Vancouver had a short dalliance with squeegie people until they pissed off someone in the Hell's Angels, who then decided to have a contest amongst themselves to see who could forcibly steal the most squeegies from the streetside pests. they each threw in $1000. winner take all.

Vancouver no longer has a squeegie people problem

Squeegie people problem solved here (on an individual level) by switching on wipers when approached by squeegie person.

The light changed, and it took me awhile to really believe what I saw.

*shrugs*

Well, what can you say? A lot of homeless people are fucked up.

It's not, strictly speaking, their fault that they're so fucked up.

But it's not your fault either. And if it's not your fault, why should it be your problem?

I, myself, tried being nice and open to the homeless when I first moved to New York. But after the first few dozen unpleasant encounters, getting berated, having racial slurs thrown at me because I didn't decline their request with the right tone of voice, etc., etc., I simply ignore them. I suppose that makes me a heartless prick. Or just a guy trying to get from point A to point B with a minimum of hassle.

I don't feel any guilt at not giving to panhandlers. I do a lot of other giving, and this just isn't my preferred mode of charity.

In fact, I also don't like being approached at stoplights by firefighters, first aid crews, and high school students trying to ask for donations. It's not that I don't support the work they do - it's just that I really hate the interaction involved when you're a sitting duck/captive audience for someone who is pressuring your social instincts in hopes that you'll cough up money for something they think they should get your money for. Hardly makes a difference whether that's hooch or fire engines when that's the method used. It didn't help when it came out after 9/11 how much of those cash donations collected during that period were embezzled. It's just not something I want to encourage.

I used to work with a guy in the Great Tower of Mammon, it was about a year after they kicked me to the curb I was bumming around my neighborhood and I saw him on his lunch hour, walking up to a particularly filthy barefoot homeless dude who had been sleeping under the stairs to the 7 station for a couple weeks. My old co-worker took a shoebox out of a bag, opened it up and I heard him say, "Hey buddy, you're a size twelve right? I want you to have these, I think they should fit," and he gave the guy a new pair of walking shoes.

At first when I saw him I was gonna go up and say hello, but then when I saw him give the guy shoes I got all choked up and had to turn around. I didn't want to go up and call attention to what he had done. An act of charity is like a kiss; even though it may be public it's embarrassing for everyone if you interrupt.

So I skulked away thinking, if I can ever afford to do so, that's one kind of direct action that makes a difference. Sure enough, I saw that homeless guy walking around in that good pair of shoes all winter long, and damn if I don't still love, honor, and respect that old co-worker of mine like he was family, even if I haven't seen him since.

99% of the time I ignore panhandlers. I'm very petite and I don't want to do anything that makes me seem vulnerable to harassment. I gave a dollar to a woman at the bus stop, and she then screamed at me that it wasn't enough money to get coffee at Starbucks across the street (and I thought I was a caffeine addict, jeez).

However, one extremely hot day I happened to be walking to the local sandwich place, and I passed by someone asking for money. I actually did have cash in my pocket, but I didn't give it to him. Instead I bought two sandwiches and a large cup of ice water. I was half afraid that it would set some precedent whereby he'd hassle me every time he saw me, but he was extremely grateful and never bothered me again.

My (belabored) point is that you can't give while expecting a certain reaction. They might be grateful or they might be irate. Either way, you're doing the right thing.

The homeless panhandlers/fee-for-service-handlers are a bit like two guys encountering bears in the woods. You don't have to outrun the bear, just the other guy. So you close yourself off, or you become the one guy in 1000 they know they can glom onto every single day.

I had an encounter with a panhandler yesterday. We were doing a home tour in an older section of town and this guy riding a bicycle came up behind us. At first we thought he just wanted to pass so Mrs. Doohickie and I set up single file.

But then he went into the sob story about being 11 short for a bus ticket home to Arkansas but his wife's family was 10 miles away but they wouldn't give him the money and he used to be an athlete in high school (flexed muscles for us) but because he just got out of the hospital and he can't get to his in-laws 10 miles away and he's been riding his $600 bicycle for 11 hours and.....

That's pretty much what I remember him saying, only he was even less intelligible. And the assertions he did make didn't add up. So we just told him, sorry, we weren't giving him any money, and walked away from him.

I want to help the next guy and all, but don't bullsh!t me, mmmmkay?

I really only wanted to share something totally bizarre. While I don't have life figured out enough just yet to have formulated a consistent mode of behavior towards panhandlers it is not huge on my list of things that trouble me.

It was just a crazy strange thing to see's all.

I used to live in downtown Atlanta, where there are a lot of panhandlers. I had the standard misgivings (don't know what the money will be used for, don't want to start a confrontation or set myself up as an easy mark, don't want to show cash in public) about giving directly to the beggars. I managed my conscience by giving $x to a homeless shelter every year. I knew how the money was spent and I didn't set myself up to get robbed.

Then, I'd just ignore the panhandler. It wasn't always easy, but I did. I can't help them by getting wrapped up in their drama or delusion for five minutes.

We don't have panhandlers in the same way here. I NYC I quickly learned to ignore them, after giving some change to a guy that I kept seeing, and when seeing him again, more. One day I only had a quarter, when I gave him that he hit my camera bag and cussed me out. I recall giving away hot soup and other foodstuffs that came with a giant chinese food order me and my coworker couldn't manage, and that guy was happy to get warm noodle soup. Other than that, no.

Here panhandlers sell a magazine, and it's actually quite good. The best part is that homeless people also work on making the magazine, from printing to distributing and on some content. So they're busy in all sorts of ways with this mag, and when you see a bearded worse for wear dude outside a subway station selling it in the middle of winter, you feel pretty good buying it knowing they have to pay for the mags they sell, but they keep a tidy profit from each sold issue.