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If you can't give him spare change, at least give him a break
By adamg on Sat, 11/15/2008 - 10:13am
Whalehead King ponders Spare Change Guy:
He's an ugly guy with an ugly face. We don't follow him everywhere he goes but we suspect he brings up the rear in the human race. Despite that, he is a man and he seems to be an honorable one, even if he is often misunderstood. ...
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Comments
I've heard some people say
I've heard some people say he can speak normally, or that he's not really homeless. I don't know. He seems pretty genuinely in need of something. Though I would never give him a dime, I hate to see people treat him badly and I have seen that. People really dislike this guy. The reason I think he's for real: I saw some prosperous looking guy making him pick up trash at park Street to earn the money he was going to give him (I really saw this) and spare-change guy was doing it without complaint while the prosperous guy smirked while standing over him watching, thinking that the other people around would think he was a real cool guy. No one did, and the smirk slid away and spare-change guy was still skittering about picking up trash. Ugly scene.
Whit
His name is John
He can speak normally, but is impaired in some way. Looks like some kind of neurological disorder to me, more than just mental illness.
He does not appear to be a drinker or hard-core drugger. I've never seen him agitated or violent. I've heard he likes scratch tickets. He is a part of the city now, and I will give him some cash on occasion.
Spare Change Guy
I remeber a few years back I was at a Q/A Forum with State Senator Steven Tolman and Tolman mentioned that the "spare change guy" went to Watertown High School with him in the 70s. If I remeber correctly, Tolman said he had tried to help him find permanent housing or a homeless shelter to stay at a couple of times, but that he would never stick around.
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A while back, I remember him
A while back, I remember him saying it was his last day, and I wondered where he was going. Later, he came back and I see him at least a couple times a week near the intersection of Winter and Tremont sts.
Please follow the 'spare
Please follow the 'spare change guy' tag and read earlier comments about him. He is a potential sexual predator and should be avoided by young women especially.
It's nice that many people are compassionate toward him and give give him the benefit of the doubt, but there's a very sketchy side to him as well- beware!
Seriously, stop abusing the Spare Change Guy
I've run into this guy many many times, and he doesn't remotely fit the profile of a sexual offender. And I say this as a licensed clinician who's trained in sex offender assessment and treatment. Sex offenders do not wander around talking to themselves and spouting off profanity at strangers. Committing a sex offense involves gaining someone's trust through charm and flattery. I can't imagine this guy possibly having those skills.
Blitz attacks, where people jump out of the bushes and rape strangers, are exceedingly rare, and they're committed by psychopaths, who also generally present as clean-cut and well-spoken. This guy is a harmless person who probably has schizophrenia and clearly doesn't have a working frontal lobe that would help him have boundaries and manners.
Please, find some way to deal with your discomfort around disheveled/unemployed people that doesn't involve accusing this guy of things that have nothing to do with him.