HAHAHA not true... i live in la crescenta, not much bums around here but i saw a middle aged (35-40ish?) korean man digging through trash cans and eating trash... my friend and i kind of felt bad, i dont know why but maybe its because i never saw a korean bum. anyways, we offered him $10 to get something to eat, and he didnt want it. he actually got angry and told me to GTFO... koreans and their pride.. BTW, i did NOT disrespect him in any way. i stepped out of my car to hand him the money and he still refused like that..

 

it's rare to see an asian bum though......atleast here in texas

 

i came across a bum with a sign asking for money. when he saw me and my friends, he flipped over to another board and it was written in chinese. the one before he flipped to the chinese board i saw it was written in spanish. i had to give him a dollar for that.

i usually buy a homeless person a bottle of water or a sandwich if i see them at like a 711. i wouldnt give them money at that spot because they would go in and buy alcohol.

 

have u ever seen "kick my nuts for a $1?

 

well.... so? if you had to survive on the streets, wouldnt it lead you to drink/do drugs to escape it, too?

 

well, im not going to contribute to that. i'd rather help them get some nutrition in their body at least. im pretty sure they're already full of it (drugs/alcohol).

with a response like that, are u saying you're helping them with alcohol and drugs so that they can "escape"?

 

not at all, no. i was just playing devil's advocate in saying that..
i do think, though, that if you [not you, specifically, but the general "you"] choose to give someone money, you really shouldnt dictate how that money is spent after it's out of your hands. the point is to be charitable, not tyrannical.

if you choose to give them a sandwich or some water, that's totally fine...good for you. i was more thinking about people who'll give a bum a couple dollars, then throw some kind of hissy fit when they see them buy a 40 with it. you cannot play god, even with the "invisible" people of our society.

what about... what if the bum takes the sandwich you just bought him, sells it to another bum for $2, and buys a 40? what would you think about that?

 

thats fine. i mean...i tried thats all. if the bum does something like what u said above after im gone, thats on them.

like i said... i only tried

 

i dont know if this is true. but i heard a doctor quit his job and became a bum just because he was LAZY. i think there are 2 kinds of bums.
1. who actually try to survive because hes really broke and cannot do anything about it.
2. who just gave up on everything whatever the reason.. laziness, drug addict etc etc.

 

there's a lot more in place.. i hate to turn into the liberal hippy type but our social infrastructure/systems in place help to keep people who are down, down, rather then help them get up. the number of veterans we have on the streets is shameful.. vietnam vets who were shellshocked and disabled from combat, coming back to a country who would rather turn them onto the streets than house, clothe, medicate, and feed them.. it's embarassing, really. and we consider ourselves a first world country..right. iran, who is considered by the "west" to be a third world country, has virtually no "homeless" people. even if the homes people live in are shacks.. they still have a roof over their head. no one's sleeping in parks, in doorways, in alleys.
of course there ARE a LOT of just idiotic cracked out bums out there, too.. but many, many of our nation's homeless population don't WANT to be, and try not to be. funny enough, a lot of people do have jobs, but the cost of living is so high they can't afford a place to live. ridiculous.

 

Did this thread turn into a damn discussion about our political views on poverty and homelessness in America? Stick to the subject people!!!

One time I saw a bum by the freeway with a sign that asked if he may borrow a dollar. I was like WTF.

 

sorry arin, would you rather we discuss astronomy instead?

 

Yes please.

Or I will zap you!!

 

hahahh... no zapping shall be done without my permission.

ok ok i have a funny bum story/issue.

we have this INSANE crackhead who hangs out outside our office building. on his good days, he just sits there and spits on the ground [a lot] and mumbles to himself. on bad days, he slaps the tree with his shoe and goes on ranting rampages. the thing is... we often see him wearing frederick's merchandise. yes, lingerie. chemises, camisoles, etc. [over his other clothes..thank GOD] we have no idea how he gets them. sometimes he's wearing a sample that one of the buyers has been looking for for weeks. sometimes he's got chains and chains of our rhinestone body jewelry wrapped around his neck. it's SUPER bizarre, we can't figure out how the hell he gets a hold of our merchandise, as we don't throw anything away. if he weren't such a delusional nutcase [i mean seriously, he acts like the tree is his disloyal lover or something.. the arguments he gets in with it are amazing, to say the least. i'm surprised the tree hasn't gotten a restraining order by now] i would ask him how he gets our stuff, but i'm afraid he'll spit at me and throw a shoe at my face.

 

Thats one classy bum!

 

theres 3 bums down my street right now. (its because theres a liquor store on the corner of my block)

 

LOL i see the 'slap me...' guy most days on my way to college, never seen him slaped though.