Ok this bitch is going out to the three stooges at the Windsor Street exchange always begging for money. Stop fucking waving at people being all cheerful and shit while we all head to work, making money and a living the right way. I am not going to give away my hard earned money to you!
Oh and watch where you walk, hopefully a car doesn’t hit you!!! —A worker up the street
This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2015.
What a douche. You’re bitching about people being cheerful and waving. Do you really need those extra 25 cents sticking to the bottom of your cupholder? Probably not. So why not give it to those ‘three stooges’, because honestly, yes they’re not actually doing much work for the money, but if they’re willing to stand outside in this shitty weather in the middle of an intersection and be given shit by assholes like you all day, then they probably need the money more than you.
Hear! Hear!
Valid bitch. Maybe someone should give them shovels so they can help people who need it. Fucken lazy people.
Panhandlers are a real dilemma for me. On the one hand it’s not a big deal to toss a coin in the cup. On the other, I don’t want to encourage a self destructive lifestyle.
Years ago, there were far fewer and almost all were obvious alcoholics. However, one day a young clean cut looking guy appeared. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him so I would give him a few bucks every day. Then, one day while I was out for lunch, I spotted him plugging his money into a VLT machine and I realized my money was going to waste. Eventually the guy disappeared. Hopefully he got himself straightened out. But, I became very wary of who I gave money to.
Nowadays, I walk by the cadre of Spring Garden panhandlers every day. I sometimes hear them talk about their vices (drugs/alcohol/cigarettes). I see one of them buying scratch tickets. The clerks at the NSLC could tell you what certain ones buy every day.
So, now I find I am sceptical as to how much of the money goes towards actual necessities like food and shelter. I think if a person is concerned about the homeless, you can’t go wrong by giving to charities like Hope Cottage and The Sally Ann. You won’t get that little feel good moment from having “helped” an individual but at least you know where the money is going and that you are not killing someone with kindness.
Unfortunately it comes down to figuring out if they actually need a few bucks which can be difficult. If the panhandlers are carrying around all their personal belongings then maybe they need a helping hand and I’ll give them a toonie.
Also, musicians playing on the street. In my mind they are working so I don’t mind giving a buck or two.
“Living the right way” get off your high horse. Panhandling might not be the best way to live but just because you decided to live how you do that doesn’t make it the only right.
I feel sorry for the guy with the dog. Well, I feel sorry for the dog.
I can’t stand all those little summer punklets who show up every year after school’s out thinking that Haligonians have some obligation to give them money for “”travelling.”
“Weeeeeeeee! Look at Meeeeeeeeee! I’m a punk rocker just like my granddad was in London in 1975!!”
Ignorant little twerps. Should be back home in suburbia bumming money off their middle-class parents. (It’s the orthodontically-straightened teeth that betray your class origins, dearies.)
I remember a few years ago someone told me they had spoken with a couple of teens from Montreal. The kids said they had heard that people in Halifax were more generous to panhandlers so they had come to spend the summer here. Who knew?
The Midnight Greyhound to Fort McMurray runs every night.
All Abooooooaaaard!
The EggMeister’s earlier post has 36 likes–the most I’ve ever seen on here.
Do they still have The Bitchie Awards? Because I think that one wins.