4 ms·

In the mid-90s, when I lived in New York, panhandlers would follow me several blocks while negotiating for change (you got tokens? I take subway tokens!). In

by geebee 14y ago

In the mid-90s, when I lived in New York, panhandlers would follow me several blocks while negotiating for change (you got tokens? I take subway tokens!). In Paris in the mid 80s, the same thing happened constantly in the metro station. Panhandlers would also come up to you while you were stuck in traffic, ask you to roll down your window, and try to bum money off you. It was constant. I was punched by a bum in Dublin when I didn't give money. SF is bad, but I'm always a little surprised when people say it's somehow unique. There does seem to be a more seriously mentally disturbed element to SF, though, I will give you that. I've heard NY has cleaned up, and I didn't get spanged last time I was in Paris as far as I remember (though someone did try the old trick of pretending to "find" a ring, ask if it belonged to my wife, insist on handing it to her, and then asking for money).

chao- 14y ago
though someone did try the old trick of pretending to "find" a ring, ask if it belonged to my wife, insist on handing it to her, and then asking for money I don't understand this, and if someone did that to me, I would be utterly confused. What's the basis for giving someone a ring that they would know isn't theirs?
- geebee 14y ago
  To induce a feeling of obligation. I accepted a gift, now I should give a gift in return. This way, they trade a ten cent ring and ask for a 10 euro note in return. She tossed the ring on the ground so it clattered and jumped up, "is this yours? Oh, well you keep it...", you know, that kind of crap.
- arcatek 14y ago
  "This ring did fall, take it, take it !" "Now can you give me money please ?" Sometimes they don't speak the country languages (or don't want to), so it's hard to say 'no'.
arcatek 14y ago
As a parisian currently living at Montreal, there is a huge difference between the two mentalities. There is homeless people at Montreal too, but .. well .. most of them are civil : they don't try to annoy you to get money (some of them even say "Have a nice day" when I decline). One of the thing which surprised me when I first used the montreal subway was that the 'musicians' were actually real musicians, played only at some places, and did not try to get money by playing so bad that you only wanted them to stop. When I came back to Paris during holidays, it was horrible to see again these guys with their horrible speakers, horrible musics and horrible voices. tl;dr Montreal is a very nice city. Why can't we find such nice behavior in other cities ?
- pud 14y ago
  Street musicians != homeless people. The art of "busking" has a long history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busking
- Tichy 14y ago
  In some cities it is illegal to just busk anywhere. I think in Munich you had to get a license to play anew every day, which means getting up very early and queuing at some office (never did this myself). Certainly no licenses for playing on the subway are given out.

by geebee 14y ago

chao- 14y ago

though someone did try the old trick of pretending to "find" a ring, ask if it belonged to my wife, insist on handing it to her, and then asking for money I don't understand this, and if someone did that to me, I would be utterly confused. What's the basis for giving someone a ring that they would know isn't theirs?

geebee 14y ago
To induce a feeling of obligation. I accepted a gift, now I should give a gift in return. This way, they trade a ten cent ring and ask for a 10 euro note in return. She tossed the ring on the ground so it clattered and jumped up, "is this yours? Oh, well you keep it...", you know, that kind of crap.
arcatek 14y ago
"This ring did fall, take it, take it !" "Now can you give me money please ?" Sometimes they don't speak the country languages (or don't want to), so it's hard to say 'no'.

arcatek 14y ago

As a parisian currently living at Montreal, there is a huge difference between the two mentalities. There is homeless people at Montreal too, but .. well .. most of them are civil : they don't try to annoy you to get money (some of them even say "Have a nice day" when I decline). One of the thing which surprised me when I first used the montreal subway was that the 'musicians' were actually real musicians, played only at some places, and did not try to get money by playing so bad that you only wanted them to stop. When I came back to Paris during holidays, it was horrible to see again these guys with their horrible speakers, horrible musics and horrible voices. tl;dr Montreal is a very nice city. Why can't we find such nice behavior in other cities ?

pud 14y ago
Street musicians != homeless people. The art of "busking" has a long history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busking
Tichy 14y ago
In some cities it is illegal to just busk anywhere. I think in Munich you had to get a license to play anew every day, which means getting up very early and queuing at some office (never did this myself). Certainly no licenses for playing on the subway are given out.