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To the guy begging for money on Spring Garden on Saturday, who yelled at me because I didn’t have change: get a job! This is MY money and I don’t have to give it to you. You keep insulting people and you’re going to find someone who doesn’t take it as well as I do.
This article appears in Apr 24-30, 2008.
15 Comments
I hear you MWE. In fact, I am looking forward to such people getting the reaction they deserve. SPARE change means change you can spare. I find it laughable that some of the homeless people who say they shouldn’t be criticized for “choosing” to be homeless still have the audacity to criticize people who don’t just hand their money over to them. For those who do not choose homelessness, but rather have it thrust upon them due to family, psychological, or personal issues – it is people like the man you speak of who make it even more difficult for those who need help to get it. That is why most people contribute to organizations like the United Way so they know their efforts are going toward food and shelter rather than supporting alcoholism, other drug issues, or those selfish enough to choose homelessness and take away from those truly in need.
I used to volunteer for a government subsidised day care centre, and united way might have contributed to the place as well: the teachers there let kids throw out foods (day in, day out). I talk to some of the teachers and staff about this, but most of them simply said I have to get used to it. I really can not, I mean, why can’t we just let the kids know that they could try whatever they wanted to, a spoonful. If they do not like it, spit it out. Instead of taking whole piece and discard most of them. I hear that people who save dogs and cats are having trouble finding foods. I am wondering how they feel regarding partnering with daycare centres. Daycare centres throw out buckets and buckets of foods daily. A daycare centre of 100 kids can easily feed 100 cats and dogs. Of course, I do not know whether the dogs and cats would mind. They have a say, too, :)!
Herb I agree with you on that one i guess my grandmother was right in waste not want not! Its a shame. But to the original poster I hear ya you look at some of these folks where they are reasonably healthy, get a job, my hubby has to work two jobs to help support us. If you have to deliver news papers, call centre etc. or better yet get your gr 12 education or GED. There is no excuse unless you really can’t work due to medical or mental disablilities!
Herb I agree with you on that one i guess my grandmother was right in waste not want not! Its a shame. But to the original poster I hear ya you look at some of these folks where they are reasonably healthy, get a job, my hubby has to work two jobs to help support us. If you have to deliver news papers, call centre etc. or better yet get your gr 12 education or GED. There is no excuse unless you really can’t work due to medical or mental disablilities!
Herb I agree with you on that one i guess my grandmother was right in waste not want not! Its a shame. But to the original poster I hear ya you look at some of these folks where they are reasonably healthy, get a job, my hubby has to work two jobs to help support us. If you have to deliver news papers, call centre etc. or better yet get your gr 12 education or GED. There is no excuse unless you really can’t work due to medical or mental disablilities!
If you don’t give anything to the little deaf-mute guy on Barringon Street between Prince and George, he’ll give you the finger behind your back. Nice.
Mace them in the face.
Look right through them, they hate that.
WTF?? How did Matt’s reply to Gimpysavior’s stupid suggestion of macing people in the face end up ahead?? Gimpysavior wrote his dumb suggestion first, Matt then replied. Maybe someone at The Coast needs a coffee!
I usually have my headphones on and give them a smile and a hi hows it going, just pretend like they’re saying hello and not begging for change…its awesome they look very confused and dont say anything else, not like i could hear them anyways. That or go fuck ur self buddy usually gets a pretty shocked look especially when u catch them on the way too and from work
as for the order of the posts i think gimpywhatevers clock is ahead a few hours as it says he posted at 214pm which is about an hour away…another thing about these bums I hate is that they, at least the ones on barrington street are no where to be found when its raining or snowing out not light snow or rain but when its really shitty out the are not there wtf, im on my way to work where the fuck are u…i bet they would make more on a day like that too…also i feel like the problem would fix it self if ppl stopped giving them money, we bitch about it but as a whole we enable them cause they know some stupid fuck is gunna cough up the change
It’s called magic…That or prefferential treatment…I think that it is just el nino…
Mace them in the face.
Sounds like the same jerk who told off another gentleman walking by on SGR, when he said ‘No’ the panhandler got lippy, but this guy wasn’t having any of that so he gave the lip right back…so they went at it right there in the street, knuckle for knuckle.The panhandler got a well deserved beating, you do NOT attack people or assault/harass them in ANY way, simply because they don’t feel obligated to hand over their hard earned cash.
OMG the so called panhandler actually attacked someone for not giving him money? I don’t think there are homeless people in Halifax. For some reason they all seem to vanish in winter and come back in the summer. Do they go down south in the winter? Honestly, I think i ran into 2 so called homeless people during the winter. That same guy that just mysteriously appears on weekends on SGR, and some other dude on some intersection. He’s always there. So really, if we have a homeless problem in this city, should we not see them around in winter. Yes that guy does get lippy on SGR, i don’t pay attention tho. You can’t get caught up in that and stoop to that level.