Nobody stopped

I don't understand -- there's always "that guy" saying he's stuck and needs just a few bucks to get home. It's one of the oldest panhandling schemes in the book. How was this guy different?

John Greiner-Ferris should have given the guy $3, and returned to South Station every day, and observed the same guy there begging again.

Perhaps by the afternoon of the second day, he would not be a sucker anymore.

Ditto, I encountered a Lady in Faniel a few years back asking for $10 or whatever you could spare. She had a story about needed money to get a cab ride back to providence because she missed her train and she didn't have her phone on her.

It was late, but around 10:30, so I knew the trains were still running. I also knew how much a cab ride to providence would cost, and $10 here and there wouldn't cut it. I told my drunk friends to keep moving, but they didn't and one fell for this trick.

I saw her again a year later, but this time drunk drunk drunk, up to the same scheme.

It's hard not being cynical when 99% of the bums are looking for drug or drunk money. Why should I pay to support their addiction that led them there in the first place. I've been known to buy food or a sub and circle back to drop it off to those that look like they could use it, but I'm not inclined to give away money unless it's to an organization that I know will spend it on things they need.

And it is really hard, especially the guy near south station that holds a sign saying he has AIDS, but he most likely got it from sharing needles, and drugs prob put him in a downward spiral. My moneys not going to help you, until you use the services my tax dollars pay and start to help yourself.

I have a still-valid zone 8 commuter rail ticket in my purse from one of those times they didn't bother to collect them on the bike train from Rockport.

The last time I encountered one of these "just give me $$$ for the train ...", I offered the card. The guy refused it because he "just needed three dollars to get home". Never mind that he could have made it to Providence, or to Rockport, or Fitchburg on that ticket ...

Some people asking for money for a fare are actually stuck. We have all been there and done that. Others just use this little song and dance for a hook so that their benefactors can get that "I helped a guy out" goody good feeling from the mythology.

If you feel inclined to help, take them to the machine and buy their ticket for them. If that is all they need, that is what they will take. In the old days I used to offer them tokens.

Panhandlers have a job, which is to work the crowd for cash. Your money is much better spent going to any number of organizations which attempt to deal with both the daily support issues of homelessness and poverty and the structural issues of poverty.

video.google.com/videoplay?...&q=south+park...plindex=0

Is the guy who wrote this sanctimonious drivel. Shame on people for not giving a panhandler a few bucks? Is this guy new to city life? There is no shame in not giving your hard earned money to some stranger. Especially when you don't know what they are going to do with it. This guy acts like they were stepping over a body.

Late week night. As I go into the Tedeschi at Harvard/Comm in A-B, the guy asks me for whatever change I come out with. I said, "We'll see". I came out with about 50 or 60 cents and a second guy had come up to chat with the first guy. As I looked at the change I had, the second guy asked for change. The first guy told him to step off and that I had promised it to him. I told him I hadn't and that I said I'd see when I came out. I decided to give half to each guy. Of course, the first guy says to me at that point that he wants all of it. Seriously, how arrogant can you get begging me for *my* change? I gave him a Solomon-esque response: Either you get half of what I have and so does the other guy or I help neither of you. He clammed up until I left at which point I heard him arguing with the second guy that in the future he'd better stay away from his corner.

It's never good enough for some of these people. I agree with the people who suggest the "I need money for XYZ" to offer XYZ instead to determine their true motivations. I have occasionally purchased food or drink to give someone and I'll occasionally tell them that next time I come by I will return with something they need, but very rarely will I offer any sort of money.

About a year ago, my wife and I were on the Orange Line early on a Sunday morning going into the city. There was a blond woman in our car who got up and gave a spiel about being stuck in the city and needing money to take the commuter rail out to one of the suburbs. Her kid was supposedly sick and she had been in town for a job interview or something. At each stop, she would move to a different car and give the same spiel. Several people bought the sob story and gave her money.

About two months later, we were on the Orange Line again, and who do we see but this same woman. She is giving the same spiel about being stuck in the city and needing money to get back to her poor kid in Salem or wherever. I was so angry I was literally shaking. My wife couldn't help herself and loudly wondered aloud how this woman had apparently been stuck on the T for two months now. Ungalled, the woman just moved on to the next car at the next stop and continued swindling people out of money.

Whenever I get hit up for money downtown, I tell people about Travelers Aid http://www.travelersaid.org/ and can give directions to their office or their phone at the South Station info desk. That usually ends the conversation...