People Holding up Signs for Work

[Mary Ann]

There aren't too many people holding signs in my city and not too many beggars. There are quite a few buskers, whom I will give some change if I have any, and either my husband or myself will buy The Big Issue every week. There are more than half a dozen Big Issue pitches on the high street alone, and many of these people have been selling the magazine for years and are well-liked familiar faces. It's not unusual to see shoppers stop and talk to them even if they're not buying a magazine.

 

[Captain Shaw]

The was a guy in the papers who was desperate to get off the dole and having no luck so he held up a sign near a entrance to a industrial estate.
Lucky he got a job.

 

[Guitarded]

Initially, I thought this thread was going to be about NFL players.

 

[TorontoTrekker]

When I was in NYC, I saw a "homeless" guy walking around with a sign that said "I need a beer"... I had to give him props for at least being direct about it.

I've seen a few people here sitting on the sidewalk with signs that say things like "Pot Fund Contributions".

Normally, I don't give people money. I can only think of one time I have - a few weeks ago, a man came up to me outside the train station and said that he had just arrived in town and was starting a job two days later, but needed some help to get a room for the night. Normally I would have said no, but he was carrying a book, and I guess that pushed a button for me. Also, unlike most people I see begging on the street, he was fairly presentable and well-spoken.

Though there's another guy I sometimes see begging in my neighbourhood, and I've also seen him downtown a few times. He's polite, well-groomed, and dresses better than me (not that that's difficult, as I tend to be a bit on the slovenly side). I've observed him enough to figure that he's just decided that begging is easier than finding a proper job, and I've been tempted a few times to warn people off when I see that he's thinking about approaching them. I can't remember offhand what his story is (he approached me once a few years ago, but hasn't done so since), but I don't remember it being anything particularly compelling or interesting.

There have been a few times in my life (not too many, fortunately) where I seriously wondered whether I'd be able to make my next rent payment. I ate a lot of ramen and oatmeal for a few years. But I never considered going out and just asking people for money. I can understand how desperate times will make people do desperate things - I can't figure out what makes a person decide that that's how they're going to make their "living".

 

[Gryffindorian]

There are a lot of people in my area who carry signs at freeway offramps. There is one right down the street from me where I think the sign-holders have worked out shifts - there are at least three different people doing it.
I have mixed feelings about it, and my reaction depends on my mood and whether or not I actually have any cash on me (a rarity). I find it pretty depressing, generally, because you've got to be in a weird place to think begging is a better idea than trying to find other work. The worst though is when I've seen people with their kids. I'm not kidding, it breaks my heart. How could they do that to their children? And if they're really that badly off . .. ach now you've got me all worked up, I'm going to stop posting now.

Agreed.

I feel sympathy for the homeless as much as the next guy, but I don't think holding up a sign and standing in the middle of traffic would accomplish much to improve their condition. On my way home today, I passed by a young woman who was standing on the island of an intersection under the freeway. I really don't think that they should be doing that because they're a traffic hazard! Some generous driver who does decide to stop in traffic and give some homeless person a handout is risking getting into a collision with another vehicle, not to mention angering other motorists for holding up traffic.

To their credit, however, homeless people have the hardest time trying to get established or finding a job for obvious reasons. Some homeless people also have a form of mental illness, making their situation even more difficult. I originally came from an underdeveloped country, and the philosophy was that if a person was young and healthy enough to work, he/she was fit enough to make a living and not to depend on others for financial assistance.

 

[scotpens]

Funniest sight in Melbourne was an older aboriginal guy yelling out in the street to all passerbys,

"I NEED 20.00 FOR A DIET VANILLA COKE! ANYONE GOT 20.00 FOR A DIET VANILLA COKE?"

Reminds me of the old joke:

Beggar: “Could I have twenty dollars for a cup of coffee?”
Passerby: “Twenty dollars? That's ridiculous!”
Beggar: “Just tell me yes or no. Don't tell me how to run my business.”

If you're hungry, you go to a day-labor place and get work.
Yes you may have to sweep or clean up a jobsite or do a crappy manual task but they pay you in cash.

Here in L.A., there are numerous street corners where poor men congregate and hope to get hired by passing motorists for a day or two of labor for cash. I refer to those areas as our “alfresco employment agencies.”

 

[Ethros]

"Get a goddamn job, Al!"

 

[Pingfah]

We have one guy who has been doing this for years, always at the same corner, with the same sign, and the same very well-groomed dog. I don't even notice him anymore. He's just always there!

Perhaps he is a drug dealer, it would make a good cover!

 

[FordSVT]

The other day, as I pulled into the Tim Horton's drive-thru and opened my window while in line, a man asked me if I could spare him change. I had no money on me, having just a $10 TH gift card to pay for my coffee. I said "Sorry, I've got no change on...." and before I finished my sentence I got a prompt "Yeah, whatever, fuck you", in return.

Sufficed to say, I told him to fuck off as well, then after I got my coffee I went inside and told the manager that there was a guy outside swearing and harassing drive-thru customers. She went outside and told the guy to either buy something or get off the property before she called the cops, and so the guy left.

You want to beg? Fine, but don't you dare get in my face if I say I can't help you.

 

[CaptainStoner]

I remember one guy who had it down. He'd stand near the entrance of a mall, wearing a suit, totally cleancut, holding a cardboard sign, and had cultivated the most pathetic on his face. He could have won an Oscar out there.
I laughed at him, because I'm dead inside.

 

[Sephiroth]

it's a fucking industry in Pensacola, there's one guy who depending on how he's doing that week who breaks out a special-made wheelchair with prostetic nubs

 

[Gryffindorian]

They should all come to San Francisco and be a bunch of "street artists." They'd make more money that way.

 

[CaptainStoner]

it's a fucking industry in Pensacola, there's one guy who depending on how he's doing that week who breaks out a special-made wheelchair with prostetic nubs

It's nice to see the entrepreneurial spirit alive and well.

 

[Holdfast]

it's a fucking industry in Pensacola, there's one guy who depending on how he's doing that week who breaks out a special-made wheelchair with prostetic nubs

It's nice to see the entrepreneurial spirit alive and well.

No kidding. That's actually worth giving some loose change to.