Beggars

AthlonTom · 13 Apr 2006 at 00:29

Theres a guy in birmingham who I regularly see gettig on my bus and asking other passengers for the fair, he has a very scruffy appearence etc but the £150 trainers are a bit of a give away, as is some of the stuff he wears - its old and worn but very good quality labels. One time I was in Telford getting the train back to Birmingham and he appeared on the platform and was tapping for money to get back to Birmingham, then I saw him in Peterborough Station on the Birmingham bound platform tapping again! He asked me for money and I confronted him about it and he said thats what he did for a living, he'll get on any train leaving Birmingham, scrape together the fair to the first stop on the line from what he got on the way to the station, and then just stay on the train past his stop till he gets to a big station, he spends all day there, then comes home again using the same method. He said when he first started doing it its cos he was pretty unemployable and had a habbit, now hes been doing it so long he has no shame or guilt - its just a job to him.

By this point he was kinda braggin and thankfully my train arrived. Cretin.

nealw · 13 Apr 2006 at 00:41

i was in manchester last week and you really cant walk 100m without getting pestered by

a) beggers
b) chuggers
c) the "any accidents in the last 3 years?" people
d) the "do you have 5 minutes to take a survey?" people

makes me so mad :mad:

Morlan · 13 Apr 2006 at 04:34

What are "chuggers"?

6thElement · 13 Apr 2006 at 04:42

Morlan said:
What are "chuggers"?

Glad it wasn't just me struggling with that one

Zip · 13 Apr 2006 at 04:50

Stiff_Cookie said:
In some states its not uncommon for a begger to walk around the corner, take of his bad jacket put on a nice coat and hop into a nice sports car to go to the club. People dont realise that there are a good amount of money to be made from begging.

So you say good money in begging ey???
I wonder if i rounded up all the beggers i could send them all out and start an enterprise

Sounds like a good buisness plan to me

wozzizname · 13 Apr 2006 at 07:22

Chuggers= charity muggers - those people who won't leave you alone in the high street until you've signed a direct debit to whatever charity they are representing that day...

KaHn · 13 Apr 2006 at 07:51

wozzizname said:
Chuggers= charity muggers - those people who won't leave you alone in the high street until you've signed a direct debit to whatever charity they are representing that day...

Ask them if they have any additional info on their charity, when they say "no but you can go to this website" or something along those line, agree that you will look into it but you are not idley funneling money into, what could be a charity which doesnt do much help.

Something like that always works.

KaHn

wnb · 13 Apr 2006 at 08:08

I don't give money to beggers never had never will, I also won't give money to ppl playing instuments for money never had and never will. Never heard of the term chuggers before but you got to be a total dumbass to give your dd details to a stranger in the street.

I live up in carlisle and i've rarely ever seen any beggers at the moment I don't think there are any. I know there was one guy a few years ago who was an alcholic who came from well to do family, he was disowned and lived his life drinking all day and begging for money but that lifestyle killed him.

We have a couple of ppl selling the big issue, they women looks like she's a romanian gypsy but as before I've never bought the big issue and never will.

Beggers should be kicked off the steet there is help if they need it, as far as i can tell they can make a lot of money from begging.

alexakasloth · 13 Apr 2006 at 08:39

Lagz said:
wont be 'one of the gang on the street' if you use it etc etc).

Haha, how do I get into this ultra cool gang

HumanShield · 13 Apr 2006 at 08:52

pyro said:
There's this dude outside Jackson's, my house is pretty much 2 mins walking to that place so I usualy buy whatever cheap stuff they have there. Now this beggar has been outside that place for 4 years, I see him two, maybe three times a day and every time he asks for change. He puts on this very puppy sad face "oh please please spare me some change".

No change for you, get a job you worthless piece of junk.

i remember that guy! i also remember seeing him one day dressed fully in new clothes, clean shaven getting into a car, so i dont know what happened to him that day! (it was def the same guy, as pyro says, he was outside jacksons, the main studenty shop in bradford, for years).

tenchi-fan · 13 Apr 2006 at 09:16

Morlan said:
I was walking down town on Saturday night (12ish) and there was child of about 7 or 8 sitting on O'Connell Bridge begging for change.. disgraceful.

Think I saw him outside carroll's shop... he was obviously sent out there by his dad or something. As I said, you're not doing *him* any favours by giving him money.

Arcade Fire · 13 Apr 2006 at 09:22

HEADRAT said:
There are beggars in Cambridge but I have a friend who is a Copper and he said not one of them is "homeless".

HEADRAT

Haha. Tell your friend who is a copper that he doesn't know what he's talking about - unless of course there are people consistently choosing to sleep on the streets at night instead of going home to their nice warm beds.

Lagz, there is a homeless shelter in Cambridge but I'm led to believe that it's not free - you have to pay a small amount to sleep there. I don't know how much it is though. There's also a scheme which, for instance, allows people carrying a homeless card to get two meals for the price of one at McDonalds. That's why you might see them buying food at McDonald's instead of wherever else you expect them to get food from.

Vonhelmet · 13 Apr 2006 at 12:49

I give them food, if I give them anything.

Arcade Fire · 13 Apr 2006 at 12:50

I give them a good kicking, if I give them anything.

Psypher5 · 13 Apr 2006 at 13:01

Had a woman come up to me in Birmingham other night, "I'm not a druggie or anything but can y.."

I just walk away.

Kol · 13 Apr 2006 at 13:07

vonhelmet said:
I give them food, if I give them anything.

I bought a tramp a pizza from Pizza Hut once in Notts. I don't know why, but he looked helpless and damn hungry. He asked me for money on the way in, but he stayed outside asking others. I decided the best thing I could do, rather than fund his habits, was to buy him some food.

To say he was shocked was an understatement. He was about to reel his spiel off about what he needed it for, btu it stopped him dead and he was chuffed to bits.

Yas786 · 13 Apr 2006 at 13:15

See a lot of beggars around my area but i never ever give them any money, i completely ignore them tbh. The way i see it is that if they got up off their arses and did something worthwhile then they wouldnt be in the state they are in. Its not like the govt doesnt help...why cant they sign on and find a job like the rest of us.

Please dont feed me the BS that they have no choice because as far as im concerned...they do have a choice but they decide to make the choice to beg.

tenchi-fan · 13 Apr 2006 at 13:16

Mikol said:
To say he was shocked was an understatement. He was about to reel his spiel off about what he needed it for, btu it stopped him dead and he was chuffed to bits.

So a tramp was "chuffed to bits". And because he doesn't have to buy food he can spend even more on drink... well done!!! All you did was wasted money on a warm, fuzzy feeling.

How much was the pizza you give to the bum to stuff his face with? £5?

That probably would have fed several people at a soup kitchen - and some of those people might genuinely be trying to turn their life around. All you can be sure of is keeping your beggar friend on the street, knowing that eventually some sucker will walk past and give him either a few quid or a few morsels of food.

TDK · 13 Apr 2006 at 13:21

There used to be a beggar hanging oustide a waitrose store couple of years ago. They kicked him out once they found he was making more than the staff, 30,000 per year :eek:

Kol · 13 Apr 2006 at 13:21

tenchi-fan said:
So a tramp was "chuffed to bits". And because he doesn't have to buy food he can spend even more on drink... well done!!! All you did was wasted money on a warm, fuzzy feeling.

How much was the pizza you give to the bum to stuff his face with? £5?

That probably would have fed several people at a soup kitchen - and some of those people might genuinely be trying to turn their life around. All you can be sure of is keeping your beggar friend on the street, knowing that eventually some sucker will walk past and give him either a few quid or a few morsels of food.

Tell me where the food kitchen in Nottingham is then? He wasn't your run of the mill tramp by any means, he was a frail old man.

Don't get me wrong, the tramps infuriate me and I'm constantly whinging about their presence, but during the height of winter, with no form of protection from the elements, he needed something to keep him warm, and why should I go out of my way to go and spend the money I could have spent on the pizza somewhere else?... I don't care what people think, I wasn't doing it for my self, merely just for him. Go ahead, look at it in a negative way. It's not going to bother me in the slightest.