To be pissed off by the sleeping rough, drunk people

[fleurlechaunte]

who accost me for spare change whenever I walk down the road with my two small children in tow. This happens at least 3 times a week.

I don't mean to generalise here and I know there are real genuine hard luck stories out there but these people do my head in.

If I have any spare change I will be spending it on my children thank you, not on your next Can of Special Brew or a contribution to your next wrap of Brown. Ask the single person in the smart suit or the well dressed young men coming out of the expensive bars that may be able to afford to help you out. Not a single mum with two small kids, pushing a falling to bits buggy.

Well am I?

H - as "search" appears to be broken, I can't point you to a relevant post. However, think toxic mothers in law, spouting thoughtless, ill informed and hypocritical crap.

Rather than using a baseball bat, use a sheet of paper with a ranked set of phrases (marks out of ten for each) tailored to the individual, and watch those points mount up.

No prizes other than the justified use of one of those horizontal fully sealed smiles with matching raised eyebrows.

Not that anyone here was spouting thoughtless, ill informed and hypocritical crap of course.

YABU and seriously out of order!

Havent read whole thread I admit but FFS get a grip woman, some of these folk dont choose to be homeless, If you were homeless Im sure if it came to it you would ask passers by for spare change!

If you dont want to give them money do what I do, get to mearest greggs, buy a hot pastie and soup, give them that, at least it wont be on "special brew" or "brown"

Who are you to judge others?

Must be great up there on your pedestal.

I haven't seen " sheesh" on this thread yet. Who's up for it? Namechangerforareason?

Or you could do

_

or

Any would be fine with me

TIA

Cat, one of us has been taking mind altering substances cos I can't understand what the feck you are on about!

Hecate, You may be right. It WAS policy at the time for staff to lie to claimants and tell them that they couldn't claim without an address.

They said it to me at the time. When I said "that's not the case" they said "ok then" and gave me a form to sign and told me to come back in a couple of hours to collect it.

I don't know if they still do that or even if the rules have changed. It was a long while ago.

Thanks for all further opinions. Stand by all I said previously.

"with all your extra baggage that you trot out like it's a get-out-of-jail free card"

Thanks for your summing up Triggles. Aren't you lovely?

not quite.

Hey, no prob. Happy to sum it up for ya.

Haven't read the whole thread because I know it'll annoy me.

YABU.

If I was homeless, and living on the street, trust me, I'd be pissed.

Cat one for your bingo then.
Sheesh! Good way to teach your children about compassion OP! Self pity is not a great quality but you seem to have bags of it! Would you rather your children grew up compassionate or selfish? Ask yourself that & have a good hard look at your attitude. So you have been dealt some crappy cards in life, who has not? There is always someone worse off than yourself. Always.
These folk dont know your situation & you dont know theirs! But you still see fit to tar them all with the same brush! Pathetic. Everyone has problems not just you so get over yourself!
i an sure they all dont wait around to ask only you for spare change, im sorry your not that special!
i hope you never need the help of a stranger! What a fine example you are to us all!
What a sad little life you must lead if all you can do is come on here telling all your admittedly sad story but think that gives you the right to judge others & as i said self pity. You need to get a grip, seriously, last time i checked the

Cat one for your bingo then.
Sheesh! Good way to teach your children about compassion OP! Self pity is not a great quality but you seem to have bags of it! Would you rather your children grew up compassionate or selfish? Ask yourself that & have a good hard look at your attitude. So you have been dealt some crappy cards in life, who has not? There is always someone worse off than yourself. Always.
These folk dont know your situation & you dont know theirs! But you still see fit to tar them all with the same brush! Pathetic. Everyone has problems not just you so get over yourself!
i an sure they all dont wait around to ask only you for spare change, im sorry your not that special!
i hope you never need the help of a stranger! What a fine example you are to us all!
What a sad little life you must lead if all you can do is come on here telling all your admittedly sad story but think that gives you the right to judge others & as i said self pity. You need to get a grip, seriously, last time i checked the

Cat one for your bingo then.
Sheesh! Good way to teach your children about compassion OP! Self pity is not a great quality but you seem to have bags of it! Would you rather your children grew up compassionate or selfish? Ask yourself that & have a good hard look at your attitude. So you have been dealt some crappy cards in life, who has not? There is always someone worse off than yourself. Always.
These folk dont know your situation & you dont know theirs! But you still see fit to tar them all with the same brush! Pathetic. Everyone has problems not just you so get over yourself!
i an sure they all dont wait around to ask only you for spare change, im sorry your not that special!
i hope you never need the help of a stranger! What a fine example you are to us all!
What a sad little life you must lead if all you can do is come on here telling all your admittedly sad story but think that gives you the right to judge others & as i said self pity. You need to get a grip, seriously, last time i checked the

Cat one for your bingo then.
Sheesh! Good way to teach your children about compassion OP! Self pity is not a great quality but you seem to have bags of it! Would you rather your children grew up compassionate or selfish? Ask yourself that & have a good hard look at your attitude. So you have been dealt some crappy cards in life, who has not? There is always someone worse off than yourself. Always.
These folk dont know your situation & you dont know theirs! But you still see fit to tar them all with the same brush! Pathetic. Everyone has problems not just you so get over yourself!
i an sure they all dont wait around to ask only you for spare change, im sorry your not that special!
i hope you never need the help of a stranger! What a fine example you are to us all!
What a sad little life you must lead if all you can do is come on here telling all your admittedly sad story but think that gives you the right to judge others & as i said self pity. You need to get a grip, seriously, last time i checked the

Cat one for your bingo then.
Sheesh! Good way to teach your children about compassion OP! Self pity is not a great quality but you seem to have bags of it! Would you rather your children grew up compassionate or selfish? Ask yourself that & have a good hard look at your attitude. So you have been dealt some crappy cards in life, who has not? There is always someone worse off than yourself. Always.
These folk dont know your situation & you dont know theirs! But you still see fit to tar them all with the same brush! Pathetic. Everyone has problems not just you so get over yourself!
i an sure they all dont wait around to ask only you for spare change, im sorry your not that special!
i hope you never need the help of a stranger! What a fine example you are to us all!
What a sad little life you must lead if all you can do is come on here telling all your admittedly sad story but think that gives you the right to judge others & as i said self pity. You need to get a grip, seriously, last time i checked the

Could you repeat that please Namechange , I didnt quite catch it

what a nasty attitude from the OP. Reminds me of the crowds of people who walked past me when I was trying to help a homeless man who had been stabbed. Hundreds of people must have strolled on by before I chanced upon him.

Terrible thing was, he refused to go to A&E because he was convinced they would just turn him away. Nothing I could say would persuade him - he was frightened and vulnerable and used to being treated like the shit on society's shoe. In the end I took him up to a shelter in the hope that the workers there would be able to encourage him.

Just as well the guy with the knife hadn't hit an artery. Because I can guarantee none of the buggers who ignored the victim would have bothered to call an ambulance.

namechangeforareason Last time you checked the what? You've nearly checked it five times now.

chegirl

OP I've now read all the thread. And it's just as I suspected.

I don't think anyone here is being a hypocrite, tbh.

You say that your situation is difficult... more than a few times... but that bears no relation to someone living OUTSIDE ffs. What planet are you living on, seriously?

You have a roof over your head, food in your and your dcs tummies - do you think that people choose to be homeless? Do you think that if they had the help and support needed to get off the streets and off the drink or drugs, that they wouldn't take the offer?

This thread has made me really angry. Because I know that a lot of people actually think like you, and that makes me sad.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself, and get some compassion, would be my advice.

the thing that annoys me is when my local drunk doesn't even recognise that he just asked me for change five minutes ago when we walked by the other way. sometimes i do give, but would be more inclined to do so if he would take a minute to look at the person he is asking! good manners don't cost anything ...

Oh and to the OP, I get a bit pissed off with very aggressive begging too, but it wears off quickly and certainly isn't something about myself that I feel proud of.

I didn't have anywhere to live for a month of my life - never ended up on the streets thanks to friend's sofas, but it really messes with your mind. I always think "there but for the grace of the tooth fairy go I."

And yes, I got drunk sometimes. Apart from numbing me from the horror and fear of it all, it kept me warm and made the long walks across the city pass a bit more quickly.

my MIL drinks Special Brew

Thing is that if they haven't changed the benefit rules then they can have money and have no real reason to beg.

"do you think that people choose to be homeless"

Actually, yes some do.

I've got nothing special against homeless people or beggers, but am curious how this works out.

onagar, I suspect you would struggle to find someone that wants to be homeless, honestly.

I know people who have given up rented property to go and live on a bus which is to become homeless, homelessness does not neccasarily mean sleeping rough. I am using these people as an example in an essay I am writing about homeless people being considered out of place.

Another two points I have discovered in writing this, yes you can claim benefits as nfa, people who sleep rough do claim benefits.
And I don't know if this is the law in the UK, but it is in LA! (someone previously said why do they not get tents) ANY 'shelter' is confiscated, and it is illegal to put up any kind of shelter. If there is a similar law in the UK, it would make sense not to spend money on said shelter only for it to be taken away.