The college I'm currently attending has a large majority of students who are activists for a plethora of different causes. Whenever I'm walking around campus I'm bombarded with kids stopping me and trying to get at my wallet to support their cause. I'm sure some of them are legitimate causes, but most of the time I'm really just not interested in giving away my hard earned money to some stranger so that it will supposedly help stop some war in africa thousands of miles away.

One particular incident really bugged me yesterday though,
I went to go eat lunch at my cafeteria and at the door there were kids standing there begging me to donate $7 so somebody else could have a free meal. I declined and went inside to get my lunch and sit down.

So not only were they at the entrance begging, but there were also kids standing inside the cafeteria with giant erasable markers, again, trying to get me to donate. But this time, if I donated, I get to sign my name on the window! All I wanted to do was to sit down and enjoy my meal, but instead I get hassled and guilt tripped and bribed with the oppertunity to display my name proudly on the window so that everybody could see that I was a "good person" for donating.

Anyway, just a little rant... What do you think the best way to deal with these kinds of people is?

Create your own cause.

If they are asking you for say, seven dollars, tell them you will gladly donate seven dollars to their cause if they in turn donate 8 dollars to your cause.

Make a dollar at every turn!

Your way is the best way, be creative

Let us know what you come up with.

Sounds like a plan to me.

Keep your pimp hand strong. Tell them to give YOU some goddamn money!

Haha! New quote.

if you wan't to give away 7$ to make yourself feel good for someone you don't even know, more power to you!

Tell them that $7 to provide one meal for one person is absolutely ridiculous. These people are college students, too, right? Haven't they ever heard of Ramen?

seven cents for the goodguy badge (in this example the freaking window *also notice ERASABLE markers*) is too much, let alone seven dollars.

Tell them "Sorry I'm donating a dollar a day to a kid in Africa. If I gave you this money, he wouldn't be able to eat for a whole week." or ask if YOU could have the free meal because you don't have any money.

LMAO! Pull the pieces of noodle in half, pour the powder inside and there you have it: A Ramen Noodle Sandwich...

I laughed out loud after reading that.

I have known FAR too many new reserves (Flight Attendants) that LIVED on Ramen Noodles for MONTHS ON END. Shrimp Ramen.....chicken Ramen.... one gal even bought it in bulk at that Costco store.

Just add hot water! A meal for mere cents. Speaking of such...they still make that Spam stuff in the can don't they? And potted ham or meat or whatever gel type substance it is....

Back in the hood, we ate that shit dry.

Just get a thing of Top Ramen and crumble that shit down while it's still in the bag. Open the bag, pull out the seasoning and pour that shit in. Close up the bag, shake it up really good and BAM! Ramen snack baby.

I thought I was the only freak who ate it dry...

Except some packages, where the powder gets into your sinuses.

Get ramen spice in your sinuses, and your gonna have a bad time.

Ramen snack eh?

I am intrigued. I may have to conduct a Scientific experiment.... YES I DO have Ramen noodles in My food bank. Hmmmmmm..... (Eve shuffles to the downstairs food bank pantry.)

We were immune to cheap ass ghetto food. You can go to the 99 cent store and buy 45 bags of Top Ramen for a dollar.

But I'll be goddamn if somebody come up to me asking me for some money while I'm eating a good meal. I'm eating! Bitch!

Nope!

Hmmmmm.......not 'bad' but call Me a purist. I like HOT food (not usually dry food unless you count Triscuts or potato chips etc.)

I guess I'll leave the dry Ramen to you freaks on a leash. I did try it though...

Phosis:

I was very careful not to sniff the whiffle dust.

See...it doesn't matter what you study when you go to college. It's the stuff you learn between studying that counts.
Ramen Noodles are a meal.
A jar of peanut butter will give you three solids for a week.
A can of corn is a meal.
Ditto pork and beans.
Save up $7, and go to an all you can eat buffet.
Prices may very in states that are not South Carolina.

Excellent!

Your sinuses have been spared. Good luck to you on the rest of your dry-ramen eating journey!

Wait!
I forgot Pork Rinds!!
Nothing like cooked pig skin!
I swear!

I LOVE PORK RINDS! I know.....I'm sick...... (actually however, they are VERY VERY VERY LOW IN CARBS!) Not something I necessarily have to worry about but still.....it makes Me feel like ummmm sort of healthy when I eat dat fat!

I saw them made once in Brown County IN. They start out as little tiny tiny chips...I mean TINY and just inflate to the size of Elephant ears. Quite interesting.

And cereal is fine dining.
And caffeine can save your life.
And generic brand mac & cheese is always 4 for a dollar.
And accepting every invitation for a home-cooked meal even if you don't like the hosts is just smart budgeting.
And...

Generic Mac and Cheese is 4 for a dollar?

I'm moving NORTH!

See...that's college training for the real world...I mean...after graduation.
There is hardly a grocery store around here that doesn't have a beggar...I mean pan handler...I mean charity working person at the exit. It's easy to either ignore them, or say "No, thank you".

hahaha I'm totally doing this... by the time I have my bachelors degree I will be a very rich man.

Now I can't eat that shit.

The cheese ain't even real cheese. It's just orange powdered ass dust.

That's not the worst of it.

I ate my cereal with this shit:

It's interesting that so many people like Ramen noodles. Apparently I am not the only one. It's good stuff.

"It's easy to either ignore them, or say "No, thank you". "

I agree that that's the best way to deal with these do-gooders. There are a lot of them at my college, but I don't care. They can do their thing and I can do mine.

If they really cared about their causes so much, they could spend less time begging and more time working so that they could donate their own hard earned cash.

That sums it up. I'll remember to say that to the next "activist" that comes asking for a donation.

Since Obamania got all these brats into politics, the college PC Charity mobs have tripled in size.

I won't go into details, but they know me well enough to stay out of my way.

I generally look at them and say "No." Then I walk away or turn my head. Problem solved.

So far they are just ASKING. Wait until they start DEMANDING.

One of the reasons I left my native country is I was tired people knocking at my door on Sunday mornings to tell me I HAD to do "voluntary work" (euphemism for mandatory + unpaid) "for the good of the community".

Back then I expected America was the last place in the world where that could happen. I'm not so sure now.

No, no you aren't.

If it is of any consolation to you......My father put both My sister and I through private school and We ate that too (errr drank that stuff) only OURS came in a cardboard box!

I have some in My pantries in case of EMG. (EMG ONLY!)

Warlock Callier: I love that fake assed powdered orange shit! I used to to just eat that shit out of the packet. Sometimes I would open TWO boxes and make the mac from ONE box and save the other mac for later (put butter on it) and use BOTH cheese like substance packets in ONE portion of mac and cheese. I would put a whole stick of butter (margarine back then as We couldn't afford real butter) and mix that shit up nice and thick.

YUM!

You really can subsist on Tastykake pies. They are cheap, pure, cellophane-wrapped joy. And they pack that extra high caloric content for anyone needing to eke out minimum daily requirements from a pocketful of change. Of course, all of those weird artificial preservatives probably embalm people en vivo but whatever. I always had a suspicion that student loans were not the only debt I continued to pay after my school days.

I was never approached by beggars while I was in college. Probably because I looked like I’d just rolled out of my own cardboard home being such a ragamuffin and I had a pronounced “jingle” walk. If it was not change for the bus, it was change for my 5000 calorie 99 cent meal.

The only thing that did make my ears go back was being hollered at by protesters outside of hospitals and clinics. Not something necessarily associated solely with college but having someone scream (ridiculously inaccurate) epithets 0.2 millimeters away from the tip of my nose was one of the most distinctly unpleasant experiences I can remember.

AHHH YES!

A Flight Attendants (and Pilots) DREAM.

TASTYKAKES!

I cannot get them here. I could only find them in PA. I actually liked the carrot cakes and spiced cake treats most.

I miss those damned things. I'm going to either A) Go order some online and have them express shipped here, or B) Go off into a corner and cry over the love lost between TastyKakes and I. (We had a great relationship you see).

CHEAP IS GOOD when you first start out with little or no money in your pockets. Those damned little gems saved My life (more than once).

Hmmm...never had Tastycakes. They look really sugary. Wonder if they're available in Canada.


We have our own sugar, flour and food colouring "cakes" sold at the Dollarama. I think they're called "twankies" or something. Can't beat expired food in plastic wrap for pennies a piece.

In my undergrad days, my friends and I would go to the local corner store every Sunday, and buy cases of Vachon cakes that were marked down on account of having been knocked around during shipping. So cheap, so sugary, omnomnom!!

I took one look at that place during my college search yea so many years ago, smelled the weed, saw the giant butcher paper banners for every cause under the sun ringing the walls of the student center, and ran.

How many more years do you have left to serve, if I can ask?

Oh, and I love Eve's idea of hitting them up for YOUR cause, as well as Hester Moffet's idea that you should just guilt-trip them by saying your precious money is going to a poor starving Ethiopian, and don't they want HIM to eat?

Honestly, if it were me, I'd just tell people "No," and if they really started to get annoying, I'd buy more Easy Mac, Ramen, and boxed foods to make myself in my own dorm, and/or I'd go to eat at the cafeteria outside of peak hours. But, I'm boring that way .

Now, if I wanted to get my troll on, I'd do one or both of two things:

1) I'd argue with these people about the political and social implications of these hand-outs---how hand-outs make people dependent on the Man, how they result in a decrease in self-efficacy and self-esteem, and how they convey our lack of faith in the other person's ability to be or become an autonomous adult. At least seeing people stammer, stutter, and have to re-collect their bearings would be hilarious.

2) I'd turn their own rhetoric against them, and play a "more liberal-and-principled-than-thou" game. Sniffing your money is going to Ethiopia or to inner-city rape victims is one way to play this game. Suggesting that people are practicing paternalism or colonialism, or are furthering the cause of globalization, patriarchy, or some variety of oppression by giving others hand-outs, is another. People often freak out when they think they're dealing with someone even more ideologically hardcore than they are.

This thread has become a discussion of snacky-cakes!

Ramen Noodles,Pork Rinds,Twinkies,Mac N Cheese (I got the blue box blues).

As to the cereal is a meal too comment: When I was younger, and still on some days today (even though milk is 4.00 a gallon here) I could eat cereal for 4 square meals a day! Ummmm Cocoa Pebbles, Raisin Bran, Crispix.

They and the activists are nutritional and intellectual equivalents.

A gallon of milk cost more than a gallon of gas in Kentucky?

I thought you all had your own milking cow out back?

I have never heard of 'Twankies' but in the States We do have the Hostess bakery which makes "Twinkies".

This is a golden sponge cake with three holes on the bottom which are pumped with some type of white creme filling.

I am told that these cakes can last through an atomic blast and that all though they are stamped with a shelf life.....they have enough preservatives inside them to last FOREVER.

Actually....Scientific experiment coming up. I have some Twinkies hidden away that I had forgotten about until this thread. I have had them for nearly a year...... I would like to open one and see if it feels the same... I may even take a bite or at the very least dig My finger into one of those holes (HEY NOW!) and see what the inside taste like...

Stop it you PERVERTS! This IS FOR SCIENCE!

Johnson & Johnson would be proud.

Cereal is better dry.
I introduced my wife to dry fruit rounds...or whatever you call it, from the box.
Screw milk.

Englishwoman requests translation.

What is Ramen?

I'll help you out.

Ramen is short for "Ramen Noodles" which can either come in a bag (all the noodles are dried and clumped together in a block) and a season packet comes inside the bag as well.

Ramen Noodles can also come inside a cup in which you simply pour hot boiling water into which softens the noodles. Stir......and you have a warm noodle type Asian soup substance.

In the case where the bags are used, you simply dump that into a bowl and pour the hot water over the noodles and add the packet. Mix. Eat.

These bags/cups cost on the average (last time I checked which was around 2007) around .60 cents USD a piece.

They also.......make GENERIC RAMEN which really cracks Me up!

They also make GENERIC SPAM. Again.....this cracks Me up. Might as well eat cat food....

This guy really appears to enjoy the chicken flavor Ramen......

Psst...Eve...maybe you could post this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_noodles

Perhaps some visuals:





And For the foodies who may want to know, Ramen shops are ALL OVER Tokyo. But not in this format.

Imagine being able to walk into a shop on virtually every other street corner and get a steaming hot bowl of thin beef slices and chives in sesame flavoured broth? That, and everyone can smoke too.

Yuuuummmmmm.

I could....but it's more fun explaining it old school style.

Notice the kid in the picture appears to be a college student. Backpack....

You can sustain life on those things and buy books with the savings you would have spent on fast food.

Ramen may possibly be one of the greatest inventions EVER created!

When you get my age, pics of food is almost as good as porn.

No Ramen is complete without some of this:

LOL!!!!!!!

BETTER THAN PORN (to Me). Well.....uhhhhh depends on what type of porn We are talking about.

However, food? Oh man.....I love food. I think about food the way some men think about...

Let Us just say I undress food packages with My eyes and think dirty low down thoughts!

I have some in My kitchen. I LOVE that sauce on.....well about everything. EVEN scrambled eggs.

Gotta love the bottle design.

Believe it or not, my kitchen indeed is done with a rooster motif.

To stay on topic...pass the sauce.

Most Ramen over in Japan is apparently considered junk food...like how we consider potato chips junk food.

Then again, anyone who thinks those deep fried noodles with salty topping AREN'T junk food needs to get their head examined.

But they are oh so delicious!

Hell, I'd pay seven bucks for the privelege of watching you debate a bunch of campus hipsters into the ground, using nothing more than a good old "Bootstraps!" argument.

Also, this thread is making me nostalgic (and hungry). I practically LIVED on ramen during college.

-Chess

What is odd.... and perhaps a bit sad?

I oft times make My own pasta noodles from scratch......I make My own beef, chicken, or vegetable stock.....

It's delicious.....but......I really.....really.....am thinking about opening a bag of that Ramen crap!

Sounds......good.

I am a BIG BIG soup fan (Soup Nazi) and noodle/pasta fan.

Sigh......

NO! I have real food to make....onto the sweet corn cake and cookies....

Well.......it only takes a few seconds to boil some water....... put on the tea kettle.... or microwave the water......hmmmm only a few seconds to pure junk bliss.....

DAMN IT YOU ALL!

Ramen rules with or without hot sauce...

i usually toss the packet (and its sodium content for a whole week) and add my own spice... i got hooked on these hanging around the starving musician circuit back in the day but stick with them for ease of operation... theres not much else you can make in a minute that you can eat in a minute (or two) that tastes that good and hey when you buy the case (like the kid is holding up above) they are about 20cents each.

maybe you should carry a few of these in your own backpack and drop a few in their lap next time someone begs you for a free meal

yes I remember, baked beans on toast. Looking longingly into Tibs' dish.

Tiberius [Tibs-for-short] black kitten who happened

univ degree; medical exam and then how insurance won't cover.

so I got better job.

Well, the line between food and porn is some times a little blurry...

Holy......sh.......t!

I think I peed a little again.

Time for Me to vest My stocks in 'Depends' undergarments if I plan to visit these forums in the future.

I'm not getting any younger you see....

I can honestly say that there is NOTHING like 'spicy cock' PERIOD!

Ha!

Incidentally...Maxim has a column called bacon porn.
Double the drool.

"These bags/cups cost on the average (last time I checked which was around 2007) around .60 cents USD a piece."

Really? Where I live they are 35 cents now. What I love about them is how delicious and yet cheap they are.

I spilled like the entire bowl of it accidentally on myself today. It burned but I survived.

Reading this post makes me long for my return to port in Japan where I am stationed. Aside from the fact that Ramen noodles can get you through an underway without having to choke down galley food they are one of the easier things to stock up on out here because almost every store here sells them.

Plus the Ramen houses out here are amazing, I love the fact that for a handfull of Yen I can get a massive bowl of Ramen. Beleive me the little shop around the corner from me and my friends place has come in handy when we forgot to get cash on base and could only scarp up a handful of coins from around the house.

BAD Rooster! Bad, bad Rooster!

i always thought i was the only person in the world that didn't put milk in their cereal, haha.

$10 here at least. I agree on the Pork also. Every now and then I cook up some hot dogs in the microwave and eat with A1 sauce. The last time I had Ramen was around winter last year. I might need to buy some more now that I think of it.

Since we're discussing cheap ass ghetto food, I'm taking this topic to Hell's Kitchen.

CoS membership does have its privileges ya know.

*puts in a good word for the egg sandwich*

Dude...I done did that last night!

Watch it!
Thems baby roosters you eatin'!

then they should give me 5 bucks so i can go to arby's or something.

ps - has anybody ever had the cajun ramen? it comes in a lime green package and is quite delicious...

over the years of great TOP ramen eating, quantity has taken the place of quality...they still taste hella good, but they are not what they use to be. You guys are funny as hell, and I love to laugh.

evE livE...woman you can cook!!!!!!!!!

My favorite college treat was Easy Mac with Sriracha sauce, sprinkled with a packet of processed Parmesan cheese. Sometimes, I'd add those hot pepper seeds for pizzas, because I like it spicy!

haha, sounds about right. There aren't many places on campus that don't smell like weed. They ran out of room on the walls to hang their posters and banners, so now they are resorting to taping them on the ceiling and on the floor, the other day I saw one taped to the sidewalk!

After this quarter I should have somewhere around 115 credits. I need 180 to graduate, so I've got a little less than 2 years I believe.

On, and as far as college food goes for me, I'm eatin pretty well.
I usually fry up some burgers, chicken or steak. I make easy stuff like spaghetti too. If I'm feeling lazy I'll throw in a pizza pocket and or a frozen burrito.

You know... Something that kind of bothered me... Is that I am hungry right now and this talk about food is making my mouth water. Lol I gatta get me some Ramen. Burgers sound good right now too. I eat like a fat man but believe it or not, I am quite slim.

George Foreman my friend. I love those bastards! Another good Ramen recipe is to take and add some velveeta cheese to the mix after you get it in the bowl. Its hella good, and gives it a thickened consintency. NICE!

I prefer "Smack" Ramen over "top" Ramen. I can't give a culinary explanation; I just think "smack" sounds funnier, thus, improving the whole dining experience in my mind. This helped sustain Me in My college years! Tobasco *TM* helps too!

Ok, I really tried to wipe this post out of my memory, but I was doing a little late night shopping, looked up, seen this, chuckled and could not help but post it.

Thanks to all who have infected me with the Ramen Virus!

Good shit!

In reply to the OP (remember?) I tend to tell any insistent chariteer that I give as much spare cash as I can to only one charity to maximise the impact of my giving.

This happens to be true. (And yes, it is a real charity. PM me if you're interested but I won't hold my breath :))

Shit.. I sure want to go to America after reading this topic! (Eeeh...)

Ha. Segregated food. I love it.

In cases of a charity's request for money I always say "I do not donate through third party sources to charity".
Usually this shuts them up immediately.
In the case of a pan handler, I look at their shoes, if they are nicer than mine, I point that out and walk away.
It always works.

I never thought about the shoe thing before, I like that one and plan on using it in the future

Hm, there's a brand of dry noodle snack called Super Noodles over here in the UK, and also the supermarkets do their own cheap versions, but it's never been called ramen, just noodles.

As for charity types, I simply stare blankly until they finish their nattering, then wander off. Or make weird noises to myself while they're talking. If they think you're slightly unhinged, they mostly tend to leave you alone. Especially if you can perfect the thousand-yard stare.

"These bags/cups cost on the average (last time I checked which was around 2007) around .60 cents USD a piece."

I have to pay 7 pence for the decent english equivelant, i believe that is somewhere around 14 cents.. or im wrong.. nonetheless, there cheap

For some reason, Phoenix AZ is chock full of people asking for handouts- although here, it's mostly "citizens" on the streets and standing outside of convenience stores. I, too, am fed up with being guilt tripped for not handing my hard earned cash out to undeserving individuals who spend their days riding the bus and bumming cigarettes from people. I recently came to the realization that it's pointless to waste my energy yelling, reasoning, or evening giving them what I have. These types of people are unappreciative, undeserving, and in all honesty, should have been weeded out of our society a long time ago. After living here for 6 years, and finally being enlightened to the ways of Satanism in that time period, I've lost alot of hope for the human race. Websites such as this help to re-instill some sort of optimism in me. Thank you, everyone, for utilizing your grammar skills that were learned in 6th grade, and generally exhibiting a normal to high level of intelligence!!!
Sorry for going off on a slight tangent, I know your original post was about a different kind of leech.

my friend just moved from phoenix, actually, and said it's the city with the highest amount of homeless youths. what a shame.

Oh, I'm not surprised by that statistic. Also, I heard that several years ago "they" closed some mental hospitals and just TURNED those people out on the streets. THAT'S the homeless we have here. Literally schitzophrenic and crazy/challenged people.

I have to confess that my coffee creamer of choice is Carnation Evaporated Milk. I also use it on cereal. I like referring to it as 200%. The only thing better is heavy whipping cream (which is carb-free).

I just remembered: When I was a young kid, my mom would mix whole milk with reconstituted powdered milk to give the powdered milk a more palatable taste. Basically a half-gallon of whole milk. Make a half-gallon from powdered milk. Mix. I can't remember it being an issue, but I have rather low-brow taste buds, so there is no accounting for my judgment there.

I have a friend who does not like name-brand cheese puffs. He only likes the most off-brand obtainable. So, my challenge is finding the brand that sounds the most off-brand.

I saw that Denny's was having a huge promo today: "Free Grandslam Breakfast" up through 2pm. The fine print excluded a couple of locations in California. I had to wonder if there was an enormous homeless population in those parts! I wouldn't blame Denny's for wanting to avoid a scene right out of a zombie movie.

Needless to say, I steered clear of any Denny's franchises today. Considering that even the people you usally see there are people with money, I can't imagine what it looked like today.

I always tell people that I am not interested, to please leave me be and walk away. If they persist by following me, I give them the good old "Fuck off!" and that usually works. I'm usually a polite guy but if you press me, the fangs come out.

Similarly, when on vacation (usually in Vegas) I'm often bombarded with panhandlers, charlatans, people hawking 'time shares', free shows/just look at this or give us an hour of your time etc. etc. Crap.

I deal with everyone in the same way, I start speaking in another language. Something obscure like Mongolian or a regional dialect of Ukrainian. That usually sends them packing pretty quick.

Ramen can be about fifteen cents a pack here. I like it dry, with water, with Tony's, with cheese, or (my fiance's favorite) with biggol chunks of meat and veggies and hard boiled egg and enough cayenne pepper to kill a small child.


In response to the original poster's question:

Outside the store ambushes:
"No, thanks though."

Coming to my door:
"Oh I can't subscribe, we're actually moving in two weeks, sorry." or
"My brother's doing the same fundraiser, and I already bought some stuff, I'm sorry."

Arguing/persuading at my door:
"Oh, I'll ask my husband for the cash when he comes home, kay? Do you have a pamphlet or something?"

Missionaries:
"Oh! You should come to my church, I'm (LDS/Baptist)!"


If they're giving stuff away, though, I'm all ears. Like this church that donates fifty dollar boxes of food just if you let them hold your arm and pray for you.
Uhhh... there's steak in that box!!
I deal with the prayers, I even work up an emotional thankful face and say "God bless" when they leave.

Damn it. I missed the free Grand Slam?

Actually, I am thankful. I once saw a comedian do a bit on that particular joint (Denny's or Lenny's as some folks call it) that really got his dander up.

He talked about watching the Denny's commercials and how succulent those little sausages looked (when in reality they are greasy pieces of poo!). I feel the comedians last name was Jennings? He bought the farm by his own hand, that much I do remember.

As it were, I will no longer eat at a Denny's. The last time I ate there was well over a decade ago and that is only because the place was 'open' at 4AM.

There I saw a Motley Crew of (what I feel were) drunks, lowlifes, and possible drug abusers. Hell, it was 4AM after all. Still, after I did My spoon hanging off the nose trick and watched a drunk at another table attempt the same feat WITH A FORK) I kindly dismissed Myself from that establishment all together. Did make for great comedy though, I mean, the guy stuck the fork UP his nose, not on it.

Yes, TRUE story.

To the OP:

It is a truth, perceived as quite ugly by some, that charity only multiplies misery. When qualities such as poverty, neediness, or simple inability to create a cause with market demand are made sustainable through charitable contributions, it succeeds only in propagating whatever ineffectual and parasitic cause it aims to alleviate. For instance, if one gives money to a homeless and jobless man, even if the man intends to use the money for clothes or food, he has made homelessness and joblessness livable, and thus decreased the overall inclination to escape such circumstances.

Exactly!
It is like a child who has people dote on it excessively. I have known children who were held back, developmentally, because they were not given proper motivation.
The same principle applies.

Right in my area we have a very high concentration of panhandlers, i can't even walk up the street without getting asked for change and smokes at least three times in five blocks. Durring the summer its even worse, All the panphlet beggers with a cause come out of the woodwork.

By this I mean bleeding heart (usually student) groups, the church of xenu, "representitives" from every denomination of charity organization waving bits of paper, cries for cash from HALF the churches around here (we have one every two blocks) and squeegee carrying drifters. This is on top of the already large amount of panhandlers.

Frankly the only group that seems to have the sense and mannors to take a polite declairation of "no change" and not ask further, is the squeegee carrying drifters.

I know what you mean. Where I live it's especially bad for old alcoholic natives hanging around our grocery stores here (small community), begging for change so they can buy their next beer. It's so beyond pathetic because they say they want to go buy some coffee and they just fucking STINK like sweat, booze and shit.

Hell I am out of college & i still keep 3 full boxes of ramen in a cupboard for financial emergency's. It sucks but you know what that stuff last a long long time.

I had one of those old alcoholics approach me at the Copenhagen central station years ago. They often come up with a way too complicated story as to why they need money, but this one was different "Can you spare a dollar or two, so than an old alcoholic like me can get a beer".

I could not help being so amused by his brutal honesty that I ended up giving him the money

I didn't read whole topic, but when I read your post I needed to react. In one city station, the young little gypsy came to me and asked for 10 crowns, so he could get a chocolate bar and I gave them to him. In about five minutes came to me some woman (maybe his mother) saying to me, how kind and good looking woman I am (blabla..) and if I could gave her some money. Because her hypocritical compliments, I was so annoyed that no was a sure answer. I went a bit further and sat on the bench. And then came the cherry on top of the cake - one old gypsy woman, which told me long long story about how ill she is and how hard she has it in her life (with that false exaggerated tone of voice) and which surgical operations she went through...And her monologue was ending with, guess what. I let her talking and then said no.
But it is really incredible, how "well organised" these families are.
they continually try to "attack" your feelings.

Absolutely you showed initial "weakness" and they tried to milk it for all that it was worth. It's very well done, but in the end these people don't think win-win, they try to get as much as they can in the here and now - ending up annoying you and probably closing off that avenue of income for the future, whereas if they'd just hit you for a smaller amount they could have done so again the next week, and the week after that and so on ...

I've seen the same thing at concerts here. To get people to recycle there is a deposit on beer bottles and so on, so at any concert you can basically just throw it over your shoulder and some entrepreneuring young person will make sure it is recycled while cashing in on your laziness (and the kids learn a valuable lesson about how to get money ). However these gypsies tend to work the concert places as well and approach you even when you are halfway finished with your beer. So in the end the annoyance factor tends to make you specifically give the empty bottle to a kid or just anybody else.

Unfortunately ramen is one of the worst "survival" foods around. Shit for calorie or nutritional value, a bowl of unembellished ramen is nothing but starch and water, good for a few minutes of energy and not much else.

I much more strongly recommend stockpiling...pinto beans. Dry beans will store for a plenty long time, boil them up and you get starch and protein in a high calorie meal that takes nothing but water and heat to prepare. $10 worth of beans will keep even a hungry man fed for a week, $2 worth will sustain life without issue.

Dried oatmeal is another pretty good choice for the same reason and can be flavored pretty easily with anything you have.

Way I see it, hard times means you take the first job you get, which probably means hard ass work. Look at the back of a pack of ramen and tell me that has enough calories to even lift a good tool, let alone put it to use.

Before moving west I lived in Toronto, Ontario which, as a major metropolitan city, has more than its fair share of transients, drug addicts, alcoholics, runaways, the mentally ill, and as J.A. Umpherville mentioned, drunk natives, all looking for a free ride.

They would congregated in the downtown core which is where I lived and I couldn't go to the store, subway, laundry or anywhere without being constantly harassed. (even worse was when I lived down the street from the Morgentaler abortion clinic but that's another topic/story)

Before settling on speaking in tongues, I too used to employ the 'ignore/no/fuck off' method. It sometimes worked. Other times it just made them angry and I got followed down the street. Once or twice I even had to use physical force to get them to back off. Luckily drunks are easy to knock down and the police tended to haul them off to the tank instead of me.

My rationale for not giving them my 'spare change' was this:
a) I didn't really have any 'spare change'. I needed all my money for myself.
b) If I didn't contribute, someone else eventually would and I was fine with that. Better them than me.
c) If I gave them a handout, I wouldn't really be helping them. And since they weren't doing anything to help themselves, why should I?

I'm still getting hit up for donations every single day. There are groups of 5 or 6 people scattered around campus now who stand out there every day asking people if they "want to save the polar bears" or "save our natural resources". The thing is, they don't even remember me. For example, yesterday I walked into the library and they asked me to donate $20 a month to save polar bears. I declined and went inside. Not even an hour later; I leave the library and the same chick asks me to donate AGAIN.

Ugh.... Now that I think about it, I don't think I've actually seen a polar bear in real life.

Sounds like their meetings would be tough to locate, never mind attend.

Lately there has been an infestation of Kids in parking-lots, in just about any high volume shopping-center, selling candy or sometimes worthless little gadgets out of plastic totes. In some cases these are legitimate fund-raisers for school sports activities or bands, etc...I have noticed though, there aren't just school kids fundraising anymore, now there are street punks who's parents go to Costco and buy cases of candy and have their kids push them outside of stores, sometimes just outside of the stores exit, sometimes ducking in and out of cars in the lot. I watched one Kid change his price 3 times to 3 different people, along with his sales-pitch, it was kind of funny. I just don't take well to people walking up to me as I'm getting in my car or making snide remarks as I walk past them and their candy that I could have just bought for 1/3 less in the store. End of Rant.

You get those in the subway of New York City. I just took my cue from the other people sitting in the car and pretended like they were not there. Though, being from the south, it is a bit of a challenge to not look at someone who is talking to me.

@horrorcore: That chick probably didn't even look at you. It's easier that way. You might ask questions, take up 20 minutes of her time and still not donate, meanwhile dozens of other potential marks have walked by unsolicited.

The voice of experience, I was Sea Cadet when I was a kid and we all HAD to work 'tag day', donate coins, get a tag that says 'I support Sea Cadets' on it. I hated it.

BTW, I have seen a polar bear, but we have them walking down the streets in some parts of Canada (haha). Rather cuddly looking when they aren't tearing open garbage bins.

@Descendant: Ugh! The candy kids! BF1 falls for it every time! He'll spend $3-$5 on one box (about 1/2 cup) of chocolate covered almonds and then present them to me like he's just handed me the Hope Diamond, completely forgetting that I'm allergic to nuts. 'But it's for a good cause!' he'll say.....

I tend to address it on a case by case basis. 99% of the time, I either say nothing to them or snarl something terse and keep walking (I am a firm believer in the 11th Rule of the Earth) - and the way it is delivered is enough to stop them from pressing the point. But occasionally, if I am feeling in a very good mood and they are skilled at what they do, I will give them some money.

The most recent case I can think of was when I was in a good mood (but quite tired) and was approached by a junky type who apologized for stopping me in a crowded area and asked for a couple of dollars, showing me a doctors script for prozac or something and saying that he was $2 short (a very clever ploy really). He was very polite and seemingly apologetic for it and mentioned a couple of times that I looked like I had had a bad day, but as I gave him the money I told him I was just tired after having spent the last 3 hours fucking (which was why I was in a good mood!) and he laughed quite heartily at that as I walked away with a grin of my own.

If they have some skill in lesser magic and impress me like that, I might just reward it. But it all depends entirely on my mood and their delivery.

6 billion people? yeah right, your not the only one doing anything.

the teacher asked to class to sit indian style for a reading lesson, so i grabbed a six-pack and laid on the curb...

Or, the people who stand at freeway ramps with their signs, "Stranded. Will work for food." (being a truck driver, who occassionally has "refused" freight, and pulling a refridgerated trailer, I sometimes have cases of apples, oranges,etc. in my trailer that I must dispose of.) I have taken time out of my schedule to pull to the side of the ramp (illegal in some places) to offer these lazy dolts a case of whatever I might have remaining on my trailer. Their response ? "I don't want that shit. Give me cash so I can buy what I want." My response to that has always been,"Fuck you, asshole. Get a goddamn job."


A news crew in Okla. City once filmed one of these guys off and on throughout the day. Zooming in one what some of their marks were giving him (often $10 or $20 bills). At the end of his "day", they followed him, to see him unlock a 2 year old Mark IV. As I would have, they approached the guy and asked him what he was up to. Saying that they had just filmed him panhandling all day.
His response:"i used to be a real estate agent. Taxes were killing me. I make better money now than I ever did selling real estate, and it's all tax free."
I don't give these asshole ever a nickle!

maybe i should stand out on the street downtown with a sign that says, "college student, broke as shit". i bet people would love that.

Someone once told me that if someone really wants money for food and you want to help them, give them the food, not the money. I've always remembered that.

I believe there are some truly in need. But there are also plenty of these:
Shaky Lady of Toronto

I have seen exactly the reaction you get when you offer to buy someone a sandwich instead of offering them money. Each time it was a response such as F- you!

My dad used to offer to buy meals for people with those signs and they never wanted that meal. Must not be 'needy' enough Me thinks...