<p>Hobo asks you for change, what you do?</p>
<p>Do most bums buy drugs/alcohol/cigarettes or food/necessary living materials?</p>
<p>I feel like some of them aren't even real bums, but why would you waste your day begging for change?</p>
<p>I ignore and walk away.</p>
<p>Ignore and walk. Some really aren’t bums. They’re just hs kids hanging out in the streets (sounds silly, but really). Don’t even give them money. If you really want to make a donation, give it straight to the charities that help the hobos, not to hobos themselves.</p>
<p>Assuming that they aren’t mentally ill or disabled, why the heck would you ask for money all day on the streets; it’s very uncomfortable!?!</p>
<p>That makes me feel bad for them, but I guess people can thrive on very little…</p>
<p>“Assuming that they aren’t mentally ill or disabled, why the heck would you ask for money all day on the streets; it’s very uncomfortable!?!”</p>
<p>Homeless people, because of their lack of accommodation, documents, bad smell, etc, have big difficulties getting hired for any kind of legal work. Besides, many of them <em>are</em> somewhat disturbed - many have just had their homes foreclosed, etc. I would guess the majority of them are “genuine”.</p>
<p>That said, I don’t give any money. Not one of my problems - of which I have no shortage of myself.</p>
<p>“I feel like some of them aren’t even real bums, but why would you waste your day begging for change?”</p>
<p>Exactly. You have to be pretty desperate to get to that stage.</p>
<p>Why is everyone so negative towards homeless people? As if they don’t have enough problems to deal with. I always give homeless people money if I have some with me. I did a project about them and learned that 90% are mentally ill. It’s important to realize that mental illness isn’t a choice; it’s the produce of genetic vulnerability to the condition and environmental influences. Furthermore, our society tries to pretend mental illness doesn’t exist because the thought of it is just “too scary”. Speaking of it is “taboo”. That shouldn’t stop us from donating some change to them if we can. It’s not as if we’re asking them to stay in our homes.</p>
<p>That being said, yes, many of them do waste their money on drugs and booze. However, realistically speaking, if any of us were in their position and have been homeless for a long time we would probably do the same.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you’re trying to get at. So we fund their drugs/booze and what happens next? Oh right. They **** on the sidewalk and yell insults at you if you don’t give them money.</p>
<p>I’d agree with yankeedoodle, it’s not always like it’s a “choice” for them to be begging for money, they may just be cognitively wired in a different way and can’t function with all the societal norms. I’m not sure I’d agree with the last part (we’d all spend it on drugs or alcohol), but we can’t assume really what they spend the money on. I can’t imagine living with out all the conveniences that we do day after day (food, shelter, warmth), and it wouldn’t kill us to give them our spare change.</p>
<p>It’s interesting to think about how people automatically ignore and walk past them, almost as if they don’t even exist. Are we trying to suppress of some negative images or thoughts of homelessness, that makes us really uncomfortable? Or is it just to reduce any interactions that might threaten our safety?</p>
<p>It depends. I don’t have a ton of money myself (ha! big understatement!) but I can usually figure out if someone is in serious need vs. just trying to avoid work. There’s a lot of people suffering out there, not because they’re on drugs or mentally challenged and such, and I try in a split second to step into their shoes and sort of what’s the real deal. I figure even though I don’t have a lot, what if that person were me and just fell on really hard times? Maybe even with a little change I can make a difference. I just follow my gut.</p>
<p>I agree with Beatchick. Just trust your instincts. Sometimes the situation just depends on who you meet. I think the reason why most people shun and ignore the homeless is because we are afraid of them, because we view them as outcasts. I try to help out the ones who are genuinely out in the streets from hardships, but at the same time I can’t help but speculate on the ones who try to simply to use us for funds. </p>
<p>I don’t know, quite frankly. My view on homelessness radically changed when I got to Berkeley. From where I come from, there are homeless people, but I would have to say the ones from Berkeley are more communicative. This one time, I had just walked out of a restaurant in the Durant food court, and out of no where, this homeless person came up to me from behind in the diagonal. I didn’t even see her. She asked for money, and when I said I didn’t have any left (I really didn’t), she kept coming closer to me, and every time I tried to walk away, she would cut me off. I got really scared, because she kept breaking my bubble. Then, it got really weird when she told me to go to the ATM and give her money, so finally, I kind of just darted away from her. Scary, and probably not the best move on my part, but it’s just these kinds of situations that make you think about the homeless people. Personally, I would help out by donating to a charity organization because they would know how to distribute the funds to the needy.</p>
<p>That’s my problem with hobos at Berkeley. Attempting to force people to give them money (I’ve had a similar experience too Spontaneity…the guy just kept following me until I told straight up told him to leave me alone and he just called me some names and walked away)? Yelling insults at me? I don’t care if you’re mentally ill. You’re not gonna show me respect, then I don’t have to give you jack squat. Not gonna lie, the only hobo I ever consistently donate to is the one that sings Help a friend.</p>
<p>I’ve given once and wanted to about twice. The once was largely because of the civility and good humor of the request; the other two were because the signs they were using were creative and made me laugh.</p>
<p>Basically, it comes down to:
- If you’ve got the balls to walk up in a nonthreatening manner and ask me, and the manners to do it nicely, I’m fine with it because…well, I don’t have a real justification on this one. Demonstrating that manners exist without respect to economic situation, perhaps?
- If your method of asking brightens my day (e.g. the sign “I’ll bet you $1 that / you read to the end of this sign”), I’ll at the very least want to give on the basis that I’ve been provided with an effective service. It’s not one I asked for, so on some level this is faulty reasoning, but I can spare a dollar for the very rare occasions on which this applies.</p>
<p>I agree with the personal safety thing, though. I’ve been fairly paranoid for most of my life and tend to be pretty active in analyzing the risks of a given path, and I’ve had reason to consider that a good thing about five times this semester versus once for all of high school.</p>
<p>At my school, at Christmas time we participate in the Family Giving Tree project and all one man wanted was a sleeping bag. </p>
<p>I’ve also seen many creative homeless people. One time I met a homeless man who was the most beautiful singer I had ever heard. Most that I have seen were very gracious.</p>
<p>It’s just sad. This one man sits on the corner of the street holding up a cardboard sign that reads “Living with AIDS. Please help.” </p>
<p>Most of the time you can tell who is legitimately homeless. However, if you can’t there’s no need to donate $20. Just a little change.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that we would ALL buy drugs with donated money. However, it’s important to note that many of these people feel hopeless about their situations and after turning to drugs a few times can turn into addicts. Combined with their mental illness, this whips up a recipe for disaster, one that they cannot control.</p>
<p>Never again. I gave a homeless woman $5, she looked at the bill, looked up and asked if she could have $10 instead.</p>
<p>I decided to buy food for a homeless person when he asked me for money. When I came back with the food, he refused it and threw it away.</p>
<p>I know I’m not giving money anymore. If they don’t want to buy food, then what do they want?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Beer and/or prostitutes.</p>
<p>Berkeley needs to clean its **** up.</p>
<p>I’m surprised such a large fraction of the posters here have given change to the hobos. I have not and will never give random money to hobos on the streets for two reasons:</p>
<p>a) personal safety at that specific moment. There’s a small chance that the hobo will get belligerent and demand more money (ie, I feel like they sense an opportunity and might get aggressive if they see you even reaching into a wallet/purse).
b) encourages them to continue asking for money on the streets. There are some people that seem to be young and are just sitting there doing nothing everyday when they look capable of doing some type of work.</p>
<p>The most effective way of getting money I’ve ever seen was in Shanghai, on the subway- it wasn’t crowded but there was still people around. He had a kid on his back, and he didn’t say anything, just bowed more than halfway down repeatedly to each and every person. He got money from almost every person he passed.</p>
<p>Actually the most effective thing I’ve ever heard was someone throwing a “baby” at a person and then stealing the catcher’s wallet.</p>