How do you deal with it when this happens?

Hah, that giant space was from my flying cursor.
Not me, at all.

So, I need to give my computer a rest.

And now that cursor stuff is gone. It's scary when it happens, as if my whole online life will melt.

Whatever, keep yelling at each other, Tico and Msolga. Or don't, as it is fairly useless .. most of what any of us propose is not a surprise.

Once in a while I agree with the wrong people. Consternates a bunchh of folk.

Maybe u saw Charles Bronson in Death Wish or maybe u r just smart.





David

...well that is honest and refreshing for a change...some people around actually follow reason instead of group voting...great !

I'll vote for "smart".
No disrespect to Mr. Bronson, of course.

While hitch hiking through Houston, nearly 35 years ago, I got put in jail. Too close to the freeway. I could have saved the city some money, just by continuing on my way, but the cop saw it his way, which is arrest and jail time, meaning taking up court time, eating taxpayer funded trays of slop, etc.

Few of the men I served time with in the slammer appeared to be hardened criminals. Most were vagrants, I thought.

Getting booked was a bit harrowing. The guy standing next to me appeared to be an easterner. Which is no biggie to me, but could be some sort of a crime to the booking officer. He hit that guy so hard that he hurt his fist. The guy flew out of the room, just like they do in the cartoons. I never saw him again. After sucking on his knuckles a bit, the officer sat down to take up my situation. Noting my Rhode Island driver license, he glowered at me. "You a Yankee?" "No, sir (eyes straight ahead)" A different officer thought I conducted myself with proper humility and said something in my favor. So, I went straight into a cell, where we spent much of our time trying to roll cigarettes, using the papers and tobacco provided by the jail.

Three days later, I was dropped off in town, near the Star of Hope mission. One of the ex-prisoners took me under his wing. "I'll get you home." He walked to the street corner and began panhandling. The money began coming in pretty rapidly. At one point, a street person approached me and sought to make conversation. The man panhandling lost it. He berated the man and ordered him to keep away from me. Soon, he was back to gathering money. Then, he had to have a drink. Then another drink. Almost as fast as he had collected the money, it dwindled.

Seeing the futility of expecting a bus ticket, I waited until the panhandler became distracted. I walked away from that street corner just as fast as I could. In fact, I did not quit walking, until I came to FM 1960, a considerable distance from the city.

I approached a gas station attendant and asked permission to warm myself at his heater. "Aw, you're hitching," he said. He handed me a small stack of bills. "Stand over there and wave down the bus."

Later, when I returned to Houston, I could not find that man to offer further thanks and restitution.

It is episodes of my life like this one that helps me see the situation from both sides. I am the giver/beggar and not a bit ashamed to be either one.

Interesting, but do you realize that you were only successful in obtaining the money you needed to get home when you stopped begging and (conciously or subconciously) trusted to the unsolicited generosity of others.

I never really believed the beggar would get me a ticket. At first, I did not expect that passersby would be so generous. By the time I changed my mind, the incident where he "protected" me occurred. I then suspected he saw in me a travelling companion. Spending it on drink, of course, nailed it. So, I was only begging a little.

People give unsolicited money much more often than you might think. A guy in Kansas gave me a twenty as we rode and discussed politics. I insisted on having a mailing address, to return the twenty. A truck driver bought my meals and put me up at his house for a week, until I got a job. Seeing need, some are moved to give. When I give, I hand over as much as I can come up with.

Actually, I did not solicit the beggar for a handout. He took it on himself to volunteer it. I just waited to see what would happen - and was more than willing to accept it if if given.

I have given to people who have not asked, sometimes.

That can be a little risky.
Sometimes just handing them $$ gets them mad; sometimes, defensive.

Sometimes, she literally leaps up in the air, squealing with joy, repeatedly.
U never know what to expect.





David

I think people will quite often give unsolicited money, but if you try to make a living off of such generosity, you will starve.

Panhandlers don't.

I have never assumed I would be given a thing. It was always a surprise, the times it happened. Not worked for, not insinuated.

Yeh.

I know there are begging scams. It's part of why we are sardonic. I also know some people are in horrid circumstances.

Getting to help - you think they have the address of the right agency and can just get there and wait for five hours just to do a form?

I'm not saying you assumed you would receive anything.

I do think that when you were panhandling you hoped or expected you would.

I'm sure you didn't assume you would be the recipient of the unsolicited generosity you received. That's generally the way it works.

What I am saying is that while unsolicited generosity is fairly common:

a) It is not so common that people can get by on it alone
b) Many of the people who are generous on an unsolicited basis do not respond well to solicitations
c) Responding favorably to solicitations (begging - panhandling) is not necessarily an expression of generosity

Technically, I was not panhandling. Unasked, the panhandler told me he would get me a ticket. I was dubious from the start, but waited to see what would happen. I would have gladly taken the money, however.

"How is that "technically" the correct answer??
I don t follow the logic here...."

OK.....assuming that one constantly has money coming in and money going out on a day to day basis throughout one's life, it would be incorrect to state that any of that money is "spare" until one reaches the point when it is definitely no longer needed.

So....

Q. "Do you have any spare change?"

A. "I don't know.....I can say that I have change, but whether it's spare or not is another matter, as I may need it tomorrow/next week/whenever...come back and ask me when I'm seconds away from popping my clogs and I'll give you a definite answer, as I won't be able to take it with me."

I see what u meant. Thank u.


I have not accepted any pennies nor nickels for some years, now.
I have abandoned them.





David

I just say no. If they follow and ask I tell them "I have pepper spray, want a taste?" They usually take off.

Here's my experience:

"Do you have any spare change?"

"Of course. In case I lose my primary change, I always carry spare."

"Can I have it?"

"Now where would I be if I lose my primary change after giving you my spare change?"

"Well, what are the odds you're gonna lose your primary change anytime soon?"

"I don't know, but hey, **** happens. I could get in an accident on the way home and have to use up my primary change to fix my car."

"Yeah right. You want me to believe you ain't got no insurance?"

"It's really none of your business, but no, I don't."

"Well, I'll tell you what," he said, pulling a cellphone out of his pocket, you give me your spare change and I won't call the cops and tell them that the guy leaving Scott's Party Store in a red Chevy Impala with the license plate number _______ is driving without insurance."

"What the hell, man!! You need my spare change, but you got a ******* cellphone?"

"I stole it."

So I pulled out my cellphone and said, "Well maybe I'll just call the cops and tell them that the homeless-looking guy hanging out in front of Scott's Party Store has a stolen cellphone."

"Go ahead. I'll just take off running for that Walmart across the street and ditch it somewhere inside, but not before calling the cops and reporting that the guy in the red Chevy Impala leaving Scott's Party Store with the license plate number _____ is driving without insurance."

"Fine," I said, reaching into my pocket and pulling out about two dollars in change. "Take it."

"No," he said with an evil little grin, "you keep your spare change. Gimme your primary change. Pull out the wallet."
_______________________

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the best thing to do is to just walk away. But the real moral of the story is: Never drive without insurance; and if you do, don't tell anyone, especially homeless-looking guys hanging out in front of party stores; especially Scott's Party Store.
_______________________

Okay, that didn't really happen. And seriously, I cannot turn anyone down.