How do YOU deal with the homeless?

[twasdfzxcv]

If he asks for money, give him food. If he asks for food, give him money.

 

[cheese_wizington]

Act like they're not there.

 

[Milo Windby]

I tell them that I don't have any spare change, which 90% of the time is true, since any money I have is in the bank.

IF if do have spare change I do give a bit of it away though.

 

[oxiclean]

I dont live in a big city, so they usually stand at interstate off-ramps or near the exits to wal-mart. you sometimes see them walking down the street though. I generally dont give them money, because they could be using it to buy drugs or they may not actually be homeless. My mother used to be a manager at wendy's, and she would bring sandwiches that got messed up along with a large tea to the homeless guy that set up at the nearby interstate exit. she did that for a while, until she found out he had a home.


today though, there was a guy that said he was living in his car standing at the exit to wal-mart. i gave him $5 dollars. it wasn't much, but it could buy him some food or something.

 

[Thedayrecker]

There aren't many homeless, where I live (yay suburbs!), but when one asks me for change I seriously don't have any. I'm one step above homeless, and as soon as my parents kick me out I'll be homeless.

 

[lacktheknack]

I've met a homeless person four times in my life (I stay away from downtown). If he asks me for a cigarette, I truthfully tell him that I don't smoke and that his breath is filling my lungs with mucous (damn asthma). If he sits there hungrily out front of a grocery store, I give him two bucks, two more if he turns and walks into the store. If he angrily demands some money, I lie. If he projectile vomits on me, I flee.

All of these are real encounters.

 

[OneOfTheMichael's]

I'd help them out and buy them a coffee because i'm a nice person and i feel sorry for them.
I also help out at shelters some times, they're still human and like you and me just less fortunate.

 

[Spinozaad]

Some times I give them a bit of change. Other times I say 'sorry, I don't have any change' (which is most often true, as I prefer to PIN wherever I go).

I'm not really a bastard.

-edit-

I also tend to give them a cigarette, if they're obviously smokers.

 

[shadow741]

I'll refer to the South Park episode and ignore them.

 

[imnot]

kill tem, kill them with fire!,
by which i mean give them a bit of money if i have any change.

 

[oxiclean]

I'm of the mindset that giving money to the homeless does absolutely nothing to aid them in anything except the short-term goal of getting blasted. I'd rather the government tax the living hell out of anything imported and give the resulting manufacturing jobs to the homeless than just give them money.

why not give companies tax incentives to keep manufacturing in the US? all that raising import taxes would do is hurt the consumers.

 

[Dexiro]

I had a homeless encounter outside my bank the other day D:

I was planning on taking out some money, and then i ended up lying about not having money and had to find another homeless-less cash machine somewhere. They're getting crafty!

 

[Crispee]

I've only ever come across a few homeless people, but I generally gave them change.

 

[Cody211282]

Ignore them.

Pretty much this, hell according to some studies panhandlers in southern California make an average of 30k a year, that's more then me.

 

[EchetusXe]

lol, didn't realize the homeless had to be 'dealt with'.

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

It depends on the person. Most homeless around town have pretty set schedules and are well known. One, an out of work muralist, I regularly eat lunch with. Another known for using drugs, I don't deal with.