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The sad reality of city life is that there are so many people constantly in your vicinity that it's impossible to have true human connections with people. Howe

The sad reality of city life is that there are so many people constantly in your vicinity that it's impossible to have true human connections with people. However, even more sad is the reality that people learn to turtle up and keep their heads down out of necessity. Frankly, it's dangerous to engage with strange people who are desperate. More commonly, you'll just get taken advantage of. I've been in a situation many times where I'll help a person out who says they need money for gas or food or a bus ticket, only to watch them take my money and stay in the same spot for over an hour asking even more people the same thing. Or worse, you'll offer them the food directly, as you did, and they'll give you a nasty insult and refuse the food. They'll say anything to get that money, it's often a matter of survival. But kind people become hardened and the cycle continues. I'm no expert on the topic, but it seems like income inequality is to blame and no amount of kindness will actually solve what is going on more broadly in society. But we should all try to stay kind and human.

ralferoo 2y ago
Yeah, I've definitely had my share of bad people. Generally, the people who approach you to ask for money are usually the ones who are probably scamming / career beggars. One example, I got the same story about needing to make around five quid to get a train home to the next town. I only had about two or 3 quid in loose change, so I took out everything in my pocket to give him. He fished out the big denomination coins and left me holding all the 1p, 2p and 5p coins. Just in 5ps, there was probably 60p there, so clearly he wasn't as desperate for every penny as he claimed, but I was just too shocked by that to even say anything. A week later, I saw him in a similar spot, this time raising money the get "home" to a different nearby town, and tried approaching me. He obviously didn't recognise me, but also didn't seem at all phased by my somewhat loud "you've got to be expletive kidding me if you think I'm giving you anything else", so he was obviously used to people wising up to him. There's one guy who's often outside the supermarket I use, I know he must be pretty desperate as he's still there when it's raining really hard, although he obviously doesn't live/sleep in the area. I started just offering him a pack of biscuits or something when I left (I'd buy more because I saw him as I went in), and then started just grabbing a meal deal for him anyway if I saw him there when I went in. After a while, I started asking him as I went in if he was hungry and what he'd like rather than just getting him something random.

ralferoo 2y ago

Yeah, I've definitely had my share of bad people. Generally, the people who approach you to ask for money are usually the ones who are probably scamming / career beggars. One example, I got the same story about needing to make around five quid to get a train home to the next town. I only had about two or 3 quid in loose change, so I took out everything in my pocket to give him. He fished out the big denomination coins and left me holding all the 1p, 2p and 5p coins. Just in 5ps, there was probably 60p there, so clearly he wasn't as desperate for every penny as he claimed, but I was just too shocked by that to even say anything. A week later, I saw him in a similar spot, this time raising money the get "home" to a different nearby town, and tried approaching me. He obviously didn't recognise me, but also didn't seem at all phased by my somewhat loud "you've got to be expletive kidding me if you think I'm giving you anything else", so he was obviously used to people wising up to him. There's one guy who's often outside the supermarket I use, I know he must be pretty desperate as he's still there when it's raining really hard, although he obviously doesn't live/sleep in the area. I started just offering him a pack of biscuits or something when I left (I'd buy more because I saw him as I went in), and then started just grabbing a meal deal for him anyway if I saw him there when I went in. After a while, I started asking him as I went in if he was hungry and what he'd like rather than just getting him something random.