How much do those guys on the street corners make?

http://able2know.org/topic/96511-1

I frequently see someone give them money.

Two bucks every five minutes would be $24/hour... tax free....

The very first episode of "60 Minutes" in 1969 had a story about a man who was mugged in mid-town in New York, and had to panhandle to get train fare back home. He made so much, he stopped going to work, and just went into the city to panhandle--in 1969, he was alleging he could get $30,000 to $35,000 a year, which was big bucks back then.

It's not a new story, either. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a Sherlock Holmes story entitled "The Man with the Twisted Lip," set in 1889, and published for the first time in 1891. In the story, a business man goes missing immediately after his wife thinks she has seen his face in the second story window of a house in a shabby neighborhood near The City. Rougly, the same story as above. Mr. St. Clair, having been obliged to beg for car fare one day, is so astonished at the amount of money he rakes in, that he gives up his job in The City, and takes to begging. When his wife spots him, he sees her also, and feels trapped--that he can't go home now. It is alleged (and i don't know on what authority) that Doyle based his story on a real life incident in London in the 1880s.

EDIT: I went to Wikipedia to see if i got the facts about Doyle's story straight, and although i have an insignificant error in them, i did thing this, at "The Straight Dope":

How Much Money Do Beggars Make?

I'd say over 90% of the time when I'm at a light I don't see them get anything for the cycle of that light.

Fair number of times I've had to sit through 2 cycles and don't see them getting anything either.

Maybe I'm at the wrong corners, but I just don't see them getting a couple of bucks every 5 minutes.

oh...just thought of something else.
For a year I had to work in San Marcos, and going home I would get off @ William Cannon off I-35 (very busy exit and intersection) You could easily sit through 4 lights before you got up to the intersection.

There was a guy there who would sell cold bottles of Ozarka water to people in the waiting cars. I can't remember what he charged, not more than a buck or two.
In the dozens of times I said though all those lights, I don't think I saw him sell more than 10 bottles.

Not saying I didn't miss seeing him sell any. But I remember watching him a lot because there was nothing else to look at.

I'll bet if he had a cat with him he would have sold a lot of water.

ok....I'm on a roll here....

A month ago, this guy was manning his corner with his dog, I was maybe 6 cars back.
He had just finished walkng back up close to the light which was about to change, and was bending over to put something on the ground. When he bent over the dog did something really adorable, like sat and then tried to shake hands. It wasn't part of a trick, you could tell it was totally unplanned. The guy looked at his dog and shook his hand, which made the pooch very happy, getting up and doing a little dance.
The light was changing just then, and the car right there tooted his horn and he put his hand out with some money. You knew it was because of this little display of affection between the 2. ****, for once, if the light hadn't changed, I would have given the guy money too. It was worth it.

I would think if you had a dog who could do a few good tricks you could make it like it was an entertainment fee. As long as you didn't wear the dog out. A cute pet trick is worth a dollar.

I can't stand this one guy who has a sign that say "Jokes for a dollar" Sorry, I don't want you getting up in my face to tell me a joke.

There was a woman I knew in Boston who would always go down to the nightclubs and everyone would give Mary a dollar for 'good luck'. When she passed away the authorities found a mattress in her old, ramshackled room stuffed with over $500,000. They had a heckuva time finding her next of kin but they did eventually find a sister who inherited the whole lot.

My husband and I were downtown one night. We went to The Alabama Theatre for something. A man approached us in the park and said he needed money for a train ticket. My husband said he would walk over to the train station and buy it for him...wherever he needed to go. He said, "That's okay", and walked away.

Was he offended that we didn't trust him? First of all - my husband did not have the cash. He would have had to use his Debit Card to get it for him. We told him that. And he wasn't about to walk to an ATM and get the money out. Not wise. It isn't that we didn't want to give it to him. My husband is a little stauncher than I am when it comes to money. He just felt the wisest thing to do was to go buy the ticket if he really needed the ticket.

When I was in college and was home for the summer. I was up late watching a movie . Mom and Dad had gone to bed. My brother was still out. I guess it was around 11:30pm. Someone knocked on the door and I opened it before I thought about it. A young fellow told me his mother broke down on the Causeway and needed a part for her car.

I am obviously not real quick because I immediately responded with " hang on"...I asked him how much the part was...he said around $20. I had $16 and something in change. I gave it to him. He told me he was going to bring me a couple of pounds of shrimp to pay me back. Fine, I said, no worries. Afterwards my Dad almost didn't let me out the rest of the summer because of his fear of my gullibility. But it was not my place to judge. And he didn't hurt me. Did he really need it? Was his story true? In my opinion, it is not my place to judge, I had it - I gave it.

I was in Albania for a summer. One day I made a mistake of giving a child a stick of gum in the square...I got mobbed by several children there begging. It was crazy. And scarey to be honest. I got lectured by a lady we were working with who was from Albania. I was told sternly and in a very harsh way by her that I should never give to the beggers. They knew where to get food if they really needed it. Every day I passed a group of children sitting around a little boy without his leg sitting on a blanket. They were little - beautiful little children with big brown eyes and dirty faces. I longed to give them a few Leks to help out...but remembered the harsh warning.

One day we had passed by and stopped to look at a local store front. I turned in time to see the little legless boy pop up from his blanket and reveal his cleverly disguised leg - gather his stuff and run with all of his brothers and sisters to the corner. Apparently, he made good money from those not from Albania and would stay there in there square every day until Mom got home from work. I would have still been happy to give him the Lek though. Most of those folks had so much less than I. I was just following orders.

I just think that there are some that will use others no matter what...the fact is - some people really need it...some people are taking advantage. My stand is - that is not my place to worry about. I can only know that if I with-hold what I have when I see need - that I will be responsible for that. I will let those that take advantage be responsible for their own motives. I can't worry about that. Will I be taken advantage -- sure - I am sure I have many times. But I am none the worse for it...that I know of anyway.

I do agree that there is an instinct that seems to kick in when I see some of these folks. I am not real sure of where they are coming from. But those times I have not really had what I needed to give. In other words...no cash. And I have been warned by my dad and my husband not to open the door up anymore to those I do not know. And I will say now that I have kids, I am quite a bit more cautious than I was.

All in all. I do not see the panhandling around here as much these days. I wonder why that is?

Do men tend to be more about the pay for the actual thing - like food, or a train ticket verses giving the money? Or is that more of a personality thing?

holy cow - I wrote a book...I am so sorry.

One time I was ordering a sub from a Subway/Mobile restaurant. The girl in front of me ordered seven dollars worth of food. When I emerged from the place she came up to me and said "could you spare some money? I need to get gas for my car". I said to her, "why didn't you take the seven bucks you just spent on food and out it in your gas tank? Then you could have driven home for lunch!".

She just said, "f..k you" and went about her panhandling.

I once traded a homeless woman 10.00 for a terrific blow job. Imagine how pissed off I was when I found out she wasn't really homeless...just a cheap hooker.

oh mismi....that guy didn't want your husband to buy him a train ticket because he didn't need one.
He wasn't offended that he thought your husband didn't trust him, he just wanted the money.

Personally I do feel it's my place to determine if the person really needs the money. It's my money, who else should be determining what I do with it?

Otherwise why wouldn't I be rolling down my window at every red light I come to, if it's not my place to decide who to give my cash to?

I'm not saying there aren't people who really need the help, and would use the money appropriately. However, I'm not blind. I see the same people on the corner, later seeing them coming out of a 7-11 with a 6 pack.

One time, I clipped this coupon for a 2-for-1 meal, planning on using it during the week. It was very distinctive...let's just say it was safety orange with a huge cartoon figure on it that couldn't be missed, and purple lettering (it wasn't that, but the point it you would recognize it at a distance. It must have been a good deal, or something really good, or I wouldn't have clipped it.

Later, I saw a car in front of me at a light hand this same coupon to a sign guy, and started talking to him. Frankly, I always wonder what those conversations are. I'd like to be a fly on the wall.
Anyway, the sign guy was earnestly nodding his head, talking, smiled at the driver, etc.

Then when the light changed the car moved and he had to pause to make a left hand turn, so I was stuck behind him. I watched the sign guy crumble up the coupon and toss it in the street. That really annoyed me because that coupon was good enough to feed a full meal to both me and my husband, and this guy could have stuffed himself, shared it with a friend or family, or saved one of the meals for the next day.

This guys sign said something like "Just Plain Hungry"

He wanted the cash for smokes or booze.

I'm just remembering now some story in the paper awhile back where they followed a sign guy around all day. He said he hated it when people would hand him food coupons. He wanted the money.

I watched a woman give a guy a bag with hamburgers in it (at least I know it was food from Burger King) He looked at it, then looked at her kind of disappointed, but you could see he did say thanks. Then, he walked over to his spot and just kinda tossed the bag down like it was a piece of garbage. He was another "just hungry" guy too.

If you were willing to work for food, I know exactly what you could do. Get yourself to a carwash and ask the manager if you could wipe down cars for the day. They'll give you a tshirt, give you a few dollars, and you get to keep your tips. You don't have to show up the next day if you don't want.

I worked for awhile as a cashier at a car wash in the ritzy side of town, and I don't remember the manager EVER turning away someone who wanted to put in a days work (unless he knew them from another time, and they had stolen stuff from a car). They were always running shorthanded.
I go to a normal carwash, and they never have enough dryers there either and you can tell some of the people there are just working day labor.

Ten Dollars! Righteous bucks.
Where can I get in on a deal like that?

just get gussied and make a sign that says "Will give head for 10.00" and you're in business baby... under the table as well....so to speak

that is what you were asking, right?

what I like to do is offer them a ride and a meal and some money... then hit them with chloroform.... then I take my buck knife and beginning at the pubis bone make a clean incision to the breast bone and OH god... the smell, the warmth of the blood and the smooth feel of the entrails... the screams.. the pleading... oh... wait.... got into a kind of weird zone there didn't I? "scuse me...never mind...

I used to be disgusted by these people begging, until I realized that they're actually selling something.

They're selling satisfaction. If you believe that you're actually helping them, then you give these people a couple of bucks and walk away feeling good about yourself.

necklaces made of vaginas, button earring from nipples.

oh....sorry, I was swept up in the moment.


under the table?

I dunno, I don't want the back of my head banging against all the gum and stuff under there.

Hmm...that's an interesting way to put it. Maybe that is why I don't worry about it too much. But, unfortunately that smug, satisfied feeling doesn't last long.