It's a big city plague -- panhandlers badgering people for spare change, usually downtown, and often near a public facility like a courthouse or library. Minimal eye contact, a stern look, and a shake of the head used to be enough to deter them, but now, who knows?
Most kind hearts will feel some compassion the first time or two and hand fork over some currency. But they soon learn an important lesson: rewarding behavior increases said behavior. And regardless of how generous a person is, handing out money can become tedious, not to mention expensive.
Back when I was a big city dweller I experimented with lots of things from standing in line and buying some sympathetic beggar a Big Mac to telling them to bug off. Some of those characters were quite sympathetic, too. But as we all know, story tellers gets better with practice, and there's no way of knowing how much effort went into crafting those stories into moneymakers.
So it's interesting to read about this experiment in Orlando, found at Carpe Diem.
They are planning to put up parking meters, called "homeless meters," which are set off from the street and painted some color to distinguish them from real parking meters. Anyone with spare change can deposit it into the meters giving them a ready made excuse to deliver to any panhandler. "I gave at the meter."
But here's where it gets complicated. The money is collected by the city then turned over to a non-profit group which is supposed to use it to help the homeless. So there are basically two middlemen, and presumably the last one determines where to spend the money.
At least it gives the people with spare change another choice in the matter, give directly to the panhandler or give to a middleman. Then again, deterrence is always an option. Give them that stern look, a head shake and a "bug off." Your wording may vary. But the object is to let them know they are dealing with a first class A-hole.
Post Script: Some hobo history at Overheard in New York:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have spent all my money on alcohol and marijuana and drugs... But now, I have learned my lesson. I want to spend all your money on alcohol and marijuana and drugs... and viagra."
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