Aggressive Homeless People

[Doc Safari]

I visited the nearby town yesterday. It's had a homeless problem for some time, but this was beyond the pale. I encountered a homeless person using some very aggressive tactics to get a handout. (I say he's homeless because of the way he was dressed. Even though he had a bicycle everything thing else about him said "street person").

I went through the drive-thru of the local burrito barn and some guy on a bike was weaving in and out of the cars trying to get a handout. The lady in the car ahead of me gave him some money...so he proceeds to get IN FRONT OF ME in the drive-thru line so I can't go forward without acknowledging him. Then he approached first my driver's side, then my passenger side, to try to get my attention. I rolled the window down and yelled, "Don't block me!" At this point he began circling my vehicle like he wasn't going to go away without a handout. Finally, I looked him straight in the eye and wagged my finger at him. At this point he peddled off, or at least pretended to, then started circling my vehicle again. By this time I had pulled forward enough that I was next in line to pull up to the window. I pulled out my phone and started dialing the police. I think he saw me do that, so he rode off never to return.

Not that it matters in terms of the overall scenario, but he was a black guy taller than me (I'm over six foot) and he looked like the guy with the cigar at the beginning of Black Hawk Down.

Years ago a couple of guys tried to carjack me and failed because my doors were locked (I just drove off), but this is the closest I've come in years to thinking, "Am I going to have to pull my weapon?"

[HeruMew]

I visited the nearby town yesterday. It's had a homeless problem for some time, but this was beyond the pale. I encountered a homeless person using some very aggressive tactics to get a handout. (I say he's homeless because of the way he was dressed. Even though he had a bicycle everything thing else about him said "street person").

I went through the drive-thru of the local burrito barn and some guy on a bike was weaving in and out of the cars trying to get a handout. The lady in the car ahead of me gave him some money...so he proceeds to get IN FRONT OF ME in the drive-thru line so I can't go forward without acknowledging him. Then he approached first my driver's side, then my passenger side, to try to get my attention. I rolled the window down and yelled, "Don't block me!" At this point he began circling my vehicle like he wasn't going to go away without a handout. Finally, I looked him straight in the eye and wagged my finger at him. At this point he peddled off, or at least pretended to, then started circling my vehicle again. By this time I had pulled forward enough that I was next in line to pull up to the window. I pulled out my phone and started dialing the police. I think he saw me do that, so he rode off never to return.

Not that it matters in terms of the overall scenario, but he was a black guy taller than me (I'm over six foot) and he looked like the guy with the cigar at the beginning of Black Hawk Down.

Years ago a couple of guys tried to carjack me and failed because my doors were locked (I just drove off), but this is the closest I've come in years to thinking, "Am I going to have to pull my weapon?"

Sorry to hear, that's a trip and a half.

In my local City (of about 100k Residents but millions of tourists visit per year), we have some homeless population, not small, but not huge. We very rarely have any issues, however the crime and drug use has spilled over into some neighborhoods that hadn't experienced it very much in the past.

We did have a few reports of incidents in previous years, but not much else lately. To be honest, that type of thing is so uncommon where I live, I would have had a hand on my sidearm the entire situation. Due to the action and circling, I would feel that is very much threatening and aggressive behavior, preventing me from continuing on my path.

In this area, that would have put me into a very intensive OODA loop cycle, as something like that is so uncommon here, there's not much other explanation for it.

[26 Inf]

We have with I would call a large homeless population comparative to our population. As you know, many of them have mental problems as well as addiction issues. Ours tend to hang out in fast food joints and make a route between Mickey D's, BK, and a local chain called Spangles, within a three block area. They do this to avoid getting kicked out of places for loitering.

That joke in my circle of friends when we meet for coffee is whether we want to brave the homeless or go to one of the other Mickey D's.

On occasion I've been asked for money when I leave the Spangles, my standard response is, I don't have any cash, but I'll be glad to go back inside with you and buy you something. Haven't had any takers so far.

Seems to me they weren't nearly as many folks doing the homeless thing in the past. Unsure if it is the economy, or the fact that our community has a pretty good group of organizations that work together in helping get folks back on their feet.

[Doc Safari]

We have with I would call a large homeless population comparative to our population. As you know, many of them have mental problems as well as addiction issues. Ours tend to hang out in fast food joints and make a route between Mickey D's, BK, and a local chain called Spangles, within a three block area.

On occasion I've been asked for money when I leave the Spangles, my standard response is, I don't have any cash, but I'll be glad to go back inside with you and buy you something. Haven't had any takers so far.

It was some years ago, but a friend told me that he gave money to some guy who claimed to have not eaten in a day or two (or something like that), and as soon as the guy got his money he walked into a liquor store.

Another incident I'm familiar with: I worked at a machine shop back in the 1980's. One guy was getting paid more than me to just stand there and watch a certain machine and make corrections if needed. He had only one leg and stood on crutches.

One day the guy just up and quit. I was told later by another co-worker that he had quit his job to hang around a street corner begging for cash because he could make more money doing that than working at his job.

[26 Inf]

It was some years ago, but a friend told me that he gave money to some guy who claimed to have not eaten in a day or two (or something like that), and as soon as the guy got his money he walked into a liquor store.

You quoted me during my edit. LOL

Several years ago we had folks periodically standing on the highway by our mall entrance asking for food. Most folks gave them money which I figured went for booze or smoke. I figured a way to avoid that was buy them coupons for a Boston Market which was located near the mall entrance. (If you weren't familiar with Boston Market they were a pretty nice fast food chain featuring sandwichs, soup and comfort food.)You could see the corner where folks would stand from the Boston Market. One day I asked if anyone from the corner ever came in and used coupons. No, they come in and get refunds. Oh, well, my heart was right, even if theirs weren't.

[Doc Safari]

I actually used to give a few bucks to someone who had the courage to come up and ask...that is, until the day came when I was hit up three times in one day!

[JC5188]

Worst I've ever been around were in downtown St. Louis in the 2000-2001 timeframe. They actually used PROPS!

When I first moved there, I had a guy approach me carrying a mini-igloo lunch cooler, and a temp worker form from a staffing firm. Showed me the paperwork, claiming he was trying to better himself, just didn't have the bus fare to get to the job..."could I help him out?". Well, I gave the dude 5 bucks, and off he went. Three hours later, he approached me with the same bs. I said "you haven't caught that bus yet? What happened to the money I gave you this morning?". He looked at me, then said "aww, shit! My bad, man". Then grinned and walked away.

I've not given anyone money like that since.


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[TMS951]

In my city the beggars are all junkies and are constantly nodding off and falling asleep while begging.

The heroin epicdemic is a bad thing. But I'd rather dealing with junkies passing out than hopped up meth heads or what ever gets them all wild. Junkies are way more likely to hurt themselves than any one else.

[GH41]

Now we have professional homeless people. They dress in worn out cloths, don't shave and dirty up before going to work the streets. They work areas teeming with foreign tourist. They mostly prey on asians. I guess because they are easy to identify. I learned this in downtown St. Augustine Fla. We saw a scruffy old guy with a limp and working the street in front of our hotel off and on all day. You pretty much walk everywhere in the historic district. Coming back from dinner around 10PM we watched him jump in a late model SUV (no limp) and drive off. I ask the night clerk in the lobby about what we saw. She explained and said it is worse in Orlando.

[ggammell]

The pan handlers have increased exponentially around Northern VA. There was always your couple local homeless guys that every knew were out for beer money but within the last 12-18 months dozens more have shown up. Large intersection? Theres one on each median. We have one who drives a friggin Escalade. It's becoming a RICO type group. Behind the scenes, very organized. The new guys never fight amongst themselves. They are much cleaner than the usual. They only but heads with the old head regulars. And all tax free.