I was recently out buying groceries at the shops when I was approached by a person begging for money so they could buy some food for themselves. I'm reluctant to give any money to beggars as I believe that some will use the money to buy drugs/cigarettes/etc. instead of food.
What do you do if a stranger asks you for money?
Whoopsy daisy , it hurt me right in the…
oh what , I don't really care about the negs, just want to share the story
None F***(Fart) Given
One time I got off my bus at this large bus interchange, immediately this man came over asking for $2 to make an emergency phone call at the pay phone. I don't usually just give out money like this, but I thought ok, I'll trust you, so I did. He then walked over to the pay phone but didn't make a call.
He was with another man, hanging out at the pay phone with a bag of groceries on the floor. As soon as the next bus arrived, he did the same thing, approached freshly off the bus passengers asking for money. I then noticed that he places the money in this little bag in the gap next to the pay phone, most likely full of coins from good people.
Another bus came and he and his pathetic parther did it again. Only targeting newly arrived people.
Never giving money now. I'm happy to call for you or give food, but no more money. I hope that karma will bite them back when they are in need of help.
I took photos and posted it on gumtree as a warning, but was later removed :(
Damn that's actually pretty smart…
Another tip for them: Busk. Don't expect payment for nothing - dance for it or something.
You need a permit to busk. Permit = costs $.
try to think from the homeless person's point of view, instead of an entitled middle-class 17 year old.
Do some circus tricks for me for a +1.
Entitled? Are you personally attacking me?
I work my butt off full time, as many other people… Do you?
Some people want free things, but no. Why should I give my hard worked money, just because someone looks homeless?
No free lunch, you gotta work for it somehow. Circus tricks included, but that's dehumanizing in my opinion, sicko… (but if this is what they do for a living, then they are working - deserve money)
busking in the city (sydney), the permits are available for 3 months (quarterly) or for 12 months (annually). The 3 month permit is $13. The 12 month permit is $47.
Lol@ busking comment
A woman asked me for money for a phone call in the Bourke St Mall.
I replied without thinking and said, please, use my phone and offered it to her.
She declined.
What were you thinking.lol
I wasn't. But I was trying to help quickly.
It would actually be a way to steal phones.
@sien: True may be a good way to steal phones. But U must say that due to the unthinking generosity of some people like you, i was able to call u my parents from the airport overses to let them know my flight was delayed when my phone had no coverage.
I hadn't even thought to show the person I asked my phone, i just asked if i could make a call to my parents from his phone & he let me.
Happened to me once overseas actually (as in needing coins to make phone call). A good person just like you offered me his phone and truly grateful for that. Too bad that woman was a liar.
I had the exact same thing happen at a train station in Sydney!!! The person was an elderly woman as well, just took the cash I gave for for a train ticket and walked off even though I was right next to the ticket machine! Lost a bit of faith in humanity that time.
I stopped doing this for a while but helped out this tourist in Melbourne a few months back with $10 to recharge is travel card, only difference was instead of just handing over the money, I charged the card for him. He was really happy, shook my and and he took a selfie with me. Sometimes people really do get in crappy situations without money and my advice is to help them out (train ticket, phone call, whatever) but don't hand over cash, put it in the machine for them.
I had something similar happen many years back. A man approached me in a parking lot after I had just finished my shopping. He was holding one of those red petrol bottles. He was no doubt a junkie and he explained that his car was out of petrol and he needed some money get his family home. Then his wife steps in carrying a small baby. She too looks like a junkie. I feel sorry for them nonetheless and gave $10 hoping for the best for that child.
A few days later, I drive pass the same guy with his wife and baby on the nearby highway with the car hood up waving people down. I knew I had been suckered.
Months later I got held up near home on a busy round about. Two cars down a guy gets out and comes asking for money because he's just run out of petrol. Guess who that guy was and why I am so reluctant to part with my money now. From then on I am no ones fool!
I use to always give money to beggars/homeless, but one particularly cold day, a homeless old man asked me for some change and I gave him $30. Actually followed him for 200m (walking same direction). Guy goes into 7-11 store and thought I'd wait to see what he bought. Came out with a pack of ciggies. Walkedd around the city for a few hours, bumped into him again asking how he was doing. Didn't even recognized me. Must of gone through a bunch of people. Never gave again. I don't blame him though. He relies on people like you and me to fund his lifestyle. What these people need is real help, many of them are mental health patients.
I take money from beggars. Try to top that you ozbargainers!
I'm suprised you didn't make a thread about it.lol.
4 neg votes lol Do not make people laugh, karma gets you neg votes!
lol. That can't be topped.
are you a banker?
Can't see what's wrong if they spend it on alcohol and drugs, if I was homeless I would rather spend $50 on a bottle of rum and pack of smokes then blow $100 on a motel for 1 night only to be back on the street the next day.
They could've gone to get 24 nuggets for $10 or some cheese burgers, not alcohol or durries
Yep and then what, in 4 hours he will be hungry again, your few bucks whether its spent on grog or food wont make a difference either way.
Now if your spending 10k on someone to get their life together, accommodation, clothes, food, job, etc and then they blow it up their arm, fair enough, but to have some moral standing over a few dollars that you know will not make a difference at all. Common now.
I guess the issue is t_c… That people don't want to donate money to people who don't help themselves. Charity is given in the expectation it is for people who are in a bad situation merely due to bad luck and circumstances… No One wants to give money to people who got into that situation due to laziness and living in excess. We don't want to continue to fund their lifestyle no matter how crappy it is.
I only need $100 and I can use that money to get my finances back up easy.
The crazy UNSW bus stop lady abused me after I gave her all the silver coins in my pocket…it was either that or my credit card. Another time some guy at Central asked me for ciggies and when I told him I didn't have any he started abusing me and said stuff about uni students being up themselves lol
UNSW one - is that an old lady in walking frame? Always been asking money for bus tickets, and has been there for many years.
She's got a pram
"You f##king a##holes can't even give me some f##king money for me and ma dog" was what she said to us when I was lining up once. Then I realised why she doesn't get donations from the 'rich privileged kids' (even though I'm probably down the dirt as well, hence OzBargain). Humility gets you a long way.
She seemed so sweet and old when she approached me so much so that I felt bad that I could only offer her $5. mfw she does this for a living
The world is a crazy place. Don't try to understand it :)
Happened at lot at the park across from Central, hated walking through it… homeless people everywhere over there
The homeless guy outside Woolworths Dickson (ACT) is always smoking a cigarette whilst begging. No wonder nobody gives him a cent.
I take what i need and give all I can. But not to beggers on the street here in Australia. Nobody lives in real poverty here unless they choose to.
There are people in the world who have nothing and are far more deserving of charity.
Well, lots of poor/homeless have mental illness issues but I don't tend to give to beggars precisely because I feel this way too.
With our social welfare system I feel that no-one needs to be begging on the street.
I give my time and money to things that I support and feel that those who beg on the street are just taking advantage. Street begging has certainly grown as an issue - the first time I ever saw a street beggar was when I went to the States. Now I see them every day in my city.
I was told that homeless people have a hard time getting centrelink payments because a residential address is required to be eligible.
I know the Salvos have an arrangement with centrelink to be able to pay benefits to the homeless. The mail is sent to a hostel of the homeless persons choice.
Edit
Can't be better said.
Australians don't know the true meaning of poverty or hunger until they see the real world.
I'm all for helping those who are willing to help themselves though, regularly buy the Big Issue
Very rarely see any on the Gold Coast.
They are all in NQ where it is warmer.
When it gets warmer on the GC they'll be back
Give money to beggars? No.
A lady on the train with her daughter ran out of credit on her phone. She offered to give me money to make a phone call.
I handed her my phone so she can make a call. I refused the money. She kept offering anyway after making the call and handing my phone back. I walked away after she made her call as i needed to get off the train.
Had a girl ask me for money to buy pads once. I thought that was a good one.
That's just wierd.
That happened to me to, she asked for $ to buy tampons… so I gave her a tampon from my purse. LOL
did she look happy or disappointed?
buskers yes.. beggers no
Some background info on homelessness, incl. numbers, causes and related issues (inc. substance addiction in some cases):
http://www.salvationarmy.org.au/en/Who-We-Are/our-work/Homel…
Being homeless is tough and is often a result of dire circumstances (e.g. domestic violence, death of a parent, etc.). Many turn to alcohol and other drugs to 'self-medicate' - i.e. to ease their suffering. It's hard to know what we would do if we were forced to beg for days on end in the cold, and how long it would take before we would start to feel hopelessness and frustration, which would invariably lead to rudeness in some situations. The least we can do is to keep these things in mind, and realise that at the end of the day those of us who aren't homeless are lucky enough to be spared such difficult circumstances.
I can't imagine 1 night in winter in the city (Sydney). There are a LOT of homeless people there. I would give up. Smoker or alcoholic or whatever. Not right.
Good point mate.
I think the problem is it is hard to know who is genuinely homeless and who is someone just scamming. I was asked for money once by this young guy who was dressed considerably better than I was and he had a skateboard. I'm not sure if I said it out loud but I was thinking, "You have to be f'ing kidding me". Sometimes I give, but usually I don't; I want to see the underlying causes fixed and if it increases my taxes then so be it.
That said, this is a really good clip on the state of America, including a bit on beggars. (Mature audience warning).
I feel Like there's a lot of judgement here over a few bucks… What else are these disadvantaged people going to spend this money on? It's not like they can buy a nice filing cabinet or something…
It's reassuring to know that whatever you give them actually goes to a good and worthy cause, and not to fund someone's addictions.
I spend money on drugs so I often give money to the homeless. Each to their own.
Lets be honest, the welfare system in this country is pretty good.
I grew up in a public housing family with parents on welfare and we didn't ever go without meals.
The other day a guy at the traffic light washed my windscreen and asked me for a fiver!!!! Crazy inflation these days…
Back in the old days (talking '90s), I'd have no problems with people washing my windscreen. Nowadays, if someone tried to wash my windscreen at the traffic light, I'd politely say that I don't need it washed. Partly because I don't want to give them money for a service I haven't asked for, but partly because I do a much more thorough job at home than most of these people. It's worked for me (so far…).
Right, they are getting increasingly dodgy these days. Less than 10 seconds wiping your windscreen and they expect almost half the legal hourly rate.
I'm not biting.
I usually signal with my hands 'no thanks'. If they still proceed I open the window a bit and just say that I don't want it done. They move on as they know they won't be getting paid. The dude that does it near Parramatta Rd/Strathfield is pretty chill though. He's been doing it for a year and half I think.
I don't give money to them because it's the Government's job (state and federal). If you want to get rid of poverty, do it properly. Us citizens giving spare change to beggars is basically a series of well-meaning but useless small bandaids.
Or worse - it may just be enabling their self-destructive behaviours.
You don't think it's society's job as a whole, as opposed to just the government's job?
My definition of Government is "an entity that looks after the interests (society) of those they govern". The government has at least one advantage over general society (you and I) when it comes to taking care of the poor (or any other issue): their ability to pool funds, collected from the tax we pay. The government has a lot more potential to take care of problems and affect change when they have billions of taxpaper's money to spend where they see fit. They can solve the problem tomorrow if they wanted to.
In contrast, the token change we give (or don't give) to a beggar is chump change. He'll be back the next day asking for the bus fare again. Even charity groups (a group of individuals from society) can barely handle the stress, and that's with the co-existence (and subsidy) of Government welfare. If for example, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) came to power and decided to make good with their policies (eliminate Government social welfare), then the problems will be even worse.
Other advantages of Government:
Religious preaching not required (some or most charities are funded or supported by religious organisations)
Accountability (if you give 20 bucks to a beggar, how do you know he won't spend it on cigarettes?)
tl;dr: If poverty is a 30cm bloody cut on a person's arm, our token $1, $2 donations can be considered nothing more than a hello kitty-branded bandaid to temporarily stop the bleeding (barely). In contrast, the government has the ability to disinfect and stitch up the wound (but choose not to because who cares about poor people).
Just curious, do you apply this kind of attitude to every facet of your life? For example, if someone was injured, would you help them, or would you simply say that they can wait for an ambulance?
I am very much in favour of people helping themselves, especially when there is so much help and opportunity in a country such as Australia, but sometimes, that help and opportunity doesn't reach everyone. As for accountability, you don't have to give someone money. When I see someone rummaging through a bin, I don't think they're looking for a cigarette or a bottle of booze. They're probably looking for food.
I was almost assaulted by an indigenous woman for not giving her any money at a safeway. She literally said "dollar?" I said no - then she proceeded to threaten me with her boyfriend in the carpark. Was threatened that "ill drop ya" by the woman with her white junkie boyfriend pushing me around and thrown a missed jab, i then pushed him away then lets say i finished it with a bit of street justice then and there.
From this moment, i dare not give any beggars money besides the big issue because of this stupid pair. If I had my way, i would rather put these people to work or away from society (rural - mainly farms) to clean up and earn their benefits. My taxes should not pay for the 2 bottles of red (label not wine) they had with them nor the sense of entitlement that they inherently have because of the free money they receive.
I always feel bad for people who are in a bad financially position. I will usually give them coins or food.
I am wondering: Aren't these people getting support from centrelink? What is the gov doing? It is UNACCEPTABLE for this country to have people homeless or/and begging for money.
Or maybe… shock/horror… they're spending all their welfare money on alcohol and cigarettes.
And when the government regulates welfare money by introducing a card system, just watch the freeloading drunkards and cancer stick addicts coming out of the woodworks…
Heard some WACOSS person on the radio the other day complaining about the Healthy Welfare Card.
I tend to discount anything said about welfare by the professional bleeding hearts like WACOSS.
You need to open your eyes. Some might actually be wealthier than you from their full time scamming job!
I was at the casino(not gambling) and someone that looked like they had a few too many injections, sitting at the pokie machine is asking everyone that walked past them for a dollar.
Makes me sick
…almost as sick as going to the casino without a purpose.
Kind of like going to Coles (not for groceries)
lol
Maybe for the free coffee and soft drinks
Maybe he went there to sight see the greens
Star Hotel Casino has some really nice buffets… Not everyone goes to casinos for gambling.
But why support them in the first place? I imagine the money used for the buffets etc somehow goes back into the casino which then uses it to finance getting people to come and play in the first place. Each to their own though, I just feel that Casinos don't deserve any of my money.
"Poverty" in Australia is nothing compared to overseas, especially 3rd world countries. From what I heard, in some parts of Asia, the kid without a leg/arm begging on the street might have been placed there by their boss as their fulltime job. The injury/missing limb might have been caused by the boss so that tourist/passers are more likely to donate. Majority of the kids were taken from peoples homes or from the streets. Its messed up. You want to donate and help the kid, but the money actually goes to their master. Donating money actually feeds and encourages this disgusting business.
I'm from Hong Kong, heard about this from my parents whenever we were visiting mainland China.
It was the generic boogeyman story they tell children, something along the lines of 'Don't wander too far or you'll get kidnapped, they'll cut off your arms and legs and make you beg for money.'
Apparently it was prevalent in Guangzhou.
i belive you watched slumdog millionr
I'm Asian (referring to an early comment made) and we were taught not to give money as they would likely use it for drugs or alcohol but to go and buy food and bring it to them! Haven't really heard of the superstition thing.
What you were taught, sadly, is the reality.
Most beggars maybe liars, but if someone really in need and you happen to give. That would make the world of difference
And seriously, a few bucks here and there won't break the bank.
Who has seen the woman with the dog in a pram around Town Hall/QVB in Sydney? Comes up asking for money, you say "sorry, I don't have any spare" she goes mental that you are abusing her dog and being cruel to animals by not giving her money. Gets to the point where you really have to tell her to just p*** off and leave you alone! The aggressive ones drive me mad. Or the ones that come into Maccas in the city and go around to every table demanding money and get all agro if you don't give them any. The kids working at Maccas just look at them, presume they are too scared to do anything.
I don't give these people a cent. It's just fuelling a drug addiction and making a drug dealer rich.
I donate to charities that help the homeless, and I also help the homeless myself sometimes by giving them a blanket, or beanie, or offering them some cash (which they haven't asked for). But the real homeless generally don't seem to "beg" from what I have seen, just seems to be the drug addicts.
Govt needs to sort out this mess.
I could care less about your animail, woman. If you were that concerned about it, give it to someone who can afford to look after it. Don't be using it as guilt-bait in my direction
F#$@# I remember that lady. She raged it at me and my friends when I was back in uni because apparently she's entitled to our money that we were using to buy lunch! I seriously hate the sense of entitlement from some people.
On the other end of the spectrum, I was once complimented by a homeless man on an extremely cold winter night. It was about my coat and I just thanked him and kept walking. Later as the night got colder and I was returning to my car I thought about finding him to give him my coat, when I returned to the spot where I met him he was no longer there. So to answer the question, I do sometimes give if I think they really need it.
Haha very nice video. Probably not as dramatic but if I do tell the story to my grandchildren one day I'll make sure to make it 10x more epic haha!
Oh i remembered another time I gave away some money. It was to a lady right next to the star. Yeah I know I was young and gullible. She was probably around her 30's, came up to me crying her eyes out. She said she messed up and lost all her money and now has no way home. It was late so my friends and I scrounged together $10 and gave it to her. I felt good but sceptical. Nowadays I know better.
I have in the past, depending on the story the beggar told me, offered to go to the nearest safeway and pay for their groceries, or asked them if they want to join me for lunch (out, not at my home) but have always been declined. When I lived in Netherlands one beggar in the train got teary and hugged me, while declining my offer. This doesn't really happen to me in Australia unfortunately.
I have bought a beggar a 7-11 coffee in a cold day - that was pretty welcomed. Just a few days ago I was approached by someone who said they just lost their wallet and needed $2 to take the tram home.. After explaining that he needs to buy a myki first and it's more than $2 and he can't do it on the tram, i walked to his tram stop and convinced the driver to let me tap my myki for him (I drove to work that day so didnt need to take public transport). Generally I'll try to give the benefit of the doubt and not too fussed about being scammed and out a few dollars than missing out on someone who do need help.. But agree that no one should need to beg in a country like Australia!
Unfortunately that guy used your Myki tap to travel one stop and then walk back to his regular place of employment - using the wallet story to beg money
Oh yeah, I definitely thought of that. Idk, I think when someone ask for help don't immediately jump to conclusion but listen to what they have to say.
In this case it was a guy in his 70s, very polite, dressed neatly. Definitely not a druggie. This also happened in front of my office, so I know it's not his usual place of "employment". Say what you want but is there absolutely no chance of you being in that position one day (ie. just lost your wallet&phone and needed a few bucks to get home)? How would you feel if no one's willing to give you a few bucks because they think you're a druggie trying to scam them?
It's great you keep an open mind.
When I was a teenager I had my wallet stolen whilst I was in a movie cinema. As a result I found myself stranded in the city at 11pm with no mobile phone and no way to get home.
I asked about 20 people for just $2 to get a bus home but didn't have any luck.
In the end I told the bus driver what happened and he let me on for free.
Rejected by a "druggie user", ouch.