blonde poker forum

And what is your reason for doing so/not doing so?

I used to have one stance on the topic, now I'm quite conflicted about it.

How much do you want?

Given a few in Vegas some food, and others a few bucks.

Used to chuck the Big Issue sellers in town a fiver when I saw them.

I don't in large part because i don't know if the individuals are genuine or not. seen  a lot of scam artists posing as such over the years

as i have got older my view on this has weakened and i feel guiltier for not doing so

If someone's willing to sit on the floor in the freezing cold to scam me out of a quid they are welcome to it.

I never used to give money as always felt that it was going to be used on alcohol so instead would go and buy them some food and or a takeaway meal.

Definitely believe there are more scammers these days though and the other day was walking back from the school run and pointed out a guy I saw 2 days earlier in Southend town who looked disheveled that day but this day he was strolling to his pitch in Leigh on sea with washed hair looking smart with new trainers on and sat down covering his shoes with a neatly rolled sleeping bag and put his cup down.

Petra commented that he looked like he had just come straight from home which he probably had!

I would still today buy some food and a hot drink though for people who look genuinely down on their luck.

Used to almost never do it.

My mindset was 'they'll only spend it on drink or drugs'.

Nowadays I'd much rather buy them something myself, be it a sandwich or a burger etc.

When I'm in Thailand I always give money to people I can tell are genuine.

The one I used to be a bit torn over was when I was out at night and kids would come round selling flowers. I would be in a complex of bars and no kid should have been out at night at that time in such a place imo. I didn't like the fact their parents are ferrying them round from bar to bar but still found myself sometimes handing money to the polite ones. I then decided it's much better to buy the kid a cola or a lollypop rather than give money which would go to parents probably too lazy to work themselves.

Cheers mate. Will make the effort to see you in Edinburgh next week now I've read that last paragraph 👍

I'm interested in this theme of "I don't want them to spend the money on x,y or z"

I mean your not giving the money to a child, there circumstances have meant they now have to live on the streets, ofc it's better that you choose to buy something for them rather than not give but personally I decide how much I can spare to give them and then, considering how down on there luck they are, they can go spend my money on whatever they like. I'd really prefer it not to be going towards there next hit but since the amount I give them sadly isn't going to change there situation I'll leave that decision to them.

Also think people should maybe reconsider there approach of seeing someone is homeless on the street and automatically assuming they probably have a drink or drugs problem, tons of different reasons how someone could end up on the streets.

6 bet jamming 82ss doesnt make you genuinely down on your luck.

I assume you have starved the family in readiness for my most -EV trip of the year?

a mate said this to me on a night out after i gave some money to a tracksuited-up lad asking for spare change in liverpool.

we were on our way to house-music night with enough class A drugs in our pockets to keep pete doherty happy for a weekend.

oh, the ironing...

I sometimes give a couple of quid to what I think are genuine cases, but only if they look old and feeble.

I usually offer the young ones a tenner for an hours gardening work. I've never been taken up on it yet.

Never give to people who just come up to you.. been approached several times in the last couple of months.. and am amazed at how smartly dressed and polite they are..

give to various charities on a regular basis.. ( but enough about Celtic ) but very very rarely to street dwellers

Having worked with homeless people for about a year now i can confidently tell you that giving money to a beggar is often the worst thing you can do.

Definitely give them food, water, and if you've got a bit of time see if they're aware of where the nearest provisions for help are. I know in London every borough has somewhere people can go and get support but not sure about elsewhere.

But if you hand them money you could be handing them whatever is was that caused their life to spiral out of control in the first place. Addiction afflicts the majority of prolonged homelessness cases, and the easier they find it to get their hit the less likely they are to seek assistance from legitimate sources that will require them to be drug free in order to co-operate. You are quite likely to be helping kill someone in truth.

I only usually give money to buskers.

Thanks for this, what's the nature of the work you do if you don't mind me asking?

Pretty much always buy a Big Issue if I see a vendor, and we have a direct debit to Shelter.
Rarely give to beggars, although to be fair I rarely see any these days because I don't go into town centres that often.
I do think that buying them food is a better option than giving cash.

I saw a begger outside McDonald's once so went in and purchased a cheeseburger and a coffee for him.

When I came out to give him the food and beverage he told me didn't like cheeseburgers or coffee and could he have the money instead.

Did you tell him beggars can't be choosers?

A couple had just won the lottery.  The husband asks the wife "What will we do about the begging letters?"  "Oh" she says "we might as well just keep sending them".

Just to touch on this point because i didn't get time to yesterday.

You are 100% right by suggesting that homelessness can affect everyone and anyone. A lot of people don't realise this.

However, in this country we are pretty lucky that there are a number of ways we can get help if it happens to us. The government for example supplies JSA and housing benefit. There are no shortage of libraries around in which you can use to access the internet, print cv's etc. Hostels, charities and other insitutions can provide support and a place to stay depending on availability, but in many cases this isn't really necessary as people can surely find some family or friends to put them up for a couple of weeks through the tough times while they get back on their feet.

Imagine what it takes to lose ALL of that, your benefits, the co-operation of charities, all your family and friends, so that you've ended up out on the street for a prolonged period of time. 99% of the time the culprit is a serious substance addiction. So giving money to these people isn't empowering them it's doing the complete opposite, just furthering their means to live a shitty, short life. 

If I have the time and I'm in the mood I'll sit down with them and talk to them. If someone is down in the dumps then human interaction is worth so much. I always make sure to sit on the floor and try to get to know them a bit, asking what they are doing to try and improve their current situation.

It's always very obvious who is on drugs and who isn't, so I don't waste any time talking to those people as that is beyond what I am capable of dealing with. I usually offer to get them something to eat, but if it's a friday or saturday night they usually are full up so don't want anything.

The last chap I spent time talking to was in Bristol during UKIPT. My life at this point is pretty amazing considering the debt and depression I had to deal with in the past, and I know how grim it is to be in such position. I spent about 30 minutes with him and he told me that on a Friday or Saturday night over a period of about 6-8 hours they can get about £50 or £60 which is quite impressive. I gave him £20 in the end because that's what I felt like giving up at the time.