I know I was probably scammed, but.......

[Gracie]

I don't give money. I give food...fast food. A couple of homeless people were hanging out in the alley next to Jack In The Box. I don't know if they were hungry or not, but I still bought a bunch of tacos (2 for 1.79) and when I left, I slowed down, rolled down my window and said "lunch!". They were very thankful.

 

[Concerned American]

Give him a break. He obviously meant Delft.

"Delft" -- English or Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, typically decorated by hand in blue on a white background:

Currier and Ives?

 

[MarathonMike]

You know, one of the things I've done (and still do), is if I'm flush and have enough to eat, a roof over my head, and a couple of extra bucks to squander, I keep a couple in my pocket to give to someone who asks. I mean, on a regular basis I've been known to stop at Starbucks and buy some over priced coffee just because I can and I like it. 5 bucks is less than what I spend at Starbucks, and it can actually make a difference to someone for a day. It can give them some food, or maybe something else that they need (even if it may be booze or whatever), it's up to them. My ownership of the cash and my say about what to do with it stops whenever I put it in their hand. What they do with it is entirely up to them. I know what it's like to be hungry and not have enough to buy a meal, and it sucks.

Then there's my belief in karma. I believe that whatever I put out in the world will come back to me eventually, and it's been that way for a long time. If they were scamming me or not, it still gives me a good feeling to think I might have made someone else's day just a bit better, and it didn't cost me hardly anything to do so. If nothing else, it kinda brightens my day to think I helped.

Scam or not, I don't mind helping when asked and I have the ability to do so. And yeah, I always keep a couple of bucks around if I can to do that, even though I live on a military pension.

So many of those guys are messed up in the head for whatever reason. I've seen this one guy for months living in an alley behind a Safeway. One day he was sitting against the wall, dirty as hell, ass hanging out of his pants. Yikes. I bought him a lunch with a drink in it and when I handed it too him he just looked at the bag and said really slow "I don't think I can eat anything". I told him save it for later, he just stared at the bag the whole time.

 

[Calypso Jones]

That's sad.

In closest town, these people are brought in by leftist churches in the area in the morning to sit all day long in the median at stop lights collecting money. Some are picked up and go somewherre to sleep, others in groups of 5 to 7 walk across the street to a local small hotel for the evening. I don't give to these people.