I tried to give a homeless man my nacho chips and he turned me down

[WhiteAl]

Some homeless ppl are far away from being poor and make quite a bit of money just from begging. I remember hearing of an extreme, but funny case.
A group wanted to interveiw a begger about his life,situation etc. and even offered him a few dollars in return for the little talk. He refused. "ok well, we'll give you 5 bucks then'. Still he refused. "10?' - Still rejected. "Whats up with you?" they asked, "whats wrong with our offer?"
It turned out that he had a reserved spot that he usually begged at, that was at a busy itersection of the city, and because of this, he made on average usually anywhere between $15 - to $20 dollars an hour. Only for begging!

[Sporkman]

Originally Posted by n_vizion

I felt really low when the homeless man opted not to eat my junk food. I decided that if the homeless man doesn't want it, then I shouldn't be eating it either.

Are you sure he wasn't just a professional panhandler who wasn't really hungry & homeless?

[mackybethsmommy]

There is a professional panhandler in a city close to where I live that makes 100k per year. There was an article on him in the paper. He works the busiest corners at the busiest times of the day and then goes home and relaxes for the rest of the evening. I find this horrible.
However I have met homeless people who were truly downtrodden. One man's family had been killed and he lost his mind and just wandered where ever the road led him. I met him at Burger King when the manager was screaming at him that he couldn't be in there. I then walked him up to the counter and told him to order what he wanted. He ordered a 2 for $2 cheese burger deal they had and I ordered him fries and a drink. I then walk him outside to the picnic area and told him to stay there and eat and ran home and got him a blanket and gave him a little cash. The look of gratefulness on his face and the tears in his eyes are something I will never forget.
Sometimes there are reasons behind the fact that people are homeless other than they just don't want to work or are lazy. They are still human beings and still deserve respect. It is my feeling that I can't ever distinguish between whether they are really in need or just scamming but I'm not going to miss 5 bucks and I'd rather give and maybe help someone than turn my back.