Hey, this bitch is to the few of you who just keep walking and make the rude comments every single time you walk past me:
I already know that half of you won’t give me anything, but at least have the fucking decency to look my way or keep you fucking comments to yourself every once and awhile. Let me know that I am a human being just like everyone else. Or better yet – offer me a job! —FED UP!
This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2010.
This sounds as though it’s written by a pandhandler.
Nobody wants to up and give a dirty bum a job – you have no redeeming qualities over the 100 resumes they already have on their desks.
However, clean yourself up and GO GET a job = problem solved. McDonalds is hiring, Tim Hortons is hiring… Or are going to panhandle, holding out for a management position?
You need to MAKE YOUR OWN LIFE, instead of expecting HANDOUTS.
I will continue to walk by, ignoring your existence.
Also don’t refuse to work when it is offered. There is no fucking law that says I have to look at you or acknowledge you or anyone else for that matter.
And stop shaking your Tim’s cup.
Are you a panhandler? Where are you getting internets? Why are you on the internets bitching instead of working? Making me read unnecessary shite. F-ing clutter.
if you aren’t here, then you must be somewhere else, and if you are somewhere else, then how can anyone here see you or even acknowledge you exist, bit of a paradox, what.
You say “I already know half of you won’t give me anything”, as if they’re breaking a rule or expectation by not giving you money.
Many people (me included) give an amount of our hard-earned money to selected charities already. Many others don’t give money to guys and gals sitting on the sidewalk shaking a Tim’s cup at them.
Unless you have a disability that keeps you from working, I suggest a line of work that doesn’t offend your sensibilities so much.
Jeez. I have a disability and I work.
What’s your excuse?
And we know you’re a human being.
And also, why offer a guy shaking a coffee cup for change a job? Any job interview I’ve done unvolves wearing a shirt and tie, nice shoes, and going to the place of business and sitting through an interview. Never has someone walked up to me and offered me a job as I sat on the side of the road, begging for change. Strangely enough, I don’t know if that is what turns the cranks of potential employers.
Offer you a job? Go apply, it’s really not that difficult.
Oh, wait — you had mom and dad pay for everything back in the ‘burbs and haven’t got any work experience to put on the resume.
I saw one guy outside of shoppers just holding his hat out. Didn’t ask, didn’t shake a cup, just held his hat out and said nothing.
Talk about entitlement. Also, from the size of his gut, I doubt he’s starving.
And if you can find computer access, OP you can probably put together a resume. Maybe, instead of asking for money, ask for a pen so you can go fill out a mcdonald’s application….There are also places around the city that will help you put together a resume. Use some of your panhandled money to take the bus to one of them (maybe that job junction place on mumford?)
I give to the guys that are obviously hurting. The locals. The people I see year after year that obviously can’t function. You seasonal come-from-aways exploiting the kindness of Haligonians get nothing!
… and I usually give to them when they are not begging but scavenging. In the past, I have come to the point of looking longingly at food that people throw in the garbage myself. So I can see when a person is really struggling.
We need to start some kind of manufacturing and housing cooperative. I think I could build a safe and productive place for these people.
Do you know what welfare offers single men? Call them and ask. (It’s $240/month – tell me you can live on that – and find a job…).
There is no “social safety net” for men. It is a myth.
The same way that Bryony and Adsum Houses need to be many acre Campuses of Healing, similar facilities of rehabilitation and support need to be built for men.
We have to heal to wounds to move on as a people.
A young panhandler walked up to me yesterday on the waterfront. Just before he opened his mouth I said “I have no money for you.” Caught off guard, he asked “Could I bum a smoke off you?” Since I don’t smoke, I said “If I had some, I would gladly give you the box to accelerate your lung cancer and finally Halifax would be rid of you that much sooner.” Yes, I know, mean….but panhandlers are the the human version of infected pigeons.
Three levels of government are already skimming a big chunk of my salary, John Gotti style, for social programs to cosset wasters like you. So, quite frankly, I don’t owe you Jack Fucking Shit. Take your Olympian sense of entitlement, stuff it in your crack pipe, blaze up, and dream of the tragedy that is your life.
I don’t have to acknowledge you. I don’t acknowledge most of the people I pass on the street downtown, why should you get special treatment? Because you’ve had a rough life? Boo-fucking-hoo.
I don’t care what your “problems” are that somehow “justify” your laziness. Everyone has fucked up problems that they could use as excuses, but the difference between you and them is that they don’t use them as excuses. I know severely disabled people, people who’ve had addictions, people from bad homelives, people who are illiterate, people who have mental problems, even someone who was born into homelessness… at one point all of them picked themselves up and decided to suck it up, and work their asses off at making a living. Most of them make a better living than I do.
You can obviously read, write, and use a fucking computer, you’ve got a huge advantage already, so go and get yourself a job. No one is obligated to offer you a job. Why do you deserve a job offer that bypasses the application process? Do you expect everyone else to take care of you? How old are you, six? Take care of yourself! Everyone else does!
Being a bum in Canada is a fucking joke, this isn’t a third world country, there are dozens of organizations here that are designed to help you off the street, but none of them will do all the work for you, and none of them will seek you out. You have to find them and work at it, and Just like anything else worth working for in life; it sucks, it takes a long time, and it’s hard. If you’d rather choose the easy way that’s your choice, but no one’s obligated to be nice to you just because you’re content to be a poor self-pitying beggar.
And if you really are content with that, fine, but at the very least accept the consequences that comes with it and drop the annoying entitled attitude.
“being a bum in canada is a fucking joke” this sums up what my league were speaking of yesterday…mr. snoopy you rant well…truth is rawkin
How curious that a penniless arsehair has access to the internet.
I live downtown, and pass as many as a dozen panhandlers each day as I walk home from work (you’re not there when I walk to work, perhaps still sleeping?).
I used to make a point of looking my questioner in the eye and saying ‘sorry, no’ (I give to charities, not to individuals). But now I feel you are in my space like some telemarketer or spammer, or JW door knocker. LEAVE ME ALONE – its not too much to ask!
Thanks paingirl, but that’s Ms Snoopy 🙂
A few dollar here and there won’t help anyone, unless they are really going to use it for food and they are starving right at that moment. It isn’t all that easy to get a job especially if you don’t have a fixed address, but “offer me a job” is asking too much. Society is made to cater to those who can climb up the ladder themselves, not for those who need assistance.
Ugg bums make me so mad! Like someone previously stated, a lot of people have had horrible things happen to them in their lives, but they still work hard at life and become successful. You don’t. You don’t deserve the dirt from my shoes, and certainly not any of my words or money!!
Seriously why can’t you get a job? Working at McD’s too degrading? Don’t like people telling you what to do? You might as well just go drink bleach.
Has anyone seen that younger guy at the Windsor street exchange, who is always there with his cup? What is his deal!!? Its hard to say how old he is but he’s definitely under 40 and certainly doesn’t look unhealthy or disabled in anyway. In fact, I’ve seen him doing PUSH-UPS while waiting for the light to turn red again. Why the fuck can’t he go do some manual labor?! I hate him. He’ll trot between the stopped cars, holding out his cup with a smug look of entitlement on his face.
OB. Get off your ass and get a job yourself you lousy bum. Bottom line. I don’t give money to panhandlers. Too fucking many around.
OP, I come from a family that I’m fairly certain was the recipient of food drives and such when I was a child. I have three older brothers (who were always getting in trouble at school, with the law, etc.) and a younger sister (who’s had her fair share of issues as well). My parents are uneducated and did not graduate high school. We all had quite a rough life; emotionally, financially, etc.
However, I do not use any of this as an excuse, and I sure as hell don’t expect anyone to just hand me anything. Wouldn’t it be nice if people did? Instead of sitting around, hoping for people to just hand me a job or something, I worked hard in high school (I worked a part-time job while achieving good grades; most of the money I earned went to support myself for food and, in more desperate times, my parents’ financial woes), and got scholarships to university. As it stands now, I work TWO jobs while being a full-time student. During the summer, I never get a day off because if I’m not working at one job, I’m working at the other.
All that above is why I refuse to hand you money — specifically the younger ones. The younger ones are just leeches who likely still live at home and don’t need it. And I find it horrific knowing that you little bastards probably earn more money in one day of panhandling than I do in one day of legitimate work. Like others have said, we don’t HAVE to acknowledge you. There is no requirement, no law. I don’t owe you anything.
The most bizarre part of this bitch is that it seems well-written, and, well… it exists. You’re a panhandler with internet access? I’m sure it’s possible you might be using some internet cafe, but regardless… Put together a damn resume and a cover letter, have a shower, put on some decent clothes, and go apply for a job. No one’s going to come up to someone on the street and offer them a job.
How do you expect anyone to respect you if you put absolutely no effort into anything? There’s nothing admirable about that.
Do what my friend does. When he’s asked for spare change he simply asks, “for what?”
Then after the bum offers an explanation, friend takes money out of his pocket, skims it over and simply asks, “What are you planned to do for this?” He’s been told, “nothing,” by some before and others have done stuff.
My favourite was when he asked a bum to do a song and dance for him and the bum did. Then my friend gave him a quarter out of all the change he had. It was mean, hilarious, but when walking away he says, “Nothing’s free in this world. If you’re not prepared to work for it don’t ask.”
As for internet connections, anyone with a library card can use the computer for free. Also, friends with computers sometimes don’t mind sharing access.
That being said, there are ways for able-bodied, able-minded persons to get assistance that don’t involve begging money from strangers on the sidewalks or medians. The best way is self-help. As in, diligence in job-seeking. A guy in the UK recently got ahead. Instead of a sign begging for money he held one up begging for a job! It worked. He got hired that very morning while standing in the pouring rain with his sign. Begging for a job as opposed to for money seems a much better option for keeping one’s dignity more intact.
they’re always looking for crack ho’s 🙂
sell your fucking banjo and get a ticket back to Guelph, you useless turd.
actually I’m thinking like Oshawa 🙂
even better snoopy^^
Huh. The first bitch I’ve ever read from a bum. Usually they’re ABOUT bums. Get a job, and go away. No sympathy here… you can write, you obviously have your faculties – do something useful.
It’s hard to make eye contact with someone when they’re making me uncomfortable.
If you know how to use the internet, you can find a job.
I wonder if OP is one of those “Karma $0.25” idiots.
My money says he/she is one of those “At Least I’m Not Robbing You” shitstains.
There are two in particular that come into my work multiple times throughout the evening to get cups of water… and then one of them goes into our bathroom and apparently does drugs. My co-worker found remnants of pot and heroine and so on just after he had left our bathroom once.
Ivan: the ones you mentioned are the same stupid kids with the Karma sign. They’ll walk around the sidewalks on SGR flashing their stupid signs to anyone but not getting anything.
The “At least I’m not mugging/robbing you” is hilarious. Try mugging me, kid; I’ll make sure the sidewalk has your visage indented into it somehow.
The travelling schmucks get to me the most. If you’re travelling across the country, at least have the revenue to do so before moving. Not my responsiblity to make sure you get back to Vancouver or wherever.
Thanks Fat. I sorta figured they were and like you, nothing would give me greater joy than to see them try. After the Happy Parade I saw a bunch of frat-boys whipping those condom flavoured candies that were littering the streets at one of the Barrington regulars. He did not seem too appreciative about being acknowledged.
Maybe it’s time for a “Love the way we Bum” column, all bums contributing have to give a location and their drug of choice, plus any disabilities they might have or be able to fake, also list any musical instruments they have and/or pets that they use to garner sympathy. This will make it easier for when I come around with my WW2 Nazi gas bus and offer you sidewalk shitstains a free ride.
I’m on vacation and the relax button hasn’t fully kicked in yet.
I find it mind-boggling how much panhandlers bother some people. Is it really too much trouble to politely say “no,” if you don’t have money to give or don’t feel like giving?