Think "Drive Thru Burger Boy" in the Simpsons)
I was walking to meet up with Matos for dinner one night and this one dude followed me for an entire block, asked me for dollar bills three times. I said "No" very bruskly, louder each time.
One the way back, the same guy accompanies Matos and I and asks both of us three times again if we had money. "Use a different block, dude."
So, in the Persistence In Homelessness awards, Seattle takes the prize.
― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:17 (twenty years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:18 (twenty years ago) link
So, in the Persistence By The Homeless awards, Seattle takes the prize.
― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:18 (twenty years ago) link
― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:21 (twenty years ago) link
― Huckadelphia (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:22 (twenty years ago) link
― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:23 (twenty years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:24 (twenty years ago) link
― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:24 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:24 (twenty years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:25 (twenty years ago) link
Centuries of white guilt, I guess, coming home to roost.
― andy, Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:25 (twenty years ago) link
― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:25 (twenty years ago) link
TWO DOLLARS!
― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:26 (twenty years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:27 (twenty years ago) link
― Huckadelphia (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:28 (twenty years ago) link
Was that ... The Smell?
― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:28 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:28 (twenty years ago) link
― Huckadelphia (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:29 (twenty years ago) link
There's one guy at the Ralph's on Sunset I always see who has apparently been trying to gather money to go to Redondo Beach for about a year now.
The worst thing I've ever seen was when I was in the Valley and at a stoplight in front of me was a Jaguar. There was a guy on the median holding a sign, asking for money. The driver of the Jaguar held out some change and as the guy approached, he tossed the change out into the street and drove off, laughing, as the homeless guy scrambled for the change. I've never wanted to run someone off the road so badly.
― Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:30 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:30 (twenty years ago) link
― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:32 (twenty years ago) link
― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:33 (twenty years ago) link
― Huckadelphia (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:34 (twenty years ago) link
― Gear! (Gear!), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:35 (twenty years ago) link
(xpost)
― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:35 (twenty years ago) link
― Huckadelphia (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:35 (twenty years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:36 (twenty years ago) link
San Francisco/Tenerloin/Market St: Fucking pandemic, out of control, but these are the real deal - crazy, drug addicted street people. Market St is their Mecca.
Berkeley: Annoying psychedelic relics with funny signs like "Spare Change for Weed?" Haight St. is like this, too.
Oakland: Mind-numbing poverty, but pandhandlers are often polite (usually) and quite deferential - lots of "Excuse me, sir, can I trouble you for a moment of your time?" etc.
Santa Cruz: The fucking worst! Dread-head stoner Crass punks with pitbulls and face tattoos that make comments - "Sorry I don't fucking shop at the Gap, bro!" There should be a camp somewhere... round 'em up!
― andy, Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:36 (twenty years ago) link
I've seen it! It's called "bedsheets and blankets."
― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:37 (twenty years ago) link
― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:39 (twenty years ago) link
― Huckadelphia (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:39 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:40 (twenty years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:55 (twenty years ago) link
― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:56 (twenty years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:58 (twenty years ago) link
― Huckadelphia (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 20:59 (twenty years ago) link
― dean! (deangulberry), Wednesday, 4 February 2004 21:06 (twenty years ago) link
makes u think
― ⚓ (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 18:25 (ten years ago) link
Homeless man who's become a regular around my neighbourhood has a large female greyhound/saluki lurcher named Hoi Polloi.
― aldi young dudes (suzy), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 18:26 (ten years ago) link
i'm not trying to shit on individual acts of charity but "can good graphic design help the homeless?" is not the right question to ask imho xp
― ⚓ (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 18:27 (ten years ago) link
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sf-threatens-sue-alleged-patient-dumping-20010793
― Fais ce que voudra, occiderai de même (Michael White), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 19:06 (ten years ago) link
hah just posted the revive link on the "shit that looks like an Onion article" thread
― Neil S, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 19:07 (ten years ago) link
https://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/802162964.jpg
― there are more than 3.5 HOOS per steen (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 19:27 (ten years ago) link
brilliant
― ⚓ (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 19:28 (ten years ago) link
http://www.sabotagetimes.com/wp-content/uploads/trading-places.jpeg
― Neil S, Wednesday, 21 August 2013 20:10 (ten years ago) link
i am filled with hatred rn
― the spectacular cow (Lamp), Wednesday, 21 August 2013 20:29 (ten years ago) link
"the unjustly homeless"
― just1n3, Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:15 (ten years ago) link
Once a guy asked me for change and I told him I didn't have any cash with me. He said "that's alright, I accept Mastercard, Visa..."
― Treeship, Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:31 (ten years ago) link
you're a standup guy, evidently
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:32 (ten years ago) link
I really didn't have cash.
― Treeship, Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:34 (ten years ago) link
time was i was going to do a thread about whether there is a right to housing
this is the case in sweden i think
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:34 (ten years ago) link
idk if there is anywhere that fully implements this though, like providing housing or paying rent for anybody even if they aren't in traditional 'in need' groups
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:38 (ten years ago) link
Thats the deal in denmark iirc. There should totally be a right to housing as well as healthcare.
― Treeship, Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:38 (ten years ago) link
idk about denmark, doesn't that denote things like rent controls, social housing provision, security of tenancy etc not just a carte blanche 'here is a house for u'?
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:42 (ten years ago) link
so even in the more enlightened european countries there is still a coterie of drug dependents, lumpens etc without homes because they fall within the gaps of social provision
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:50 (ten years ago) link
There is a right to housing in ireland
― dmacation problem (darraghmac), Thursday, 22 August 2013 07:51 (ten years ago) link
It's just that nobody wants to live there
― Tommy McTommy (Tom D.), Thursday, 22 August 2013 08:37 (ten years ago) link
ha strong zing but, ime, untrue
― dmacation problem (darraghmac), Thursday, 22 August 2013 08:59 (ten years ago) link
OK, qualify that, the Irish don't want to live there
― Tommy McTommy (Tom D.), Thursday, 22 August 2013 09:51 (ten years ago) link
Problem solved:https://medium.com/architecting-a-life/fee8f3ee97a01. I will come back tomorrow and give you $100 in cash.2. I will come back tomorrow and give you three JavaScript books, (beginner-advanced-expert) and a super cheap basic laptop. I will then come an hour early from work each day—when he feels prepared—and teach him to code.― polyphonic, Wednesday, August 21, 2013 12:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
https://medium.com/architecting-a-life/fee8f3ee97a0
1. I will come back tomorrow and give you $100 in cash.2. I will come back tomorrow and give you three JavaScript books, (beginner-advanced-expert) and a super cheap basic laptop. I will then come an hour early from work each day—when he feels prepared—and teach him to code.― polyphonic, Wednesday, August 21, 2013 12:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
fuck naïve techies and their "simple solutions" to enormously complex social problems. i sometimes meet people like this at parties and it takes great inner strength not to bitchslap them.
also in US at least a huge chunk of the homeless are mentally ill
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, 22 August 2013 09:58 (ten years ago) link
Homeless guy once asked me to buy him some KFC. I was heading in the opposite direction & was in a hurry but I said I would give him the money for it. He got really offended and said he didn't want money, just something to eat. I was like dude that's cool I believe you but I need to get back to work, you can use money to buy food. He didn't appreciate the life hack I had offered him and took neither it nor the money, just swore at me and walked off.
― Charlie Slothrop (wins), Thursday, 22 August 2013 10:00 (ten years ago) link
I mean he would prob have exchanged that chicken for smack anyway
― Charlie Slothrop (wins), Thursday, 22 August 2013 10:01 (ten years ago) link
i see the same roster of homeless guys quite regularly in my area. there is one who asks for a quid "for the doner kebab fund" and it works pretty well on people who haven't heard it before, he's good humoured or whatever. there's another guy who asks really rapidly if you have any money and says "thanks anyway" and moves on, i figure his technique is based on covering more miles and asking more people.
then there's this one guy who has a bloody arm always, it's v weird, dunno if he self-harms, and he says he's crashed his motorbike and needs money to get to hospital. seen him loads of times and seen people falling for it. never intervened.
― Shamrock Shoe (LocalGarda), Thursday, 22 August 2013 10:14 (ten years ago) link
I get approached by the bike guy every couple of weeks.
xps, i guess it's possible that KFC refused to serve him, maybe, and he wanted someone to get the chicken for him.
― Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Thursday, 22 August 2013 10:20 (ten years ago) link
finger lickin hood
― dmacation problem (darraghmac), Thursday, 22 August 2013 10:21 (ten years ago) link
there was a colonel of truth in his story it seems.
― Shamrock Shoe (LocalGarda), Thursday, 22 August 2013 10:27 (ten years ago) link
bethnal green? i've seen him all over the place, once really near my flat but more often whitechapel or shoreditch.
Theobald's Road, the Strand, Camden...he gets about.
― Inte Regina Lund eller nån, mitt namn är (ShariVari), Thursday, 22 August 2013 10:32 (ten years ago) link
Jesus, he prob does alright from it. There is something kinda morbid about him.
― Shamrock Shoe (LocalGarda), Thursday, 22 August 2013 10:34 (ten years ago) link
― the spectacular cow (Lamp), Wednesday, August 21, 2013 8:29 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
somehow misread this as 'i am filled with ham rn'
― there are more than 3.5 HOOS per steen (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 22 August 2013 13:46 (ten years ago) link
I’ve made friends with the homeless people in my area and their character is amazing. I’ve had a cast applied for my broken arm by a former nurse who is homeless, been given beer, smokes and pot. Ultimately character is what counts imo not life circumstance
― Eris (Ross), Wednesday, 4 April 2018 15:53 (six years ago) link
lol
― imago, Tuesday, 29 May 2018 15:45 (five years ago) link
:(
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Wednesday, 30 May 2018 10:01 (five years ago) link
I saw an interesting talk recently about these programmes that involve homeless people in the creation and/or production of operas. Streetwise in London has been going on since 2000; the Opéra de Montréal project started just a couple of years ago and just presented a new opera about two weeks ago (I didn't see it):
http://www.streetwiseopera.org/about-ushttps://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/lopera-de-montreal-collaborates-with-formerly-homeless-to-craft-opera/article33351804/
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Wednesday, 30 May 2018 10:18 (five years ago) link
So many rough sleepers in London right now: I walked the canal from St John’s Wood to King’s Cross around 8am and under half of the underpasses, there were men rolled up in sleeping bags and dirty uncovered duvets. A few days ago, walking from Dalston to Angel on another stretch of the canal, people were sleeping in little tents on grass verges.
The government here makes me sick.
― suzy, Wednesday, 30 May 2018 10:26 (five years ago) link
After spending the last 8 years in various reaching out to the homeless, my advice (possibly obvious) would be never give them money. I’ve seen them clear 70 dollars a day, spend 10 bucks a pop on heroin or meth (or cheaper)
Most homeless people I know around here get food all day, that would benefit them vs the cash. Also a lot of homeless people live in shelters or even drift and crash on friends couches. A good 8-10 hours of their day may be spent panning, usually early to late afternoon or evening.
Ime most homeless people are not worth trying to befriend, I’ve had a guy I knew 8 years scream at me while in the throes of crack. Some are sweethearts, names withheld because i respect their anonymity.
Often the police let them off with drug possession, the kinds of things the cops give them a court date for involve stealing money from parking metres, vending machines or fights with other street people or cops.
Without going too deep into how many of these people are victims of sexual abuse (especially women who are often approached to be picked up or alcohol is given to them to try to get them to come back to some assholes place) - - -Local resources like Work BC will offer anyone a job if they spend 4 weeks or so cleaning up their clothes and act. The act is the harder part, clothes and food and free transit passes are all provided by Work BC. The reason my friend doesn’t work in her words is “I can’t work around other people” and “I would get dope sick”. Attempts to offer to take her to the hospital, 12 step or an alternative rehab centre are met with indifference. First thing and last thing on a lot of these folks minds is scoring and doing drugs.
How can you blame them? I would want to be out my gourd if I was on the street too. Also most homeless people in specific areas know every other street person, often sharing the same dealer.
Anyway, here’s some homeless slang to finish up:
Side: meth “Got any side?”Red zone: police kicking you off a block or radius for crimes“I was redzoned for stealing from a parking metre”Goof: pedo or human trash person Binner: bottle or can collector
Etc
― Ross, Saturday, 11 August 2018 13:24 (five years ago) link
wow great tips ross, thanks for "redzoning" me on giving to the homeless. and you say they could all get jobs but aren't willing? damn, sounds like these homeless are a bunch of "goofs"
― XxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxXxxxx (dylannn), Saturday, 11 August 2018 14:36 (five years ago) link
No need for the snark
My post was intended to be thoughtful
Not to one up anyone
― Ross, Saturday, 11 August 2018 15:53 (five years ago) link
You can give if you like. Sometimes I still give money. Your world
― Ross, Saturday, 11 August 2018 15:54 (five years ago) link
big news from the Ninth Circuit Court:
Cities may not prosecute homeless people for sleeping outside if they have no access to shelter, appeals court rules
― sleeve, Wednesday, 5 September 2018 15:56 (five years ago) link
we should give them some homes . i think there are plenty empty ones around .
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Thursday, 19 September 2019 19:09 (four years ago) link
san francisco, one of the richest cities on earth, cannot afford to provide for its homeless, but can afford to roll rocks onto the sidewalk where they sleep. this country's contempt for the poor *it creates* is staggering. https://t.co/OpIyguozwy— p.e. moskowitz (@_pem_pem) September 29, 2019
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 30 September 2019 17:00 (four years ago) link
exterminationist rhetoric against the homeless is obviously a deliberate 2020 strategy for the GOP. Dems should start discussing hate crime protection for the unhoused. Austin's already seen at least two anti-homeless vigilante attacks this year and more will likely follow. https://t.co/q4rwmv1pxI— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) October 2, 2019
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 3 October 2019 04:51 (four years ago) link
they always find money for alcohol tobacco and drugs so i wonder why?!
― xzanfar, Monday, 24 January 2022 16:24 (two years ago) link
bye, thanks for playing
― Buchiko and The Man (Noodle Vague), Monday, 24 January 2022 16:26 (two years ago) link
poor people all have smartphones and 40" televisions yada yada yada
― calzino, Monday, 24 January 2022 16:44 (two years ago) link
FP loading...loading....loading
― they were written with a ouija board and a rhyming dictionary (Neanderthal), Monday, 24 January 2022 16:46 (two years ago) link