Tired of the performative beggars and alcoholics this time of year

I knew I should have brought an 🧯 for the flames of hell. It’s not privilege it’s knowing these addicts and alcoholics are preying on the goodwill of the Christmas shoppers whilst out of their minds on god knows what new drug is on the scene (Spice seems to be back judging from the comatose states).

It annoys the hell out of me because there are plenty of families and people working full time and multiple jobs barely surviving who do not resort to this and yet are more deserving of the goodwill.

When you see day after day the same addicts in the same spots you do start to wonder if it’s their choosing.

This thread is incredibly uniformed and callous. I work in child protection. The lives some of these addicts and alcoholics will have had are really beyond comprehension. I won’t share details here because frankly it’s deeply upsetting. The cruelty they may have suffered depriving them of the normal lives most of us take for granted literally change the way your brain is wired. The odds are heavily stacked of ever living a normal life. If not just a moral obligation of a decent society it’s cheaper to treat addiction than throw people in prison.

Try a little compassion. It is Christmas. If there are people ‘grifting’ it’s a pretty poor grift. It’s easier and more profitable just to commit crimes. I can’t imagine it’s by any means a majority. Give to a reputable charity if unsure.

What's wrong with Big Issue sellers? Genuine question

Just have to say, your OP is one of the most hateful things I've read on MN.

Just vile.

Like everything else if there’s money to be made the scammers move in.

I never give money to beggars or Big Issue sellers. Mostly Eastern European women in my town. Why leave your home in Europe to become ‘homeless’ in another country?

Is anyone else sick and tired of the huge number of ‘homeless’ beggars, alcoholics and addicts that descended on the streets since the Christmas rush started this year?

Manchester is rife with them- this year there is a particularly ropey bunch of alcoholics/ addicts that are obnoxiously ‘sleeping’ or sitting with their bags pointing directly out into the street instead of being against a wall, they’re building ‘dens’ in shop doorways which stink of human faeces and piss, dealers go from spot to spot, dogs forced to sit in uncomfortable situations (often not even their dog as the same one gets passed from beggar to beggar).

It’s a self perpetuating problem because soup kitchens serving buffets set up and cater meals for them whilst they’re generally being a nuisance and making the streets look an absolute shitty mess. Why are they tolerated? People need to stop giving them money as it just encourages them to keep doing it when there are services in place to help them.

Bah humbug I know, but It’s beyond grim.

While a good number of people posting here grasp that homelessness, addiction, mental health issues and catastrophic life events can bring about a perfect storm for some individuals making them "difficult" to work with and that the overall issue is complex, it saddens me that quite a few want to look at them as almost another species.

Maybe some have been classed as "dysfunctional" their entire lives, and have absorbed a message since childhood that they are "unworthy" which will make them hostile and learn to live in a survival mode which leads to a self perpetuating cycle of defensiveness and disengagement due to inured lack of trust in people in general, and authority in particular. I think it's fair to say care leavers can be in this cohort due to the failures of overstretched services etc and often massive lack of proper oversight and mentoring.

Some will be people whose lives have been torn apart by catastrophic events such as bereavement and job loss and family breakdown and who never get the time and space to recover, so learn unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Some may indeed be part of criminal gangs, but what does it say about society that it produces people who feel safer operating in such high risk and unhealthy circumstances than asking for or accepting "legitimate" help?

I think looking at our developing society, culture and the policies of successive governments play a massive part in all this.

Accessing any kind of support when in crisis is mired in bureaucracy and having dealt recently with our local council regarding homelessness this year, it drove me to distraction although I'm allegedly reasonably intelligent and capable.

The current emphasis on "resilience" and "personal responsibility" is all well and good, but it overlooks the difficulties posed by the ever changing economy, job market, and reliance on being technologically up to speed - it's easier now than ever to find oneself out of the loop and harder than ever to get back on the merry go round.

It is ironic that some posts here have lambasted apparent "marketing strategies" allegedly employed by some of the "homeless" when the entire world is geared up to encouraging sustaining oneself by whatever means possible. It's the very definition of capitalism, and we all buy into it.

Yes, we have growing social problems, but the undertone speaks more to morality for alot of people, hence the phenomenon of the "feckless undeserving poor". Lack of money is posited as a moral failure and how money is spent is less scrutinised at high levels of wealth while at the "poor end" spending is harshly judged. Yet in terms of addiction and the damage that is done, whether it's Bollinger and cocaine consumed in mansions to excess, or White Lightening and smack on the streets, the fallout is the same - it's just that one is visible in the doorways of empty shops in our towns, the other is hidden and excused to a degree simply by dint if financial disparity.

Everyone bleeds. We are all the same under the skin. We can kid ourselves all we like that some fabled moral superiority will never see us "choosing" a lifestyle detrimental to ourselves/ society. But you'd be surprised how the mighty can fall.

The people who are the subject of this thread may have had hopes dreams and aspirations, families and businesses and careers and may have lost them due to the cruel twists of fate. Or they may never have had the opportunity for such grandiose notions. They may be aggressive and unpleasant as we all can be when we've got our back against the wall and can't find the exit.

We can choose how to help if we want to, or not, but please, enough with the de-humanising and othering of people, flesh and blood people, just like us at the fundamental level.

And perhaps direct your ire at the system which can never be perfect but is nowhere near functional these days and ask how that has been at best allowed to happen, or at worst deliberately engineered to create division and divert attention from some of the self serving policies of politicians in lockstep with corporate entities.

And as I've had long posts like this dismissed as word salad in the past, I offer you mayonnaise or the dressing of your choice to aid digestion.

you make good points @AlertSnail but you’ll also know, addicts don’t just wreck their own lives but often everyone around them. They can be very difficult and challenging people to help and also to like for the reasons @Spangledangle gives in the post directly beneath you..

I think you also have to respect ( and show compassion) to people who don’t want to help, or find their presence annoying. It’s not always through ignorance- often the opposite. Often they have a back story that makes them have little patience for homeless drug addicts. If you’ve been brought up by a character like that, it can be galling to hear people have sympathy for the type of person who made you childhood a chaotic hell!

@MistressoftheDarkSide a brilliant post, as many of your posts are. I know you have had your own challenges to face recently. I really hope you find some joy this Christmas and 2025 is a better year for you.

While a good number of people posting here grasp that homelessness, addiction, mental health issues and catastrophic life events can bring about a perfect storm for some individuals making them "difficult" to work with and that the overall issue is complex, it saddens me that quite a few want to look at them as almost another species.

Maybe some have been classed as "dysfunctional" their entire lives, and have absorbed a message since childhood that they are "unworthy" which will make them hostile and learn to live in a survival mode which leads to a self perpetuating cycle of defensiveness and disengagement due to inured lack of trust in people in general, and authority in particular. I think it's fair to say care leavers can be in this cohort due to the failures of overstretched services etc and often massive lack of proper oversight and mentoring.

Some will be people whose lives have been torn apart by catastrophic events such as bereavement and job loss and family breakdown and who never get the time and space to recover, so learn unhealthy coping mechanisms.

Some may indeed be part of criminal gangs, but what does it say about society that it produces people who feel safer operating in such high risk and unhealthy circumstances than asking for or accepting "legitimate" help?

I think looking at our developing society, culture and the policies of successive governments play a massive part in all this.

Accessing any kind of support when in crisis is mired in bureaucracy and having dealt recently with our local council regarding homelessness this year, it drove me to distraction although I'm allegedly reasonably intelligent and capable.

The current emphasis on "resilience" and "personal responsibility" is all well and good, but it overlooks the difficulties posed by the ever changing economy, job market, and reliance on being technologically up to speed - it's easier now than ever to find oneself out of the loop and harder than ever to get back on the merry go round.

It is ironic that some posts here have lambasted apparent "marketing strategies" allegedly employed by some of the "homeless" when the entire world is geared up to encouraging sustaining oneself by whatever means possible. It's the very definition of capitalism, and we all buy into it.

Yes, we have growing social problems, but the undertone speaks more to morality for alot of people, hence the phenomenon of the "feckless undeserving poor". Lack of money is posited as a moral failure and how money is spent is less scrutinised at high levels of wealth while at the "poor end" spending is harshly judged. Yet in terms of addiction and the damage that is done, whether it's Bollinger and cocaine consumed in mansions to excess, or White Lightening and smack on the streets, the fallout is the same - it's just that one is visible in the doorways of empty shops in our towns, the other is hidden and excused to a degree simply by dint if financial disparity.

Everyone bleeds. We are all the same under the skin. We can kid ourselves all we like that some fabled moral superiority will never see us "choosing" a lifestyle detrimental to ourselves/ society. But you'd be surprised how the mighty can fall.

The people who are the subject of this thread may have had hopes dreams and aspirations, families and businesses and careers and may have lost them due to the cruel twists of fate. Or they may never have had the opportunity for such grandiose notions. They may be aggressive and unpleasant as we all can be when we've got our back against the wall and can't find the exit.

We can choose how to help if we want to, or not, but please, enough with the de-humanising and othering of people, flesh and blood people, just like us at the fundamental level.

And perhaps direct your ire at the system which can never be perfect but is nowhere near functional these days and ask how that has been at best allowed to happen, or at worst deliberately engineered to create division and divert attention from some of the self serving policies of politicians in lockstep with corporate entities.

And as I've had long posts like this dismissed as word salad in the past, I offer you mayonnaise or the dressing of your choice to aid digestion.

Waves of outrage eh? Check the poll results

I imagine you're expending your energy on that also, PlasticTrees? Or are you just piling in to criticise the OP?

Who are you to tell anybody else what they should be spending their time, money or energy on? As if you have any insight into what other people do when they're not blethering away on here.

Ahhh fucking hell. 😂

Our Christmas gift to you shall be the waves of outrage you are so desperately looking for, OP.

Don't worry, @Nowherehere1 Ive reported it. The OP clearly wants the attention, and doesn't care they get it. Zero empathy, how low down can you go.

Your energy would be better spent campaigning for more funding for services for those with addiction problems / homelessness, so that no one needs to live on the streets in this day and age.

Some shameful attitudes from some posters; judgemental and narrow mindedGod forbid you ever become vulnerable; the gap between ‘us and them’ is not as wide as you think.

You seem to pick on and despise substance abusers, any particular reason you hate them so much. Have you ever considered opening up your home to a homeless person or offering them a hit meal and bed for the night especially when it's really cold outside.

Let’s spin that around and see who is vulnerable when you’re walking home on an evening and there’s a whole group of them out of their minds vomiting and pissing all over the shop doorways and accosting people for money and getting angry if they get nothing.

I’m sorry for housethatbuiltme‘s experience, and hope her life is back on track. But her experience of homelessness is just that, Hers and hers alone. There are all differing scenarios for homeless people and they don’t all fit that description, and yes, some of them do have addiction issues. Doesn’t mean they aren’t genuinely homeless. I’m volunteering again this Christmas, taking bedding to and from Church overnight shelters and signposting them to those in need. No matter how much you try, some people will not/ con not take up the offer and so choose to sleep in doorways. They aren’t any less deserving of help, their reasons for being in this situation are many and varied.