Do you give to beggars?

I do, and frequently, but I do try to determine "the genuine need". There are those who make a career out of it and rake in big $'s vs truly homeless, often mental illness vs addiction.

 

I'm a sucker if they have a pet, but I won't give cash usually.

When I think about my pets and how I would do anything for them and they would follow me into homeless if that is what happened, it breaks my heart. I carry dog and cat food in my car and will give out gift cards to pet supply stores. The ones that really love their pets are thankful. The scammers are obvious.

 

not very often.

I have worked 2 jobs nearly all of my life. I am not doing all of this suffering and sleep deprivation just to make someone else's life easier.
don't get me wrong, I am NOT cold hearted, I DO care. i have never enjoyed working, never did care for it actually. and I donate regularly to various charities.
if i only worked one job it would feel like a vacation.
i sometimes give in to the "beggars" a few bucks or a meal.
last time i was there i bought a kid breakfast, he gobbled it up, every crumb. he was high as a kite, i felt bad for him.
sometimes i use BOGO coupons to get a 2nd meal for the homeless, although some places don't want to allow you to do carry out with those coupons.

 

I agree 100% with those who say don't give money. If I'm moved to do so I might give food, but I'm so jaded and suspicious now adays that I don't often do that. There is just so much BS going on when it comes to beggars (those doing it for income, using money for booze or drugs, theft, etc.) that I almost never do anymore. I will however give to organizations that assist them and donate and shop at the charity thrift stores regularly. I will tell this story though:

A few years ago I had a 14 day Vegas trip that was half work and half vacation. We spent the work part of the trip at the Westin on Flamingo and for several days I walked to and from the Bally's monorail to get back and forth from the convention center. There was a homeless couple camped in the rocky area next to the sidewalk at the corner there I would cross flamingo and I just felt really bad for them because the sun was brutal. I saw them there morning and night for most of my stay. This wasn't one of the more traveled paths, they weren't begging, and I knew it must be awful there. We ended up spending the last couple of days at Delano and on our last day we had a good bit of water, Gatorade and non-perishable snacks left over. I can't remember if it was my wife's idea or mine, but I bagged it all up in reusable shopping bags that I'd gotten at the convention and schlepped it to the monorail and all the way to where that couple had been in hopes of giving it to them. They weren't there so I walked down Flamingo and down Koval a bit and found a pair of homeless men I'd also seen during that trip camping out behind one of the bus stops on Koval and gave it all to them. I let them know what we were leaving town and wanted to give it to them rather than toss it. They seemed genuinely moved and although I wasted a decent chunk of my last full day in Vegas I thought it was worth the effort especially since most of what I gave them were necessities like water and food.

My jaded opinion is that they say things like that because they know it will garner a few more donations.

THIS!! It really burns me to be hit up for money in the casino. It's just not safe to allow that element to be loitering about when I'm dealing with that much cash (because many of them are con men and not homeless). I know that's exactly why they do it but security should really work to keep the casinos free of beggars. I was at Margaritaville in Bossier City playing VP when some guy started playing on the machine beside me. He started getting a little chatty which was already annoying me because I wasn't in the mood to talk. He was asking about how to play the particular variant I was playing and I was giving answers just long enough to not be rude but short enough to be clear I wasn't interested in chatting. So after a few minutes he finally got around to making his plea and asking me for money and I gave him about the dirtiest look I could muster and told him in no uncertain terms that he needed to get the hell away from me. I'm pretty sure I was down quite a bit so he couldn't have picked a worse time to ask me THAT question.

I'm actually the opposite, I love my pets so much that I'm actually mad that they would subject their pets to the homeless lifestyle and also the jaded part of me thinks they have them around just to get more sympathy like that nasty cat lady who used to hang out on one of the pedestrian bridges on the strip.

 

Today my bride and I surprised the minions with a trip to a community pool/waterslide park a couple counties away.
As I was sitting poolside in a lounger soaking up some rays and watching my family frolic in the water, a couple of 8- or 9-year-olds came over to beg for five bucks to use at the snack bar.

I asked them if they'd asked their family. They said it was their mom's idea for them to ask around for the cash.
I didn't give them any cash, but I did share with them that Hawaii is the largest producer of bananas in the United States.

Breeze's fact-of-the-day thread keeps on giving!

RICHARD

 

Yes, it was Margaritaville casino where we were asked for money "to help a veteran get a meal".

 

Never

 

I have a criteria for them. i dont give to them if they ask. i will give them food or booze only. They wont put any money to good use so no need to give them cash. they will always like a beer or mcdouble though.

 

In general in my local vicinity, I won't give anything knowing we give to local charities throughout the year. In Vegas, we'll always give leftover food to a person in need (or one we deem in need), and like some on here, if we see a dog, it's all we can do not to hand everything over (but generally keep it contained to one a day, $5 here and there). Just something about seeing that poor dog sitting there, roasting, following their master down dark alley's...breaks our heart. Guess that's why we have 4 adopted fury babies to go with our 4 babies that talk back.

 

No cash. If I have food I don't want I will give it to them.

Too many scam artists nowadays so no cash anymore. Years ago I saw someone begging for money. He got some and went into the liquor store to buy a drink. After that I refuse to give money to beggars.

And like others I won't give to anyone on the medians or at intersections. Too much of a distraction.

 

I always like the old joke of: "2 business guys after a long day at a conference in Las Vegas are walking down the street looking for some fun and are approached by a pan-handler asking for money. The first guy takes control of the situation and sternly replies, "NO!" As they continue on their way, the second guy says, "Geeze, you were kinda harsh there." The first guy says, "Oh... he's just gonna use the money for booze and drugs." The second guy smiles and says. "well... whaddya ya think we're gonna use it for???"

 

Absolutely never!!

 

The challenge with giving beggars money is that you're conditioning behavior. Think about bird feeding, you keep feeding them and they'll just keep lingering around. I'm not equating birds to humans, but the logic applies: why would you search / try to get out of your situation if you're getting free money/food by sitting on the side of the street? Unfortunately, a lot of beggars have been manipulating people and ruined it for the rest of folks...

 

Mostly no. Almost always no. But on occasion I will.

Last month I was walking with my 13 year old son back to my hotel in Dallas after supper. We were stuffed and had a box with left overs. I had half thought during dinner of handing it off on the way back to the hotel. Though a man approached, and asked if I would give up the leftovers. I handed him the box. He gave a quick thank you and asked for some changed for a cold soda. "Um no, that's all I have tonight." Is what I told him. Which was true as I had handed my change off earlier that night.

Like I said typically it is no way, maybe because I was with my son on vacation, that I had a soft side.

 

a have little left after the gubment does it's confiscation.

 

I did on my trip to Vegas last month. A man introduced himself and said he was hungry. He looked very thin and weak and I believed him and gave him money to get a meal. I hadn't been back to Vegas in over 4 years, and I stayed DT and found it so depressing, though I used to enjoy it. So many obviously homeless people and others down on their luck. It made me so sad, I couldn't stop thinking of these people. I live in FL where there are a lot of homeless, which I help frequently, but I don't want to deal with this on vacation. Sorry if this sounds selfish.
I was so disappointed with this trip downtown, that I already booked a trip for Sept staying on the strip.

 

Totally agree with this.

 

I've never given anything to a beggar, except one time at the slots of fun, an underage, or possibly homeless kid asked me to order a drink from the CW for him, no chance i buy him a drink but since I wasn't paying, sure.

 

These are all Vegas experiences:

We stopped at an intersection where there were 2 homeless men sitting at an abandoned storefront and my brother-in-law offered them some leftover food from a Chinese restaurant we ate at. We always try to arrange the leftovers in a nice way instead of just slopping it in the containers and we ask for clean napkins and clean utensils in anticipation of giving the food away.

Anyway, when we offered them the food they said they don't want food they want money. My brother in law said "Guess you're out of luck, then" and we drove off.

One year while we were playing machines there was this older guy who struck up a conversation with us saying he missed his flight home and lost all his money gambling and if we could please help him out. My brother in law handed him $10 and he thanked him and slinked away.

One year later on our annual pilgrimage to Vegas my brother in law was playing and what do you know, this older guy strikes up a conversation with him telling his sad story of missing his flight and how he lost all his money gambling and could he please help him out...yada yada yada.... oblivious to the fact that he had hit on us a year earlier, of course a scammer who approaches thousands of people cannot possibly remember all the suckers he scammed. But my brother in law remembered him and called him out on it, making him feel like a low down piece of shit that he is.

Some people have no pride. At all.

I remember being cornered in the MSS bathroom by a nut job yelling "give me money! give me money!" I smiled and said no. He said "you don't have money?"

I said "I have money, but none for you..." He just stared at me. I stared back. He walked away.

He could have easily taken me, I believe. But sometimes I'm just so disgusted and fed up with this nonsense that I'm willing to take my chances.

 

I'm probably an a-hole but every time I see people asking for handouts (especially by freeway exits), it just pisses me off.. "will work for food" riiiiiight. I'd rather give money to a guy twirling those signs at the corner than those that just stand there waiting for handouts. It may not be much but at least it's an honest job. Giving them $ is just enabling them. I'm pretty sure I'm this bitter because I've lived through going paycheck by paycheck and had to work my ass off to not ever going through it again. Nothing comes easy. Nobody is owed anything. Britney said it best, "gotta work, bitch" hehehehe jk.