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

[simpleyme]

Viriatha-wow that is quite a story ,I am afraid i would not take any home any more ,my DH had a business that needed unskilled labor and he would stop and try to hire the will work for food schemers ,they never would work! they would tell him to come back next week! one guy worked for an hour then my DH bought him groceries and wine

I do not respect grown men who beg along side the road, and I am sure they do not care they just go to the car behind me and collect their tax free money ;-)

but its nice that you and others do ,I give my charity to working people that's my soft spot,the working poor ;-)

[Viriatha]

To be honest, these days I'm not sure I would either. This was 20 years ago when it seemed safer -and- I was young and stupid (aka fearless lol). The only other charity I've ever given is to the Salvation Army. They have wonderful local homeless programs here.

[Fred333]

I have a stroy about the homeless... I use to live in a city that had a very bad homeless and the would literally come right up to your car at intersections. So I was riding with my boss one day and we had stopped at an intersection. A homeless guy came up to us and asked for some change. My boss turned to him and said How about I give you a job instead?. The homeless guy was shocked. My boss said it would not be strenuous work and there were little qualifications involved. My boss gave the guy his card and the home less never called or stopped by the office. I guess he liked being homeless.

[InDebtInDC]

As I aid above, most homeless people have untreated mental disorders, which probably led them to being homeless to begin with. There's no way to get statistics on them but that has been my experience.

[Marketiva]

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.

I think he wanted rather have money

[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]

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.