How do you handle agressive panhandlers?
In a lot of the areas I frequent, there's panhandlers all over the place. Some are a lot more hostile and annoying than others. Here's a few notable cases with me:
Incident #1: Guy asks for money. I reply "No" before he even finishes his sentence (his reasons are that he needs money for a bus ticket, that's been his reasons multiple times; there's an ATM a few steps away), because I know he is a fake homeless man and not worth my hard-earned money. He purposely asks people for money when he sees that they are in unoccupied areas. Talk about a sick one.
Result: dude gets pissed off and we nearly have a fist fight.
Incident #2: Another guy asks for money with similar reasons but this guy is a true a-hole even more than the other guy. He first asks for help, then when people refuse, he gets uncomfortably close to them and asks again. After he got uncomfortably close to me (after I said "sorry I can't help you", I said "get the f*** out my face".
Result: dude gets pissed off and yells at me.
I could've probably handled the first incident in a better way (I did have a really bad day that day though). But the second incident is unsettling. The guy gets close enough to smelling distance and doesn't back away. I was damn near close to punching him in the face, but I chose to walk away.
The sad fact is that a lot of these faux homeless people put the actually needy people in a bad light. I hate professional panhandlers.
How do you handle bums/panhandlers and all-around shady characters? Anyone have interesting stories pertaining to this?
6 Comments • Newest first
@BoredAF: I don't have time for that .
[quote=BoredAF]I wouldn't take his comments seriously. I don't think he gets out much.
Yeah bums can be annoying, but at least they aren't on welfare forcing a free handout from society. Giving them a few cents a week is much cheaper than if they were to go on welfare.[/quote]
Well the guys who were annoying me didn't look homeless. They might as well be on welfare and still choose to panhandle. How's that for our society?
[quote=mitarumetaro]...I'm like 92% sure that you are actually the aggressive one--not the panhandlers.[/quote]
You've probably never been to the bus stations I frequent. It almost felt like I had to be aggressive with them or else they wouldn't hesitate to take my money by force.
I wasn't aggressive with the first incident's bum. I simply told him "no". How was I the one being aggressive when he started calling me names just because I said NO.
The second incident I had to defend myself as he was getting too close. That would get under ANYONE'S skin. That guy was very aggressive.
@BoredAF: I see that sort of thing happen all the time. The same bums I mentioned only get under the skin of the people who look vulnerable at first or who "look" rich. It's pathetic.
Both wings of people who give elect to help or reject them, by large and far, don't actually engage with them. This is readily apparent.
Among the very few times I've had these encounters, I've just done the opposite by looking them dead in the eyes and telling them 1. I wouldn't help 2. I'll remember their face and 3. not to ask if we meet again.
Oh, obligatory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JPGyxh9ukE
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTAXUYLbFYk]sand your ground[/url]
...I'm like 92% sure that you are actually the aggressive one--not the panhandlers.