[dave]

Is it me or are "homeless" people getting richer?

Noticed today in town that some lass selling the Big Issue (one of about 50 in town) outside marks and sparks had what must have been an almost brand new Rab jacket, the DWR coating still glistening - in stark contrast to my grubby chalk-covered one. Whats going on here, she didn't look remotley homeless, probably earning more money than i am.

[Avoiding the Traitor]

Thought you make enough money from pimpin' .. obviously it not! dammit

[Bubba]

My g/f works for a young person's homeless organisation, and she knows a lot of the street beggars in Sheffiled.

There probably are a few people who are scamming it, but do you think that those who are would dress up in decent coats, etc? Surely they'd try to look as downtrodden as possible, especially if at they end of the day they were returning to their nice big house.....

Fact of the matter is that most of them are smackheads, who are begging becuase they don't want to rob houses, etc. You can still have a moral code if you're fucked up and homeless.

[Bubba]

Also, and apparantly this happens time and time again. Some well meaning person will give their coat / trainers / sleeping bag / etc to beggars as a selfless act. These people obviously are grateful and then wear the said item, and often get abuse of this nature, ie "you're not skint, where did you get that coat from?"

Can't win, can they?

[Bubba]

And another thing (rant, rant!!) is that the people who are selling the Issue are effectively employed and are recovering homeless peeps, often not on the street. They earn cash from selling t'issue, so some of them might have saved long and hard for that jacket. Let's face it, if you spend most of your time doing what they do, you're going to want a decent coat aren't you?

[dave]

Don't get me wrong, i got nowt against people genuinley selling it, afterall its better than just begging, or that cuhnt who used to hang around the station claiming he needed to get back to Leeds for his parole board. But when you got someone selling it wearing gucci gear, you gottat wonder if some unfortunate missed out on that job. Anyway i don't know how they work it, but you get my drift, same as if you saw someone dressed in a rug and old shellsuit with a dog on a bit of string working in Gap you'd be surprised.

[Bubba]

I know what you mean, but I reckon the real scammers would never be spottable - the people asking for train fare are just (and this is my g/f's words, not mine) begging but doing it in a way that they can handle, ie they can't face just being slumped in a doorway. Same difference I suppose.

Still, it did piss me off when a lad in Glasgow station asked for 50p, so I gave him 50p, then said "oh, I need a pound coin, will you swap it for two 50's?" which I thought was reasonable until he gave me back one real 50p and one forged one. I mean, there's begging and there's ripping off, and I felt ripped off. If he'd have just asked for a pound in the first place  then I'd have given it him anyway.

[mark]

a lad in Glasgow station asked for 50p, so I gave him 50p

<thinks> Hmm, I wonder if Bubba always falls for this? </thinks>

Bubba, can I have a thousand pounds, please?

[Bubba]

you can bollocks my son!!!

[underground]

Ha ha, I thought the dood outside the station told a convincing tale the first time i met him- the mate he'd met in Dartmoor who'd given him an address at Walkley and since moved and all that, but 3 years later it ain't quite so convincing!

Sometimes I felt like saying 'took you a long time to get back to the parole board eh?', or offering to drive him back, but as he looks totally psychotic these days I wouldn't dare....

Re: the Rab jacket- about 3 years or so ago the factory got turned over big time, and after that loads of scallies were sporting brand spanking new duvets.... Might have summat to do with it. Still, I reckon if I was homeless and busting for a fix I reckon I'd be scamming it- but who the f**k am I to say that when I have it made?