Some old Photos for your enjoyment
- Thread starter JWFilips
- Start date
Had one of them actually agreed to any work I would have just bought them a burger and called it good. By refusing they got nothing. Never did I give any of them money, mighty slim chance that money would go for anything but booze/drugs. Fairly often I would buy them a burger or whatever fast food joint was nearby. Any money they got would still go for booze/drugs but at least they had something to eat.
Was a woman at the exit of the parking lot of my bank standing there rain or shine 9 to 5 M-F. It was her job after all. Her sign said out of work, 3 kids are hungry. At 5 every afternoon she walked into the parking lot, got into her brand new Cadillac and went home. It took like 3 years but she finally was arrested, I'm sure to no avail. She just went to a different place and carried on as usual.
KeithB
Resident Half Fast Machinist
Unfortunately many poor people in this country live in what's now called "food deserts", parts of a city where the only places that sell food are convenience stores such as 7-11 and the ilk. Look in your local convenience store and please tell me how many healthy foods - fresh fruits and vegetables, etc. - you find there. What you get are high calorie, high salt, low nutrition foods. Having enough calories to get fat is different than getting enough nutrition to be healthy. Combine the lack of mobility that many poor people have - many must use public transportation - with the lack of local grocery stores and you get fat, unhealthy people.
Street begger money story....
My wife is driving,I'm shotgun pulling into'ish downtown Baltimore. A place that has them all..... water bottle vendors,windshield guys,crackheads,yada.
So I'm feeling kinda charitable as we approach this BUSY intersection.... there's a light turning green and we'd sorta just come off a freeway or something. So I give wifey a dollar cause the guy is on her side.... but we're moving.
OK,do not need to go into how far up the ladder wifeypoo is on helping low resource folks,would take volumes. She's known and well respected not only across our state but... has been to Washington,yada yada.
She also,has about as much coordination as a falling tree branch....
So here she is,driving with a dollar bill out the window and the guy reaches for it but she doesn't let go...he starts kinda jogging but because we're taking off from the light,our speeds are increasing. I swear the guy makes it halfway out into this busy intersection and stops,she never let's go of the dollar..... I'm like,"you didn't just do that,why didn't you just drop it"?
My wife is driving,I'm shotgun pulling into'ish downtown Baltimore. A place that has them all..... water bottle vendors,windshield guys,crackheads,yada.
So I'm feeling kinda charitable as we approach this BUSY intersection.... there's a light turning green and we'd sorta just come off a freeway or something. So I give wifey a dollar cause the guy is on her side.... but we're moving.
OK,do not need to go into how far up the ladder wifeypoo is on helping low resource folks,would take volumes. She's known and well respected not only across our state but... has been to Washington,yada yada.
She also,has about as much coordination as a falling tree branch....
So here she is,driving with a dollar bill out the window and the guy reaches for it but she doesn't let go...he starts kinda jogging but because we're taking off from the light,our speeds are increasing. I swear the guy makes it halfway out into this busy intersection and stops,she never let's go of the dollar..... I'm like,"you didn't just do that,why didn't you just drop it"?
RBHarter
West Central AR
That's right there with a life long friend of mine . After dinner we , 3 Musketeer kinda guys , were going a block or 3 up the street to a club to check out a popular local classic rock , Dead Head , jam band and the slightly intoxicated college girls ......... A long , long time ago ......
Anyway this guy's at a bus stop and having quite the conversation , all by himself and Jorge (George , Scandinavian roots) say "hey how's it going" the guy says " it's alright" . Without any hesitation Jorge says in a slightly offended tone "I was talking to your friend" .
Don't know if there was anything going on with the guy or if he was just having a day . He did give Jorge a what the heck just happened here look though .
I look them over , given a few a little over the last 25 years . I've picked up a hitcher or 2 , one because I felt bad for his dog .
The most memorable was a guy with his sign " Why lie I just want a beer " points for honesty .
Anyway this guy's at a bus stop and having quite the conversation , all by himself and Jorge (George , Scandinavian roots) say "hey how's it going" the guy says " it's alright" . Without any hesitation Jorge says in a slightly offended tone "I was talking to your friend" .
Don't know if there was anything going on with the guy or if he was just having a day . He did give Jorge a what the heck just happened here look though .
I look them over , given a few a little over the last 25 years . I've picked up a hitcher or 2 , one because I felt bad for his dog .
The most memorable was a guy with his sign " Why lie I just want a beer " points for honesty .
Ahhh,college girls..... here's a good one.
Late '70's me and the ole man were doing some cabmet work at this very prestigious women's college. We were quite the pair,he was this stupid good looking graying 60 sumthin and I was deep tanned hard as a rock 20 y.o. so,we sorta just were nice to have around.
Only "real" rules the administration had working in the beautiful early 1900's dorms were..... and I swear am not making this up. When you got to a floor, "MAN ON THE FLOOR" was to be hollered out in a positive, authoritative manner. Me and dad( he wasn't my dad,but lots of folks called him that) were "sure,whatever ya'll want"?
This was a daily occurrence so it ain't like a onetime deal.... we'd yell it loud N proud,or kinda be yeah whatever about it. It did NOT matter,once we made the announcement,half nekid 19 y.o. would start flying out of rooms,running down halls,or shooting across the hall into other rooms. We'd even tested the theory by delaying the announcement..... wouldn't see a soul. But,make the call,here they come.
We used to laugh every time that subject would come up or folks talk about working at that college.... we'd look at each other and bust out laughing.
Late '70's me and the ole man were doing some cabmet work at this very prestigious women's college. We were quite the pair,he was this stupid good looking graying 60 sumthin and I was deep tanned hard as a rock 20 y.o. so,we sorta just were nice to have around.
Only "real" rules the administration had working in the beautiful early 1900's dorms were..... and I swear am not making this up. When you got to a floor, "MAN ON THE FLOOR" was to be hollered out in a positive, authoritative manner. Me and dad( he wasn't my dad,but lots of folks called him that) were "sure,whatever ya'll want"?
This was a daily occurrence so it ain't like a onetime deal.... we'd yell it loud N proud,or kinda be yeah whatever about it. It did NOT matter,once we made the announcement,half nekid 19 y.o. would start flying out of rooms,running down halls,or shooting across the hall into other rooms. We'd even tested the theory by delaying the announcement..... wouldn't see a soul. But,make the call,here they come.
We used to laugh every time that subject would come up or folks talk about working at that college.... we'd look at each other and bust out laughing.
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Keith, I admire your compassion but we don't have food deserts up here. In fact, quite the opposite. What I observe is groups of low income people eating the same stuff my family does plus a lot more of the high cal/high sugar garbage. Soda or beer is the liquid of choice, chips and Zingers and candy are always on hand, right there next to the couch they sit on 24/7 'cuz they don't/won't work. Of course there are plenty of cigarettes, new tatoos, new $800 phones, etc in evidence. Where's that money come from? I realize it depends on the individual circumstances and it's wrong to paint all of the group with the same brush, but it's so prevalent in my area that it's hard not to take notice. I have a lot more compassion for the senior on SS and a small pension than the 4th generation public assistance 20 something that leeches off the system.
Hawk
Well-Known Member
I have a SIL that is about 65 years old and hasn't worked in forty years. She tried to get social security, but hasn't worked enough quarters.
She has an older model car, fairly new cell phone and all the other devices that modern working families have.
She gets most of her money from the government and the rest from local religious charities.
All her medical costs are paid for by Medicaid (she just had a colonoscopy last week} and she scams a lot of disability money from the government.
She's the outcast of the family and no one will talk to her, because two minutes into the conversation, she's trying to guilt trip you into giving her money.
We are kept up on her current events because she blasts out blanket texts to the entire family, hoping that someone will respond and she can get a conversation going and ask for money. No one ever responds.
By the way, she has a BS in psychology from Stephen F. Austin that here parents paid for.
Before you start feeling sorry for her, know that everyone in the family has helped her out so many times in the past on her promise to get a job, that we are just tired of the bullchit.
She thinks she is one of the entitled ones that should have everything given to them.
Sorry, getting off the soapbox now.
She has an older model car, fairly new cell phone and all the other devices that modern working families have.
She gets most of her money from the government and the rest from local religious charities.
All her medical costs are paid for by Medicaid (she just had a colonoscopy last week} and she scams a lot of disability money from the government.
She's the outcast of the family and no one will talk to her, because two minutes into the conversation, she's trying to guilt trip you into giving her money.
We are kept up on her current events because she blasts out blanket texts to the entire family, hoping that someone will respond and she can get a conversation going and ask for money. No one ever responds.
By the way, she has a BS in psychology from Stephen F. Austin that here parents paid for.
Before you start feeling sorry for her, know that everyone in the family has helped her out so many times in the past on her promise to get a job, that we are just tired of the bullchit.
She thinks she is one of the entitled ones that should have everything given to them.
Sorry, getting off the soapbox now.
Gary
SE Kansas
I am so callus'd to the situation(plight) of the "poor" in my community that my compassion has abated. Still give to food banks, and clothing drives (NOT goodwill) but NO money to the "needy" since that subclass of citizen really doesn't exist anymore. With all the govt. "programs" in existence at present poor as a subclass is a third world category. I didn't know it until yesterday, but there are still "free" cellphones. Millions if not billions of dollars wasted every year on people that REFUSE to work. Something UN biblical about that IMO. Maybe they all need a "go fund me" page.