Years ago, I tried giving a homeless guy an unopened chicken sandwich I had just got from Burger King. I got two for the price of one, and I didn’t want to eat the other one because I was already pretty full.
So I walked out of the restaurant still holding it, thinking I should find a trash can for it. Then a homeless guy came up to me saying he was so hungry. So I thought “well this kills two birds with one stone!” and offered it to him.
He seemed very unhappy and asked if I had money instead. He took the sandwich begrudgingly. Hmmmmm, it was almost like he was lying about being hungry and actually wanted money to buy drugs or something.
ETA: Tell an honest story in a post that explicitly asks for similar stories. And people get upset. Okay then.
I don’t like these stories. We have to hear one every time a similar situation gets posted.
I bought breakfast for a couple homeless dudes. Gave it to them. No “thanks” for my effort. They grumpily asked me why I didn’t get them coffee, too. Pissed me off as I wasn’t exactly making a lot of money at the time and the purchase wasn’t cheap. Sometimes people are assholes. That’s all there is to it. Plenty of homeless I’ve given a buck and they said “Thanks.” At a previous job a coworker would take packaged foods that were going to be discarded and give them to homeless at the end of the day. Some didn’t want the food and wanted money, others were happy to have it. IMO they do prefer cash so they can buy what they want or need, and don’t have to worry about whether someone put anything bad in the food or if it’s spoiled. I think it’s justifiably surprising if someone says they’re hungry and yet reject your food offering and demand money instead.
I’m not upset at your story, I’m upset at you being judgemental toward unhoused persons. There are a lot of people out there when an unhoused person asks for money just refuse to give it because they think they are going by drugs with it (which, yeah, they might), so many unhoused persons have to resort to giving an excuse they think you might be responsive to. You have no idea what they need the money for. Maybe its to get a cheap phone so they have a way to contact someone if thry need help. Maybe they need a hair cut for a job interview. Maybe its for drugs. The thing is, you should give a person the help they ask for and not what you think they need, in my opinion. You are not their parent and what they do with what they ask for is not your business.
It absolutely is my business what a person wants to do with money they’re begging me for.
Honestly I disagree, it absolutely is not. If you don’t want to part with your money, don’t give it, but you are not paying for a service. You are are not entitled to what another person does with the money you give them. Do you want the company you work for to start telling you want yiu can do with the money they pay you? Or is it your money to do with what you want once it is given to you?
What is your justification for why they owe you an explanation?
Meaning he probably wasn’t homeless and was just a beggar. I’ve seen plenty of those sorts in my hometown.
When I was a teenager I used to hang out with the beggars at the major train station in town when I was travelling around to kill time. I bought hot dogs from the cart for a few of them and they thanked me and ate with me, but said they had plenty to eat. Apparently they rented an apartment together in cash with the proceeds of their begging. They weren’t living large, they just didn’t want to or couldn’t work a regular job. I don’t regret spending time with them and hearing their stories, and they wouldn’t take my money because I was just a kid.
Similar experience. A homeless guy ambushed me at the drive thru asking for money to buy a burger. I told him I’d buy him a combo and he said no, only cash. I gave him the money because I honestly don’t care how he spends it, but why ask for a burger at a Burger King of all places if you don’t actually want a burger? Now I’m stuck pretending like I’m some gullible idiot to spare him his dignity when he could have just asked for money.
I was getting Carl’s Jr and a dude hanging around there stopped me and asked if he could have some food. So I bought a couple meals and the person at the drive-thru window asked if he had bothered me. I said no and handed the homeless guy his food before I drove away. He was appreciative and said thank you. I guess you just never know… 🤷♂️
It happens.
Here’s a happier tale to balance the vibe.
When traveling with my family, we often stop for a light meal midway to break up the monotony of the trip.
One time we stopped at a place we don’t care for the food, and bought a particularly light meal to settle our stomachs for the remaining minutes on the way to our favorite food stop.
Toward the end of our quick stop, a stranger offered my oldest an unopened burger from his own meal that he wasn’t going to finish.
I think he probably noticed our order was on the small side and maybe worried whether my oldest got enough to eat.
My kid was fine, of course, he got as much as he wanted and knew we were stopping soon somewhere he liked better.
But that guy’s compassion stuck with me.
So now there’s a line item in my budget for donations to a local food shelter. My intent is to always maintain that recurring donation, in honor of that guy’s compassion.
I don’t get it
Blue shirt guy is holding a can of spray paint. You’re supposed to think they’re going to harass the homeless guy with it, but they bought him food instead.
Oh ok
Where I live people don’t harass homelesses with spray paint
Cultural differences I suppose
These particular characters have deliberately been given stereotypical mannerisms that lead the reader to think that they are the kind of people who would act in such a way. The joke then ends up being on the reader because it turns out that they could not have read these characters and their intentions any more wrong, and illustrates the folly of stereotypes.
If your culture does not have this particular stereotype then I can see how this was lost on you.
I shared food with beggars on various times
First time I was like 11 years old, shared a sandwich, they got annoyed and throw the food back at me
Second time I was 20 something. Shared a full lasagna aluminum foil plate and bro threw it to the ground
One time before COVID hit, here in Argentina. I shared a sandwich and the man went into an insane rant about how the immigrants owed him money because they took their jobs.
Last time I saw a poor old lady tucked in a corner near a street. I brought her some shows socks and food. She appreciated it a lot. Almost went crying when i brought her about 20 USD worth of supplies.
I believe I have learned my lesson to not share anemonemore with dudes.
Yes, I’ve painted bicycles a few times. The first one, a '90s rigid MTB I was building up to be my “daily driver” utility bike, I took the frame to be professionally powder coated, which obviously worked great. The second one, a tandem, I spray-painted myself, which also worked fine but I haven’t really ridden it so can’t speak to the durability over time. Most recently, I tried spraying a frame with plasti-dip because I wanted it to be removable, but it turned out a little too removable: it didn’t hold up to being clamped in my work stand, so now I’ve got to re-do that tube.
I don’t know this guy, so this is just based off what you wrote and might be wholly unfounded. To be clear, I also don’t think you should set yourself on fire to keep anyone else warm.
I got a little hyper focused while writing this, so tl;dr: I get why he would lash out in that circumstance, which is why we need a social welfare system.
Having a bad reaction to cheese when you don’t have a safe, dependable, and clean bathroom sounds awful. Even if he doesn’t currently have lactose intolerance, he could easily develop it at any time if his dairy intake becomes inconsistent. Or maybe he just hates cheese (or tb cheese). I was a waiter for years and about 20% of people who likely aren’t homeless and who have plenty of options for food are rude when they get food with an ingredient they don’t like. If his ability to feed himself outside of those tacos was small, it could absolutely wear on him to constantly get a strong taste or weird texture he hates.
I also totally understand him getting annoyed and shitty about people skateboarding late where he sleeps. He’ll probably wake with the dawn, so if people are skating at 11pm throughout the summer, that’s going to cause awful sleep (compounding all the other factors that cause people to get worse sleep outside in public). Sure, it’s not his house, but just because he doesn’t have a legal place to live, doesn’t mean that he no longer has the need for quiet and safety. I’m not excusing actively chasing people away from a public area, but I do understand what might have led him to do it.
My sympathy with the rides bit depends on what his access to other transportation is/how far spread out needed services are. If there’s lots of free or very cheap options for getting places or there’s a grocery store, place to get mail, laundromat, bathroom services, and a place for him to register and receive support within walking/skating distance, then yeah, it’s a dick move. If not, he was still being rude, but I can empathize. I empathize when customers at my bakery are rude because they don’t understand the bathroom code, and that’s probably much less of an emergency situation for them.
People are generally rude when they have an unmet need and those around them could easily help with that need. It’s not productive or prosocial, but it’s pretty predictable. Most of the time, it’s directed towards service workers or really close relationships (my dad’s a bear before breakfast, which most of his acquaintances or more casual friends probably don’t know, for example). It only really gets directed at those in our larger acquaintance circles when something catastrophic happens in our lives, like the onset of a terminal/chronic illness, becoming disabled, the loss of a loved one, or losing a home or financial security.
I’m not at all saying that people should subject themselves to abuse because someone else is in an emergency. In fact, I think that tendency is one of the main reasons we should create stable welfare and medical systems(second to the moral imperative I believe we as a social species have to do what we can for others). That way, we don’t have to come to the point of aggression caused by desperation.