Despite the fact that I'm still 16 (physically), in which case begging for money from a kid, is by itself, inappropriate and weird.
Regardless, upon encountering such a being you either give the poor bastard some money, or you don't. Ah! But here's the faulty here; you feel guilty for not giving 'em money, and yet, you feel guilty for giving 'em money... What the fuck?
I've been thinking about this for quite a long time (about 2 years, maybe 1). But today really freaked me out. I hate it when people take-advantage of my kindness..
This average 20 year old guy (who, by the way I might also add, looks just like a regular guy... a university student at that) comes to me and starts talking to me, I notice him trying to converse with me and took out the left earphone out of my left ear, which is the direction from which he was standing. He said "Hey, brother" while initiating in taking out his right hand to say hello to mine, meaning, to shake hands. We shake hands... I mean, it's totally normal when some 20 year old stranger starts talking to you awkwardly and wants to shake hands with you as though he's known you for years. Anyway, he then proceeds to ask me: "Hey, brother, can you give me 2 or 3 NIS? So that I could take the bus?" Of course, it'd be weird if I refuse, I'm not that evil, so I said OK...big fucking mistake; I take out my wallet, and begin scorching for those 2 or 3 NIS, in which case I found two, and thought I'd give 'em another one...so I continued the search, in which case I find a coin of 10 NIS held it in my hand and continued the search, he saw the 10 and said "Maybe you could give me 10 more NIS? So that I could buy a 'trupit'? (Incidentally, this is a famous drink here, which costs 'exactly' 1 NIS...Bloody one!) I gave 'em the bloody 10 NIS.
Incidentally, those 10 NIS is 1/15 of what I get a month. I'm a bloody kid, I don't bloody work! 'What the fuck is it with you people!?' (Not referring to you APists...)

Last time I gave some money to a bagger I got arrested for the misunderstanding that they thought I were buying some crack from him... So now I just mostly run away in fear when one asks me for some money... lol ok, maybe not run away, but I'll just ignore them or tell them to get lost :P

Some people are just moochers, plain and simple. Of course, mooching off a kid is quite pathetic in my opinion...

Giving a homeless guy a few bucks for a meal isn't so bad, but I would think twice about dishing out money to some random person who appeared just as well off as I am. I mean, it's fine to be generous and all, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

I think you're better off supporting some official organisations, 'cause there's a lot of organized begging :/
what I've often known to happen is that after giving a homeless some bucks, he just goes to the next supermarket to buy some alc, and I refuse to support this, so I never give anything to a stranger.

Cherry said it best.

Some people are just moochers, plain and simple

I've been in that situation where some individual randomly went up to me and asked me for some money off the street. In that case I politely smiled and gave them whatever small change I had. It's only small change, nothing to worry about and it's easier to dig around your pocket for some without having to take out your wallet and have them see how large your generosity can be.

Advice: Never let them see your wallet. If your going to spare some change, keep them in the dark about how much you have. It's a play on the 'foot-in-the-door' technique- ask for a small favor which then leads to a bigger one.

I never hand out bills.

However, unless they're paying for a meal, fare, or a purchase and need just a bit extra (a couple of dollars or less) and I'm there to witness the transaction (waiting in line) and the fact they don't have much left then I'll be more than willing to cover it if they ask.

I'll lend out to friends because of familiarity and relations and knowing they'll pay me back.

Unless it's a girl whose asking ...then I'll waive off the debt.

I ve had a similar situation happen to me as well i just got through a meal with a bunch of my friends and we were standing outside conversing a little before we went our seprate ways and some dude came up to us and gave us the same line of B.S. that he needed some money for the bus. he asked one of my friends first. My friend told him that the driver of the bus that the begger wanted was a cool guy and would let him on for free. Keep in mind there were like 15-20 of us in the group and all of us could easily hear what was going on, but when he didnt get any money he then came to meand fed me the same line of B.S. so I told him that I only carry plastic on me and that he should try to follow my friends suggestion. but he just went to each of my other friends and fed them the same line until i think a one of the clubs bouncers ran him off.
But whith me i don't like to give money out to people not that im greedy or anything but your not helping them out if you just give them a freebie all your teaching them is that its ok to be a lazy bum and mooch off of people. "Buy a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." thats basically the proverb i go by And atleast where i live there are plenty of oportunities to find and learn how to work. I guess getting to the whole topic it is pretty jacked that a dude feels comfortable begging from a kid, i guess that dude would make a great politician he has no shame and can lie like and sob.

GLAD THAT YOU ARE NOT INDONESIA
government there recently imposed a law that 300 dollars be fined for giving to beggars.
and I don't recall doing this since I was a kid, which at the time, I took it as fun to see the dirty beggar look happy.
Fact is, I don't care nowadays, most of them are able people, 4 limbs are fine, and quite up to the jobs, they just are lazy.

Yea, don't give money to beggars. I really have no remorse or pity for them watsoever.

Where I work there is usually a good chance you gonna run into a bagger so i started doing this one thing when they ask i say sure and i usually give them enough for a drink and bread if i have got the cash then i watch where they go 9 out of ten of them usually head straight for the liquor store the next day they ask i tell them that i saw them crap them out and don`t really feel guilty about anything after that of course this isnt going to work on everyone but i guess you gotta ask yourself what kind of guy would rather beg a kid for money then go get any job he can find.

I think you'd better support some official organisations,

and give money to whom really need help^ ^

Lol...meet this kind of people a lot in my life. Well..i'm not so

monwren5

Yea, don't give money to beggars. I really have no remorse or pity for them watsoever.

selfish like that...just I can't trust anyone anymore. Whenever I go to shopping or some where...some salesgirls or some girl holding a @#$% book will ask me for some money. I didn't even bother. Every time I went for tuition/ extra class, i always see this kind of ppl(duh..the same people i guess...) asking for money here and there...at the train station. Are they really that broke? I dunno... I used to heard some kids were kidnapped and sell to some where else and they chop of some of their legs or hands and then they were left at somewhere to beg for money. Later after sometime, the people who kidnapped the kids will come again and collect the money they collected and then send them away to other places again and again, doing the same thing... I dunno much abt it now but I dunno this kind of act still exist.

land

I think you'd better support some official organisations...

I don't think so...some of them are fake. They keep collecting money for their own and use fake photos of some orphanage or some old folks home. Do you remember the big tsunami happen few years ago in Asia? Well...a lot of them appear during that time...


Anyway..the point is I seems can't to trust anyone of them anymore...

Let's be honest with ourselves here for a moment. I think that there will be a point in time of a persons' life where luck is not with them at all. Where every decision that some makes turns out to be the worst. It might not be as severe as some of the people who are holding a sign asking for money but you may feel that it can come close to that.

A co-worker of mine used to be like that, every choice that he made seemed to be the wrong one. He would go to shelters and get food and such. Eventually his life turned around; now he has a very steady job and making good money. He still remembers about how his luck was down and he volunteers at some of the shelters that he used to go to.

To be honest I don't like to give my money away to someone I just met but I still do. When I give them the money I ask myself if what I gave him would actually make a difference in his life. I find my self asking "Would my measly change help change this persons' luck?" I'd like to think so, every little bit counts.

Now if someone came up to me and asked me for a large amount of money, I would have to say sorry and give them a little bit of what I can give. I'm not exactly wealthy and most of the money I work hard for is needed to pay bills and such.

Baggers here in the states, more specifically southern California, are probably making a decent living at bagging. I watched one guy with a shopping card full of his effects pull a wad of bills out of a black baggie he had stashed underneath the what-nots of his cart as he entered the local 7-11 (convenience store) ... and it kindof tripped me out.

I am always leery of people who beg for money, especially when it is a young guy wearing designer shoes and clothing and they have a specific money amount in mind. Where I live, there are a group of people here who have made a career out of begging folks for money. For example, there is this middle aged guy that hangs out in the parking lots of local resturants. For the past 2 years he has needed money for a bus ticket so he can make it back home in time for his wife's funeral. He claims he was in a horrible car accident and now he doesn't have a car so he can't drive back home. He of course elicits a person's sympathies by showing them scars on his hands and arms, which he claims are as a result of a recent car accident. Of course the scars are there but it is obvious that the accident happened long ago and the wounds are way past the point of healing. There are at least 5 other men with similar stories. My personal favorite is the young guy who approaches women claiming that he needs money to buy diapers for his baby, all the while he smells strongly of alcohol and marijuana. My philosophy on beggars is this, you will instinctively know if a person is being genuine, especially if they humble themselves enough to ask you for money for food, therefore the interaction between you and that person is solely for the purpose of you giving them money for food, they usually do not have some sort of sordid story about the circumstances of their impoverished state. If a person approaches and begins to tell you their life story this means that they are trying to establish a personal connection with you in order to elicit a sympathetic response so that they may exploit this connection and sucker you out of as much money as possible. My solution, claim you don't have any cash on you, that usually works for me and by all means never allow that person to see how much cash you are carrying.

Well, of course I don't usually give people money... especially if they're no bodies. Sometimes though, I meet some beggers to whom I want to give money, but simply can't...dunno why, just...can't. But when some bastard comes to you to beg for money, you're basically left in an uncomfortable situiation...

~mcz928.
Yes, that's what I allways want to do. But I only remember to do it when I encounter 'the thing', and am therefore left without the presence of mind to do that. Thanks for reminding me, I'll need to put them in me pockets now.