Worst Feeling Ever?

[Aeaolena]

Originally Posted by Sonderbeast [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Worst feeling in the world is when you're just driving in your car, enjoying a nice summer day with your windows down. Then you see some homeless guy in the median, long beard, hair bleached by the sun, tan skin. Suddenly there the light ahead turns yellow. Panic. Should I speed through to avoid the awkwardness? Stop? You coast and miss the opportunity and end up stopping too quickly. He stares at you, a glimmer of hope in his eye, waves in your direction. Panic. Social anxiety. Compassion. Out of the corner of your eye you see that he mentions he was a vet. You see he's missing a limb. Don't make eye contact. Don't do it. He could get a job. Heck he probably makes more than me just sitting here on his ass... without a hand... sitting here without a shred of pride. Well, he will probably just use it for alcohol! Or Drugs! Yeah drugs! I'm not gonna help someone who might be a druggie ew! Drugs bad therefore drug addicts are bad. Then you realize that even if that were true, habitual addictions are nearly impossible to break without help. Recovery rate in the U.S. is one of the lowest in the western world, and there is a huge taboo against substance abusers in the U.S. which further exacerbates the issue. Your face has at this point gone from complete serenity of enjoyment from your day to a severe look of existential concern. You then realize that it doesn't matter what this man did, who he is, or what he's done. He is here asking for help, and if you ever had come to that point in your life you would greatly appreciate any help that is available. Just as you reach for a $5 the light turns green. Cars are behind you. You have to go. But you made a decision. But you have to go. It's too late. You couldn't make up your mind in time. You failed to help. A simple action of compassion and you failed. You continue your summer drive depressed and decide to take a shortcut hope instead of continue enjoying the summertime air.

Once gave a guy $30 who came up to me in a Chipotle parking lot at 8pm saying his wallet was stolen out of his car and he was just trying to buy some gas to get home to his wife, the police wouldn't help him. He had a military ID on him and a receipt from a local hospital where he said he was in town getting scans.

Two weeks later, the same guy comes up to my car, mid-afternoon, as I was about to pull out of a Target parking lot. Showed same Military ID and the same receipt (that had the date badly changed with a pen). Same exact story. Needed gas to get home to (insert town 40 minutes away).

Asking him if he remembered me and depressingly informing him I gave him $30 two weeks ago.. yeah, that feeling sucked.

[LulzSect©]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/17/n...-time-con.html

Dear Diary:

“Don’t worry. I’m gay, I’m not hitting on you.”

It was fall 2006 and a middle-age man with shaggy hair had stopped me at the corner of 48th Street and Madison Avenue. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him.

“I’m the costume director for ‘Sweeney Todd,’” he said. “Have you seen it? My car broke down. I forgot my wallet. I need twenty bucks for a cab to get Patti’s costume. Patti LuPone?”

As a native New Yorker, I was supposed to be worldly. At the age of 20, though, I was indiscriminately trusting, easily deceived by all manner of liars, cheaters and thieves. I opened my wallet.

“I’ll write you a check,” he said, taking down my information. “Did I spell your name right?”

The moment my money entered his palm, I knew I’d never see it again. Yet I said nothing. He slipped into the Midtown crowd, and I realized why he looked familiar: He had conned me a year earlier with a story about running out of gas.

For months, I seethed. It was only $20, but how could I have been so stupid? Not once, but twice. I imagined the insults I would shout if I encountered him again.

One drizzly evening several months later, a man approached me in the Village.

“Don’t worry,” he began. “I’m gay.”

I couldn’t believe it.

“You still owe me twenty bucks,” I said. All the condemnations I had imagined exploded from my mouth.

The man blanched and fled down Sixth Avenue. I didn’t stop yelling until he disappeared.

Years would pass before I understood why I attracted people who took advantage of me, and why I let them get away with it. But that night, I felt vindicated. That night, I used my voice.

I never saw him again.

[Cecily]

"Years would pass before I understood why I attracted people who took advantage of me, and why I let them get away with it."

I'm a little mad the why didn't get discussed. I probably give away 40 bucks every time I visit a big city.

[clevergirl]

I have no in game friends either. Not fucking kidding.

[maskedmelon]

giving money to pan handlers is surrendering it to the racket of your misguided conscience. you're not helping them. you're simply buying yourself some peace of mind until the next time their random appearance thrusts once more the misery of their condition to the forefront of your mind. the truth is, you care neither enough to extricate them from their miserable state, nor even enough to relieve them of it. you only care that your forced to share in it for a few uncomfortable moments. if you want to help them, get them a job or a heavily conditioned place to stay ^^ giving them money might buy you temporary reprieve from a tyrranical conscience mad as it is demanding, but it only subsidizes their misery.

[clevergirl]

Originally Posted by maskedmelon [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

giving money to pan handlers is surrendering it to the racket of your misguided conscience. you're not helping them. you're simply buying yourself some peace of mind until the next time their random appearance thrusts once more the misery of their condition to the forefront of your mind. the truth is, you care neither enough to extricate them from their miserable state, nor even enough to relieve them of it. you only care that your forced to share in it for a few uncomfortable moments. if you want to help them, get them a job or a heavily conditioned place to stay ^^ giving them money might buy you temporary reprieve from a tyrranical conscience mad as it is demanding, but it only subsidizes their misery.

I agree. Air conditioning is nice, not sure if it's exactly healthy though.

[Wonkie]

Originally Posted by maskedmelon [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

giving money to pan handlers is surrendering it to the racket of your misguided conscience. you're not helping them. you're simply buying yourself some peace of mind until the next time their random appearance thrusts once more the misery of their condition to the forefront of your mind. the truth is, you care neither enough to extricate them from their miserable state, nor even enough to relieve them of it. you only care that your forced to share in it for a few uncomfortable moments. if you want to help them, get them a job or a heavily conditioned place to stay ^^ giving them money might buy you temporary reprieve from a tyrranical conscience mad as it is demanding, but it only subsidizes their misery.

charity is cruel

[maskedmelon]

Originally Posted by Wonkie [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

charity is cruel

that's not what im saying you goober ^^

[Canelek]

Originally Posted by Aeaolena [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Once gave a guy $30 who came up to me in a Chipotle parking lot at 8pm saying his wallet was stolen out of his car and he was just trying to buy some gas to get home to his wife, the police wouldn't help him. He had a military ID on him and a receipt from a local hospital where he said he was in town getting scans.

Two weeks later, the same guy comes up to my car, mid-afternoon, as I was about to pull out of a Target parking lot. Showed same Military ID and the same receipt (that had the date badly changed with a pen). Same exact story. Needed gas to get home to (insert town 40 minutes away).

Asking him if he remembered me and depressingly informing him I gave him $30 two weeks ago.. yeah, that feeling sucked.

Solid scam, but an old one. Bonus points for tears during the story.

I'm sympathetic to folks down on their luck, but when you have gaggles of street kids loitering on the streets of downtown when the weather turns nice, it toughens the heart a bit. It is sad how that brand of vagrant tourism bullshit causes folks to view folks with legit problems on the same level as street urchins.

[clevergirl]

If I was a beggar I'd save and attempt to not be a beggar.

Problem is beggars can't save. They also get mugged and robbed. They typically can't get jobs either. May not even have ID or have some serious health problems. Yeah they can be scam artists, even those are just trying to make a living with maybe the only skill they have.

They just are. It's dumb to look down at them.