This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
It’s Getting Worse….
Between Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road, while on lunch, I encountered, at least, seven or eight bums looking for loot. The jig is up, you lazy bastards, I wouldn’t give you a smell of two cents let alone one penny of my own money. I cannot
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I had some stumbling drunk guy (still drunk from the night before) ask me at 9 AM this morning where the nearest liquor store was! Christ, you are really pathetic if you’re an alcoholic bum and don’t even know where the liquor store is!!! Of course, I told him where it was.
I totally agree! I’m getting friggin’ tired of people trying to get my money everywhere I go. On the waterfront it seems like everyone and their dog is singing, dancing or holding a stupid cardboard sign. At least some folks are showing an effort anyway unlike the beggers who hold a bloddy sign. How friggin’ lazy is that!?
Saw that blonde with the bad dye job in from of Timmmy H’s on Barrington Street this morning, screaming sarcastically “HAVE A NICE DAY!!!!” at everyone who passed her by and didn’t contribute their shekels. You know that really makes me want to hand over my hard-earned change to that lazy bimbo.
I agree. I always feel uncomfortable when approaching these people. What do you say? Do you make eye contact? I’m not trying to be rude, and I have been in “bad times” myself, if you need money, you get a job. The beggers are there, getting away with it because people are obviously giving them money. I have seen the same guy working the intersection by the Halifax Shopping Center for years now, that is his job. He probably does make more than me. I work at a tourist bureau, I don’t like how they make our visitors uncomfortable, and guilty. They make Halifax look bad, and you can probably bet the money is going to their smokes, drugs, alcohol, coffee, or to feed one of their poor dogs. Clean up you lives people and get some self respect.
Yesterday on Morris I had a homeless woman approach me with “Ma’am, maybe you can help me… I just need a toonie or a loonie..” “Sorry”, I said. She then proceeded to scream, “For Christs sake!” in the street. What did she expect? “Oh, I’m sorry for your unfortunate lifestyle”, I should have replied. “Here take my tips from my job that I’m just coming home from. No, wait, that’s not enough, take the clothes off my back and my Visa while you’re at it. And have fun!”
i read a sign while waiting at the windor st exchange it read ” HUNGRY- PLS SPARE SOME CHANGE ” i looked to my right, where on the seat next to me was my lunch which never got eaten, i opened it and have the guy my sandwich.. he looked at me.. looked at the sandwich and i drove off.. he just stood there.. probibly thinking.. how am i going to buy drugs.alcohol.smokes with this??
i read a sign while waiting at the windor st exchange it read ” HUNGRY- PLS SPARE SOME CHANGE ” i looked to my right, where on the seat next to me was my lunch which never got eaten, i opened it and have the guy my sandwich.. he looked at me.. looked at the sandwich and i drove off.. he just stood there.. probibly thinking.. how am i going to buy drugs.alcohol.smokes with this??
What is wrong with this stupid city? Why don’t they have the balls to stop this shit? If the cop shop can clean up Pizza Corner, why can’t they sweep these bums off our street corners? Oh, I forgot – the advocates for the poor will be right down their bloody throats, screaming blue bloody murder. Too bad there’s a bunch of pussies running this burg.
I remember a time when there was never a so-called bum in sight. You never saw a poor person digging through the garbage for empty bottles, and it would have been a shock to see a bedraggled person pushing a shopping cart full of cans to the recyclers. What do all you sanctimonious ppl think happened to create the social disaster we have on our hands today? What happened is that politicians came into power whose basic philosophy was that ppl could fend for themselves, and the weak would be left to die on the street. What you hate about those beggars so much is that they make you feel uncomfortable and vulnerable. You should feel uncomfortable at the sight of these ppl who you regard as children of a lessor god. And it’s no wonder that these street ppl have an attitude — are YOU the only person who is entitled to an attitude? In fact, you deserve to encounter dozens of beggars on a daily basis. Maybe when things were going their way one of those beggars you hate so much donated blood to the Red Cross which saved a relative of yours who was in surgery. Would one of you motherfuckers turn down a pint of blood from a homeless person if it was the only thing that could save your life?
The beggers do not bother me like they use to. In fact if a feel like it I ‘may’ hand a guy a bit of change, or I just keep walking. Avoid eye contact (sometimes this works) or on a couple of occasions when I was asked for some change, I replied by saying, “I was just going to ask you the same thing!”
By both tax and social definitions, I am a poor person – I live well under the poverty line and there are weeks when I eat whatever sketchy crap is left in the fridge because there is about $1.30 left in my bank account. I work two jobs to make ends meet (barely), and yes it sucks. BUT, I also manage not to be out on the street bumming cash from people who pass by. Yeah it sucks being poor, but expecting an effort from people is not “poor bashing”. I work my ass off for the money I make, and I don’t see why it’s not OK to be critical of those who don’t even try.I don’t appreciate being approached for money by people I later see going up to the citadel with their other panhandling friends and a case of beer, or by one particular woman who I see on the bus system with her mp3 player and her monthly bus pass (something I can’t even afford). She’s a regular on spring garden, and she’s always heading to the mall to do some shopping when I see her on the bus. All I can say to that is WTF? So, mr/ms “hate poor bashers”, if I can scrape by with some dignity, they can too. There ARE resources out there for them, to help them get a start – why the hell aren’t they using them? Maybe because it’s more lucrative to live off other people’s efforts.
I used to give change to bums, untill I relized what they were using the money for, booze, smokes and drugs. I quit smoking (cold turkey) because I could not afford it, and I have a full time job that pays better than minimum wage. but I still get bummed for smokes. I don’t hate poor ppl, I hate ppl who refuse to do anything to EARN money. If I see anyone sitting on their asses bumming money, I will not even acknoledge their existance. take responsibility for yourself, don’t throw it at me.
To hate poor bashers: I say fuck em….tired of em….lock them up!!!
Oh, piss off, you tree huggin’ jerkwad. These people are leeches. If they want shelter, all they have to do is sober up for long enough to be allowed in. I work for a living and damn hard, I might add. I refuse to hand over my money to people who wear better f*cking footwear than I do.So, ‘Hate Poor Bashers’, why don’t you open your residence to these poor victims? Yeah, I thought so.
oh yeah….almost forgot, I had one of these guys approach one day looking for change for the bus, only to later see him buying scratch tickets in Sievart’s on Barrington Street….
I refuse to give money to any of them as I don’t have much myself to spare. But I will offer my lunch as I know there is a meal waiting for me at home. Most times it gets turned down. I agree, if you were so hungry, you would have ate the sandwich.
Yes indeed, this is a huge peeve to me. Especially the ones that get pissed off when you don’t give the money, or look at you as if to say ” cheap bastard” I know people go thru strggles & I cant even imagine what it would be like to live on th streets, but I think I would want to not do it anymore. Bumming money for 12hrs a day 7 days a week, seems like more of a pain in the ass than actually working a job. The next fucking bum that gives me that look…….Punch in the FaceRC
These replies prove that it’s cool to be cruel these days.
You are such a bleeding heart twit. Why should hard working people get ripped off by these lazy dredges of humanity???Heaven helps those who help themselves.
While I agree with most here that the beggging bandwagon has expaned and there are more beggars than usual on the streets, I am sure there are others who are genuine. The one guy who collects recyclables using a shopping cart with his dog in tow is a person who is unemployable. He works damned hard for his money. It’s not very hard to distinguish the REAL needy from the bandwagoneers (who are dispicable opportunists). Some people have criminal records and cannot even get a job in retail. Others are mentally challenged and are unemployable. The phonies are not hard to recognize. They’re the ones with the $100+ sneakers that only come out in the fine weather. Perhaps if the government hadn’t axed all mental health facilities to death some 30 yrs. ago, there would be no need for people with genuine mental health problems to beg in the streets.
I don’t mind the people with the shopping carts collecting recyclables (at least they are entrepreneurial) or those who are obviously mentally ill. They have NOWHERE to go thanks to our “community based” mental health care “system” (I use that word lightly). I DO mind the 19 year olds who seem to have chosen this particular lifestyle without giving good, honest WORK a chance. In fact, one guy asked me for change one day, and he looked pretty clean. Knowing I had a basement to clean out before moving houses, I told him I could pay him $50 for a day’s worth of his time. He yelled “fuck you, just give me the money!” I keep praying this is some kind of cruel sociology project, but in the meantime, I avoid Spring Garden Road like the plague.
Try this, I tell them I’m in debt and unless they have a Mortgage, are most likely better off financially them I am. That leaves them stumped
I’d like to ask the two following questions1. how do you know so much about these street people when you don’t take the time to talk to them? 2. why should a person with a criminal record be denied a job when they have finished their sentence and paid their debt to society?
I used to give a shit about “the beggars” of the city, I have nothing against the homeless, but the lying, thieving “beggars” in this city are out of control. Fuck, the same girl spent 5 days a week, all afternoon long making a killing begging at the Windsor exchange. She did it for 2.5 years, I saw her EVERY DAY on my way home. Every week brought a new sign for us car drivers to read about her sad reasons for needing our hard earned money: a trip to BC, going back to school, trying to get home to a funeral, and her panhandling fines!!! Yet there she was, pnahandling!! Fuck, I’m sure she made more in one afternoon than I do in a week, maybe two!