Responses to Panhandling
#41
Posted 19 November 2008 - 11:32 AM
I will agree that you can survive on $1000/month (in theory. In real life things come up, and I don't mean smokes and parties.)
However, you cannot live on $500-600 a month. Do you mean above rent?
#42
Posted 21 December 2016 - 12:48 PM
This morning I was scolded for ignoring a request for money. When the panhandler asked "for just enough money for bus fare,"
I remembered that two days ago she was saying she "ran out of gas, it's an emergency to get my car started."
As I was trying to figure this out, she scolded me for ignoring her.
After one year of living on Yates and Quadra, I estimate that her request was no. 1,000.So of course I have become hardened. In addition to panhandlers, there are other organizations who approach and hand out material, all good causes.
It's rare to be able to walk down Yates between Quadra and Vancouver without someone jumping out in front with a request.
I've tried putting my hand up like a stop signal when someone jumps out in front of me but that really gets them angry.
I'm wondering what is a good response?
The truth is I don't have any extra cash, I'm on a strict budget. I just got tired of saying that.
So here we are eight years later and donations have all but dried up, and we wonder why. Has anything changed?
With the holiday season approaching, many Canadians are looking to make a difference through their wallets with charitable donations made in their loved ones' names — but a charity watchdog says donor beware.
A March 2016 U.S. study revealed up to 15 per cent of cash donations are wasted by going to inefficient and poorly performing charities.
"I'm not surprised by this figure," said Greg Thomson, director of research at Charity Intelligence Canada — an independent charity watchdog.
"Most charitable giving in Canada is done without any examination of the real effectiveness of charities. Giving is very hit or miss."
Even though Canadians might feel overwhelmed by requests this holiday season, Thomson said, it's important to put some thought into your giving and donate to charities you feel really comfortable about giving to.
Although some donors look at overhead costs and salary when determining whether a charity is efficient, Thomson said this is the wrong focus.
"What matters is what is the charity able to accomplish with the dollars it receives," he said. He called this its "social return on investment".
#43
Posted 21 December 2016 - 01:26 PM
In San Francisco I saw a dude with a couple of shrub branches in each hand and he'd crouch down and when someone walked by he'd leap out and yell "BOO" and everyone would laugh and throw him a few coins. The guy was raking it in.
I think our gang have to get a talent and give up on the lame sob stories. One derelict guy on Fort St. wearing a BC Ferries cap begged me for bus fare to his job in Swartz Bay. Maybe if we had a competition called Victoria's Best Panhandlers it would encourage more creativity.
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#44
Posted 21 December 2016 - 01:32 PM
^^
In San Francisco I saw a dude with a couple of shrub branches in each hand and he'd crouch down and when someone walked by he'd leap out and yell "BOO" and everyone would laugh and throw him a few coins. The guy was raking it in.
I think our gang have to get a talent and give up on the lame sob stories. One derelict guy on Fort St. wearing a BC Ferries cap begged me for bus fare to his job in Swartz Bay. Maybe if we had a competition called Victoria's Best Panhandlers it would encourage more creativity.
An ideal replacement for the Buskers festival.
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#45
Posted 21 December 2016 - 01:36 PM
Normally it doesn't bother me too much but a few years ago I actually took to outright avoiding this one woman who would sit outside the parkade stairs right beside where Fresh Slice used to be across from the current Weeds. She got aggressive and I wasn't interested in it. I guess she died or won the lotto because I haven't seen her in years and she was a downtown fixture.
#46
Posted 21 December 2016 - 01:46 PM
...I actually took to outright avoiding this one woman who would sit outside the parkade stairs right beside where Fresh Slice used to be across from the current Weeds...I haven't seen her in years and she was a downtown fixture.
Perhaps she wasn't happy when Weeds moved into the neighbourhood.
#47
Posted 21 December 2016 - 02:08 PM
Perhaps she wasn't happy when Weeds moved into the neighbourhood.
oh she was gone before the pot shops showed up. I bet you've seen her too. Mop like hair, maybe between 38-52. Always crowing "spare change!". Technically she wasn't even asking but making a statement.
#48
Posted 21 December 2016 - 02:10 PM
I noticed the other day that Spare Change/50 Cent is back around town. This could be her.
Edited by jonny, 21 December 2016 - 02:11 PM.
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#49
Posted 21 December 2016 - 02:11 PM
omg that's her
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#50
Posted 21 December 2016 - 02:11 PM
you sir win the internet today
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#51
Posted 21 December 2016 - 02:12 PM
She was gone for years, maybe two or three, but is now back to asking me several times a day if I have 50 cents or a quarter or a dollar. She's always very specific.
#52
Posted 21 December 2016 - 02:14 PM
So she hangs in Chinatown? I guess that's why I don't see her. I never walk that block of Fisgard.
#53
Posted 21 December 2016 - 02:21 PM
At least old "Odd Jobs" would offer to do some work when he asked for a dime or a cup o coffee. They don't make hobos like they used to...
#54
Posted 21 December 2016 - 02:39 PM
At least old "Odd Jobs" would offer to do some work when he asked for a dime or a cup o coffee. They don't make hobos like they used to...
I miss him.
#55
Posted 21 December 2016 - 02:49 PM
The woman looks very much like someone I saw recently (can't remember where but downtown). She was asking people to buy her a coffee. I rarely buy myself a coffee...I'm too cheap.
#56
Posted 21 December 2016 - 02:51 PM
Here's what you need to do. When you are approached for a handout, you get a wild look in your eyes, wave the fingers of both hands at them, mumbling, and walk by. They may think you're too messed up to mess with.
#57
Posted 21 December 2016 - 03:31 PM
So she hangs in Chinatown? I guess that's why I don't see her. I never walk that block of Fisgard.
I usually see her around Yates, but I'm sure she travels.
#58
Posted 21 December 2016 - 03:38 PM
Rob Randall will get a kick out of this, but I was a street beggar once. So I tried to show her a better approach once, one that would surely get her 20 to 100% more money, but she did not seem to want to take my advice. Walked off barely into my coaching.
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#59
Posted 21 December 2016 - 04:19 PM
Rob Randall will get a kick out of this, but I was a street beggar once.
So I tried to show her a better approach once, one that would surely get her 20 to 100% more money, but she did not seem to want to take my advice.
Walked off barely into my coaching.
At least she was able to walk away, not like on the forum where we have to suck it up.
Sorry Rob if I used your material.
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#60
Posted 22 December 2016 - 08:37 AM
I've had that one actually come into a restaurant and right up to my table to ask for change. I wonder where she disappeared to while she was away. There's also a meme of her flashing her breasts and a comic sketch of her in BBJ's - not sure if it's still up since the renos now that I think of it.
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