AIBU to be annoyed about a beggar....

[wellthatstornit]

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.

Would you like to spend a life sofa surfing op? I suppose women in refuges with their dc aren't really homeless either, are they?

errr OPs probably doing school run or gone to work or something.

If he hasn't got his own home he is homeless. He may have an iphone or do from before that time. You just don't know.
Busking is not the same as begging.
Nobody has to give him money and he isn't taking money from you personally so why do you care?

Homelessness is not always obvious as Pp have said! When I fled my violent 1st husband I was homeless. I slept in the car a few times but could shower at work ( we had a gym and clean up areas ) and even sleep in the locker room when needed. I probably looked fine too. Still had my mobile. I wasn't faking it but the council thought so since I was obviously clean and eating etc. Glad not everyone is so blind

OP is here oldfool thank you for your concern.

Thanks for all the replies, i knew i could rely on the AIBU lot for honest and non-sugarcoated answers. :)

To be honest, i think I knew i was just being mardy and insensitive. Im not a mean spirited person, and do give of both my time and money (as budget allows) to various voluntary organisations.....but your comments have made me realise that I am being grossly unfair and have made me ashamed of my post.

I dnt think its a case of being blind, just of having faith rocked recently by various articles of the bigger, established well known charities being guilty of misusing funds/harrassing pensioners with cold calls etc...it does tend to skew your sense of trust a little.

Totally understand. There is a witch hunt at the moment against everyone needing support. It's meant to cause mistrust. You had the insight to question it though [grin

That's exactly it notasinglefuck there's those that need it and those that feel they are entitled to it. It makes people suspicious and unsympathetic. Nice to hear you taken the comments well OP.

YABU. In what way is this guy affecting your life? He plays his whistle people voluntarily give him money. He doesn't sound likes living the life of Reilly. He has a phone and a dog. Big whoop.

Sounds like an unenviably precarious lifestyle to me.

Cross post OP.

Personally I think the MPS getting 300 something quid a day just for turning up at parliament ( which is their job ) to be major scroungers and a waste of tax money. I like a good busker

Notasingle
MPs don't get £300 for turning up.
You're confused with unpaid peers who do.

Well fair play to you for having the balls to re-assess your views and say that you have now changed your mind. Not many would do that.

I did put a laugh at the end. It was the point about so called scroungers on 70 quid a week being pummelled in the media while people in Westminster get many times that. I shall be more thorough in my future whimsy
Cheer up it's Friday!

If I became homeless, the first thing I would do is get the biggest dog I could find. A dog provides faithful companionship, and also security. Many homeless people feed their dogs before they feed themselves. I would also consider a mobile phone to be an essential...although I would be a bit sceptical of someone begging who has an up to date iphone on a contract. A basic pay as you go model is essential for security though.

I've had big dogs all my life ( until now ) for those reasons. Can walk through a rough estate no problem with a big protective pooch.

Echo norest. Fair play to you for your last post, OP.