Does anyone else feel like people are garbage?

[xephier102]

Not necessarily.

I left a hardware store and was approached by a young man that said he needed money for a place to sleep. He claimed to be stranded and needed to wait for his family to come the next day.

I gave him $5.00.

I realized I'd forgotten something that I needed from the store and I returned to find him purchasing some superfluous merchandise that had nothing to do with sleeping. I realized I'd been lied to. From the look on his face when he saw me he'd realized that I knew he'd lied to me.

I felt taken. Due to him, I don't give panhandlers any help now. Is it selfish of me not to trust their stories? Maybe. From the other perspective, it was a sham, and much more selfish than me feeling put out for the deception.

I expected nothing more than to help someone in need. I suppose the satisfaction of that was robbed of me, so you are correct in me wanting something in return. But is it selfish to want to feel you did someone some good? If that's the case there are no worthy causes.

You gave someone that needed a place to stay a night, five dollars..? What'd ya get confused and think we live in the early 1900's? How did you think he was gonna spend 5$ on anything to do with sleeping..? You can't even buy a sleeping bag for that much..

Frankly, you should consider yourself lucky that he didn't spend it on booze or drugs. At least it went to something useful.

Also, giving people expendable amounts of cash isn't exactly selfless. That's more like saying "here, you can have my scraps..".

Granted, it's the most that most people are willing to do for one another in this ****** up, greed/vanity-driven society..

 

[Rohini]

You gave someone that needed a place to stay a night, five dollars..? What'd ya get confused and think we live in the early 1900's? How did you think he was gonna spend 5$ on anything to do with sleeping..?

You don't have to be rude and downplay his kind gesture.

Perhaps the guy asking already had asked others and had more money on him? You think he only asked one man? Unlikely. So, if he had more money on him already, I think 5 dollars is generous to someone who you don't even know is being honest with you or not.....and in this case, he wasn't.

I prefer always giving them food outright , rather than cash because as Callie stated (to which I agree with everything she said) you know the cash won't be used indiscriminately.

But I have given Money to people who I've seen look down and out... If I got taken, so be it. I'd rather get taken a time or two than be heartless and presumptuous about another's situation by not helping.... plus 5$ isn't exactly "breaking the bank" - most people won't be affected by losing as little as that, we don't live in the early 1900s

 

[user 135067]

You gave someone that needed a place to stay a night, five dollars..? What'd ya get confused and think we live in the early 1900's? How did you think he was gonna spend 5$ on anything to do with sleeping..? You can't even buy a sleeping bag for that much..

Frankly, you should consider yourself lucky that he didn't spend it on booze or drugs. At least it went to something useful.

Also, giving people expendable amounts of cash isn't exactly selfless. That's more like saying "here, you can have my scraps..".

Granted, it's the most that most people are willing to do for one another in this messed up, greed/vanity-driven society..

It wasn't up to me to buy him a room. It was up to him to accumulatively secure what he needed, should his story have been sincere.

Is there such a thing as "expendable amounts of cash" when you are lower middle class in your assets? My scraps? Like there was no way to use it myself?

You seem to have overlooked the point that it was the deception that disturbed me. Whose to say I wouldn't have helped him had he been honest? Is it, we should get what we want by any means available? Integrity and humility be damned? Well, yeah, as I said, take your best advantage. It's human nature.

I find it enlightening that you've managed to make me the villain for giving someone $5.00. Thank the powers that be that I didn't give him $10.

 

[xephier102]

You don't have to be rude and downplay his kind gesture.

Perhaps the guy asking already had asked others and had more money on him? You think he only asked one man? Unlikely. So, if he had more money on him already, I think 5 dollars is generous to someone who you don't even know is being honest with you or not.....and in this case, he wasn't.

I prefer always giving them food outright , rather than cash because as Callie stated (to which I agree with everything she said) you know the cash won't be used indiscriminately.

But I have given Money to people who I've seen look down and out... If I got taken, so be it. I'd rather get taken a time or two than be heartless and presumptuous about another's situation by not helping.

I wasn't being rude, I was playing on the passive humor sitting on the surface of his "kind gesture".

It's also presumptuous to assume the guy had other money. When I was a kid, I panhandled all day with a friend, and only got 20 bux. And even if the guy had 20 bux, you couldn't even buy a sleeping bag for that, these days.

 

[NoxApex(N/A)]

You don't have to be rude and downplay his kind gesture.

Perhaps the guy asking already had asked others and had more money on him? You think he only asked one man? Unlikely. So, if he had more money on him already, I think 5 dollars is generous to someone who you don't even know is being honest with you or not.....and in this case, he wasn't.

I prefer always giving them food outright , rather than cash because as Callie stated (to which I agree with everything she said) you know the cash won't be used indiscriminately.

But I have given Money to people who I've seen look down and out... If I got taken, so be it. I'd rather get taken a time or two than be heartless and presumptuous about another's situation by not helping.... plus 5$ isn't exactly "breaking the bank" - most people won't be affected by losing as little as that, we don't live in the early 1900s

Funny True Story Time:

So years ago when I was working in distribution management, I was working 9.5 hour shifts 5 days a week. It was hot in the warehouse and so when I got out of work I'd just be naturally dirty from the dust and environments that is those kinds of jobs.

Well, there was a Taco Bell in a Wal-Mart shopping center on the way home from work that I'd go by sometimes if I was too tired to cook. So I go by there, and there's a cute homeless girl flying a sign outside the Taco Bell asking for money wearing a Pink Floyd shirt.

So since I'd just gotten paid, and I was feeling up to it, I gave her $20 but told her to instead of going to get Taco Bell to go to the Wal-Mart and get some food from there instead because it's cheaper and she can get more from it.

I go inside, order my food, sit down and eat.
As I'm finishing eating, she came up from behind the chair I was sitting in and wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hug and dropped the $20 on the table and said to me: "Thanks, but you look like you could use this more than I could." Then she kissed me on the cheek and was out the door and gone before I could even turn around to see her.

And I'm just sitting there thinking:
"I'm a Manager..."

 

[xephier102]

Is there such a thing as "expendable amounts of cash" when you are lower middle class in your assets? My scraps? Like there was no way to use it myself?

If you'd said just "lower class" then yea, I get your point. But lower middle class, naw, ya coulda given him 20 and likely not been phased by it later on. Unless you're really bad with money, and/or living beyond your means.

 

[Rohini]

Funny True Story Time:

So years ago when I was working in distribution management, I was working 9.5 hour shifts 5 days a week. It was hot in the warehouse and so when I got out of work I'd just be naturally dirty from the dust and environments that is those kinds of jobs.

Well, there was a Taco Bell in a Wal-Mart shopping center on the way home from work that I'd go by sometimes if I was too tired to cook. So I go by there, and there's a cute homeless girl flying a sign outside the Taco Bell asking for money wearing a Pink Floyd shirt.

So since I'd just gotten paid, and I was feeling up to it, I gave her $20 but told her to instead of going to get Taco Bell to go to the Wal-Mart and get some food from there instead because it's cheaper and she can get more from it.

I go inside, order my food, sit down and eat.
As I'm finishing eating, she came up from behind the chair I was sitting in and wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hug and dropped the $20 on the table and said to me: "Thanks, but you look like you could use this more than I could." Then she kissed me on the cheek and was out the door and gone before I could even turn around to see her.

And I'm just sitting there thinking:
"I'm a Manager..."

That's great!! Honesty still exists in the world eh?

 

[TheRealCallie]

Is $5 a lot? No, but have you ever heard the phrase "every little bit helps"? It's not about the amount, it's about the fact that he was caring enough to give the kid some of his hard earned money. And yes, it was rude to say what you said.

 

[xephier102]

I find it enlightening that you've managed to make me the villain for giving someone $5.00

I find it even more enlightening that you make yourself the saint for giving him 5$. Lol..

Better than most people I suppose, but that's setting the bar pretty low considering the society we live in.

 

[user 135067]

If you'd said just "lower class" then yea, I get your point. But lower middle class, naw, ya coulda given him 20 and likely not been phased by it later on. Unless you're really bad with money, and/or living beyond your means.

I could have given him nothing.

 

[NoxApex(N/A)]

That's great!! Honesty still exists in the world eh?

I guess so?

 

[user 135067]

I find it even more enlightening that you make yourself the saint for giving him 5$. Lol..

Better than most people I suppose, but that's setting the bar pretty low considering the society we live in.

You sound like someone that expects others to pay your way. Saint? It wasn't about the money. It was the deception.

 

[xephier102]

Is $5 a lot? No, but have you ever heard the phrase "every little bit helps"? It's not about the amount, it's about the fact that he was caring enough to give the kid some of his hard earned money. And yes, it was rude to say what you said.

Subjectively so perhaps. But take from it what you will.

Personally if I gave someone 5 bux, I wouldn't even bother to mention it. 5 dollars is a passing thought at best. And I'm on disability, so this isn't coming from some rich prat.

10-20$+ is when it goes into the realm of "generous". Or maybe if you give 5 and you're lower class. But these days 5 bux won't even get ya two chocolate bars after taxes.

 

[Rohini]

10-20$+ is when it goes into the realm of "generous".

Way to nit-pick everything to death..

If anyone is truly down and out, they would be grateful for whatever you give them..not criticizing amounts like an ungrateful brat

At this point I'll just assume you're looking for a debate. Over anything.

 

[xephier102]

You sound like someone that expects others to pay your way. Saint? It wasn't about the money. It was the deception.

This isn't about me or what I expect for myself. It's about relative generosity. I let a "friend" live with/leech off me for several months, despite a multitude of warnings and red flags about how bad this guy was. Ultimately, he left only after getting arrested for a violent home invasion.

But I still let him live with me and put up with his crap, as opposed to seeing him on the streets in the winter.

5$.. I lost thousands that I could have gotten from renting that room. But to this day I still don't regret it because I know I did something good. Sure he ended up doing a terrible thing, but that's not on me.

 

[TheRealCallie]

Subjectively so perhaps. But take from it what you will.

Personally if I gave someone 5 bux, I wouldn't even bother to mention it. 5 dollars is a passing thought at best. And I'm on disability, so this isn't coming from some rich prat.

10-20$+ is when it goes into the realm of "generous". Or maybe if you give 5 and you're lower class. But these days 5 bux won't even get ya two chocolate bars after taxes.

Yes, he gave an example to what I said. He didn't have to mention it, he gave an example to let me know where he was coming from.
And no, your disability doesn't come from rich prats....but actually, it does. It also comes from hard working people who are low and middle class. At least that's how it's done in America. Taxes are taken out for that ****, so yeah, if it's the same where you are, they actually are paying your way.

It's not for YOU to decide what is and isn't a "proper" amount. People give what they can or they don't give it all or they give more than they have. The entire point of panhandling isn't to have someone pay your entire way, it's to hope you get enough people giving small amounts for you to get by. It's people like you who make caring people not want to give to anyone because of the disrespect you throw out for them doing anything at all.

 

[xephier102]

Way to nit-pick everything to death..

If anyone is truly down and out, they would be grateful for whatever you give them..not criticizing amounts like an ungrateful brat

At this point I'll just assume you're looking for a debate. Over anything.

If everything was binary, this world would certainly be a bore..

 

[xephier102]

no, your disability doesn't come from rich prats....but actually, it does. It also comes from hard working people who are low and middle class. At least that's how it's done in America. Taxes are taken out for that ****, so yeah, if it's the same where you are, they actually are paying your way.

That's political ********. Look at your government's debt. Look at your yearly military spending. Look at how much the rich actually pay for taxes. You're paying the taxes that they aren't paying, and it's all going into a giant invisible sink hole.

People on disability and the welfare class, don't help the rich pricks with all the money and power, and so it gets propagandized to put the bulk of society's problems on our shoulders, instead of where it belongs (squarely on the shoulders of those with all the money, and the power to change anything).

 

[TheRealCallie]

That's political ********. Look at your government's debt. Look at your yearly military spending. Look at how much the rich actually pay for taxes. You're paying the taxes that they aren't paying, and it's all going into a giant invisible sink hole.

People on disability and the welfare class, don't help the rich pricks with all the money and power, and so it gets propagandized to put the bulk of society's problems on our shoulders, instead of where it belongs (squarely on the shoulders of those with all the money, and the power to change anything).

The taxes I'm talking about come directly out of paychecks, if they work a job for a company, they are issued a check by said company. Medicaid, social security, federal, state, local, school district and sometimes child support comes directly out of them. They don't get a choice.

Do some people have ways around that? Of course but to insinuate that all rich people do is just conspiracy theory ********.

But I like how you are trying to turn this thread into something it isn't.

 

[xephier102]

But I like how you are trying to turn this thread into something it isn't.

You're the one that started talking about taxes. Also, conversations evolve, get over it.

to insinuate that all rich people do is just conspiracy theory ********.

The majority do. You don't get rich without knowing about money, if you know about money, you know about taxes. If they don't do their due diligence to figure their way around paying as low taxes as possible, they probably aren't rich.

It's not conspiracy theory, it's basic logic.