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Dude must be too busy trying to get to his parole officer in Worcester to keep up with the news
By adamg on Sat, 07/21/2012 - 10:57pm
How was Sob Story Guy supposed to know people might not take kindly to him sneaking into a movie theater tonight to beg for money? Kyle Kerr was settling in for "To Rome with Love" at the AMC Boston Common when everybody's least favorite panhandler started trying to work the aisles:
Tried to ignore him. Two people ended up giving money. One woman ran out of the theater and didn't come back until he was gone. When someone came to escort him out, he got very verbally aggressive and started shouting at everyone. Got to be pretty hairy in the end. He kept pacing the theater and approaching people. Very curious to know how he got in!
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Comments
Maybe inside a movie theater
Maybe inside a movie theater isn't the best place to do your sob story. That ten bucks could have gotten you a ticket to Worcester
I'm fed up with this guy
Can't something be done about this guy? He is a well known public nuisance. Isn't there some kind of law about extremely agressive panhandling, especially in enclosed spaces? I've seen him in action on the Green and Red lines and he can be frightening when he gets worked up. Pulling his routine in a movie theater at this sensitive time is the last straw if you ask me.
Ugh!
I don't care what anyone says. I hate this guy. Ive seen him change his sob story three times in a span on 20 minutes, from Fields Corner to South Station. I've also seen him try and fight a few people who call him out on his scam.
He's been getting
He's been getting increasingly agitated by people calling him out on the Green Line. At this rate he's either he's going to stab someone, or take a swing at the wrong person, and wind up beaten to a pulp in trolley full of grateful people that "didn't see nuthin'!".
Would someone describe what
Would someone describe what Sob Story Guy looks like? I don't think i've ever had the pleasure/pain of his acquaintance.
Even better, a photo
Sob Story Guy on the Red Line.
Of course, keep in mind, there's more than one: There's the black guy and the girl with the crutches (although I haven't heard anything about her recently), but this is the Guy who seems to wind up all shouty and fighty.
There aren't just a few; I've
There aren't just a few; I've probably run into a half-dozen different sob story guys over the past few years; maybe I look generous or am more likely to make eye contact with random people than most. A man in South Station who needed bus fare. A woman in JP who needed a cab home (she was more surprising, as she was fairly neatly dressed and well-spoken, but her sob story was just as phony as the rest). A man in Coolidge Corner who needed change for the bus. Another in JP who needed some part for his car. One around Beacon Hill; I don't remember what he needed. All of them need just a bit more money to get something to get home; all of them promise to pay back. Some even try flashing their ID to appear more trustworthy. And all of them have huge holes in their story; seriously, you forgot your wallet at home so need money for the cab? Why not just take the cab, and run in to pick up your money when you get there?
Sob story history lesson
There are a number of sob story people, but that one guy, as pictured above, with the "gotta get to Worcester/gotta get to Springfield" story is the main one. I see him everywhere. He is by far the most brazen and the most industrious. He works the T, especially the Red and Green lines and commuter rail, as well as some restaurants. And now, apparently, movie theaters. I think part of what he counts on is peopel giving him money just to get rid of him and break the tension in these indoor places.
Here's a history lesson. My earliest encounter with a sob story person in Boston was in the late 70s. It was a blonde woman who pulled this hustle late at night, presumably to scam people coming out of clubs. She did it in the daytime also sometimes. She would stay in her car while two young boys about 7-8 years old, would approach people and ask for money because their mother's wallet had been stolen. I believed it the first time I saw them, near Tremont and Boylston at the Common. But then I noticed they were doing this same thing night after night. This woman probably made a bundle this way, because people couldn't resist the innocent looking kids.
Ran into one yesterday in Central Square...
I was at the Central Square bus stop and I had one guy claiming he was a homeless veteran. I sidestepped him and boy did his apologetic tune change to nasty in a blink of an eye.
I'm figuring these sob story people do it at places where there are lots of people, and in turn that's where the money can be had. These scammers' audience are not the ones who are smart enough to see through their scam, but people who don't know the lay of the land - such as tourists and the gullible. Hence, Sob Story Guy/Gal can change their story at will to suit their audience.
What could be done about this aggressive panhandling (which what this really is) is the simplest. Carry on, don't respond, don't buy their story, and walk away. Usually the big sign of a scam is that their attitude changes quickly when you avoid them.
This is something the Boston Police and MBTA Transit Police could do through social media - if not stop the Sob Story Guy/Gal, at least alert others that aggressive panhandling is a problem.
I heard somewhere...
that there are more homeless "veterans" than there are actual veterans in the US.
I think there should be a Facebook/Tumblr/tagged map of these people. Take their picture, and add in their location/story/date.
You heard wrong.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, between 2009-2011 on any given night there were approximately 636,000 individuals considered homeless in the U.S.
HUD statistics:
From the U.S. Census:
Annoying panhandlers are annoying.
Sarcastic hyperbole when talking about homeless veterans is also annoying.
Wait, that skinny little bitch?
That's who people are afraid of? Even I could kick his ass. Didn't I read that he called a lady the c-word at an RMV? How did he not get a shoe up his ass right then and there?
Because it's not worth it
I'm sure the guy deserves an ass kicking, but dealing it out is a bad idea for several reasons:
- You can get arrested and even convicted of a crime.
- He has no money and you likely do, so he and a scumbag lawyer will sue you.
- He's a junky, so he may have hepatitis or HIV. Cutting your knuckles on his teeth could very well get you infected. He also may decide to poke you with a dirty needle with the same results.
- He's a junky and crazy, so he may bring a knife to the fistfight. Getting stabbed would really suck.
In a nutshell, you have everything to lose and nothing to gain from it. Keep your cool and ignore the guy.
This guy obviously isn't very
This guy obviously isn't very business savvy, is he? Instead of working one of the auditoriums that was playing TDKR and thus full to capacity he picks one showing a Woody Allen flick.
well...
I believe that it has to do with what type of person is more likely to give money to these soon story tips. Same reason he doesn't work the orange and blue lines.
You've just been lucky...
I see this fool on a regular basis, working the north bound Orange Line, claiming he needs $6.75 to get to Lowell (sometimes Lawrence) for court. Sometimes it is for parole, sometimes it is to get visitation to see his son. I am continually amazed that folks give him cash.
This morning's routine included the admission that he is a drug addict but is sober today and seeing his son will help him stay clean. I talked a young woman out of handing over money this morning. A few other people did hand him cash and, at the North Station T platform, one even offered to give him a ticket out right...which he of course refused. I called him out on it - saying of course you turned down the ticket, you can't buy drugs with that. He responded that he now had enough for a ticket. When I asked how he plans on getting back from Lowell, he bolted, knocking into people as he ran up the escalator. *Really* subtle...
He seems to be getting more brazen.
He pulled this act in the Apple Store on Boylston last week and had to be escorted out.
If it makes you feel better...
I'm sure he'll be found dead of an overdose or someone will kill him. And then you can go back to your Kindle.
Dealing with sob story panhandlers on the MBTA
When one of them start telling their phony sob story, I pull out my cell phone and take their picture. That usually gets their attention,
and they often ask what I am doing. I tell them I am sending their picture to the MBTA police. (Note: The MBTA police actually have an android app now for reporting crime, which I havent tried yet)
They may or may not get quite annoyed at that point!
You can also point out to them that while asking for help
may be protected speech, making up a story to obtain money
is actually Fraud, which they can be arrested for!
If the people's mindset changes and they realize it not just
panhandling but fraud, and if anytime of of these guy starts telling
a story, he is photographed by several people, that will go a long way towards ending it.