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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to be annoyed about a beggar....

67 replies

wellthatstornit · 12/11/2015 10:43

with an iphone, a very expensive pedigree dog on a rope and who can get buses to his pitch in the town centre?

He is in town on a daily basis playing an old tin whistle (badly) with a HUGE dogue de bordeaux type hound. And is often on his iphone chatting away to people between 'tunes'

He is supposed to be homeless, yet in a facebook group about my home town, he is very popular and mentioned quite a lot. he tells people that he sleeps on mates couches/spare rooms etc

He posts in this group quite a lot, and once he posted about his dog being poorly, and within an hour someone had been down, whisked his dog to the vets and agreed to pay all the vets bills for it till it was well again.

Am I just being mardy and insensitive that he can afford this dog in the first place, the money to feed it (it must have a giant appetite), can afford an iphone, PLUS the wherewithal to pay for the calls and internet usage on it on a regular daily basis. He seems to have a lot of people fawning over him, but i just dont get how he can be a genuine case, like many homeless who genuinely have absolutely nothing.

OP posts:
VulcanWoman · 12/11/2015 10:45

Sounds like one of life's users.

seasidesally · 12/11/2015 10:46

he may need the phone for job searches Wink

shovetheholly · 12/11/2015 10:48

YABU. He might have a fancy dog (maybe a gift/rescue/purchased in better times - you know people aren't always homeless for decades, right?) and a phone (ditto, plus an absolute necessity when you're homeless), but he still doesn't have anywhere to sleep at night.

SaucyJack · 12/11/2015 10:55

YABU. He has no home, therefore he is homeless.

Agree it sounds more like a lifestyle choice than him hitting rock bottom though.

But meh. If people like him and are happy to support his "bohemian" life then what skin off of your nose is it really?

CFSsucks · 12/11/2015 11:55

YANBU. I'm guessing he pays for his iPhone contract with begging money, I can't afford one of them though! And wouldn't he need an address to register the contract etc.

It sounds like more of a lifestyle rather than genuine need. There was one in my town, apparently he had a large house that he didn't like to live in, he would just go and sleep on the streets. Not quite the same though.

It's also a common scam that some beggars do actually have homes but can make ok money sat begging on the street.

MushroomMama · 12/11/2015 11:58

I used to live downstairs from the local beggar. He was a lovely bloke!

But yeah can be abit grinding but what can you do? His life choice I can't imagine it being the most nicest of lives!

WorraLiberty · 12/11/2015 12:06

Well he is homeless isn't he?

Busking isn't really begging though.

He plays a tune and people pay him if they like it/choose to.

I can't get fussed about this.

DreamingOfThruxtons · 12/11/2015 12:07

He's busker. He may not be a musically gifted busker, but that's what he is- not a beggar.

Re: his lifestyle choices- wouldn't it be a boring world if we were all the same?

ElsaAintAsColdAsMe · 12/11/2015 12:10

YANBU, take his dog and his phone from him, lets really make him suffer.

Bloody homeless people thinking they can have any bit of luxury in their lives, the entitlement is astounding.

SeekEveryEveryKnownHidingPlace · 12/11/2015 12:11

Well, if you're jealous, you could always do the same thing he does, couldn't you? Or would you actually rather not?

UsedtobeFeckless · 12/11/2015 12:27

Not being nasty, but why do you care? If you don't want to give him anything then don't ... End of story!

lardyscouse · 12/11/2015 12:45

I knew the lawyer who took the test case for a busker who was arrested for begging. It was proven that buskers are NOT beggers, they provide a service that people can pay for if they wish to. I don't see how this chap is a begger.

cuntycowfacemonkey · 12/11/2015 12:51

Well someone paying the vet's bill benefited the dog not the man so I don't have an issue with that, would you rather the dog suffer?

Sleeping on other people's couches and playing a tin whistle in the street for pennies doesn't sound like much of a life to me Confused

MrsBojingles · 12/11/2015 12:54

Where I grew up there was a guy who always sat outside a certain department store with a keyboard, wearing a tea cosy on his head and plonking away randomly whilst waving his spare hand. Acted like a total loon. Everyone called him the archbishop. Tourists emptied their purses.

You'd see him in the evening well dressed and enjoying himself down the pub with many beers. He was raking it in.

ThereIsIron · 12/11/2015 12:57

What model of iPhone does he have?

19lottie82 · 12/11/2015 13:19

I'm sure I read a stat that less than 5% of beggars actually sleep on the streets.

multivac · 12/11/2015 13:23

Ah, good. I love a discussion about how wealthy the so-called 'homeless' really are. How they are 'raking it in', without actually making any effort at all. Makes me feel much better about stepping over them on my way to work, or home, to my lovely, warm house. And family.

Pipestheghost · 12/11/2015 13:26

I'm with multivac
People can be homeless for all sorts of reasons, a bit of compassion wouldn't go amiss.

ModernToss · 12/11/2015 13:40

Well quite, multivac. And the apocryphal stories about beggars making hundreds a day.

Why don't you all do it then, if it's so cushy?

expatinscotland · 12/11/2015 13:42

YABU. Get a life.

MrsBojingles · 12/11/2015 13:46

Multivac- I've worked with homeless people and have every sympathy for them, however the truth is there are some buskers who play on bypassers sympathies by pretending to be mad or destitute to bring in cash in high tourist footfall locations. if you look at a person it's not too hard to tell if they've really been sleeping rough (obviously there are many points on the spectrum of homelessness that someone might fall on, and not all will have slept rough).

Shakey15000 · 12/11/2015 13:46

On days like today when the weather is absolutely shiteous, I thank goodness I have a permanent roof over my head. YABU, judging without full facts and without compassion, in my opinion. Even if he does sleep on a couch, have a phone and a dog he's considerably worse off than I am.

There's a homeless man who begs, plays a whistle in my town. DS and I often buy him a cuppa, I give him a couple of cigarettes and next week DS (8) has suggested we buy him some woolly socks Smile

CactusAnnie · 12/11/2015 13:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CatThiefKeith · 12/11/2015 14:23

Oh ffs. So what if he spends some of his busking money on paying his phone bill? Having said that, how do you know he hasn't had the phone since before he was homeless? Maybe one of the shops lets him use their wifi and he is actually calling people on Viber or a similar app? You don't need to pay a phone bill to get the internet on an iphone you know.

As for his dog, what do you suggest he does with it? Sell it to pay his phone bill? Give it to a shelter to be put down?

Incidentally, the people in your town sound lovely, letting him sofa surf and helping him out with vets bills etc. You said he's quite popular. Has he done anything in particular to you to make you dislike him?

Qwertybynature · 12/11/2015 14:29

But that's all he's got; an I-phone and a dog. That's it. No real job, no home, no holidays, no car, no independence (if he's relying on everyone else for handouts and a roof over his head). Do you think you're being unreasonable OP, when you break it down?