Begging on the Streets

As my two readers may not be aware....I recently found myself in what could best be described as, "a sticky financial situation". I had...how do I put it delicately...no money. I had heard my whole life, "if you're rich in spirit, and you have a roof over your head...you can never be poor". Whoever told me that was a liar. Having 0 money is terrible. Paying for subway rides with pennies and nickels is terrible. Becoming a dollar menunaire at Mickey D's is terrible. But, like the same person who lied about the rich in spirit BS told me, every cloud has a silver lining. My poverty allowed me to empathize for beggars. Before the week of poverty, I had thought, "HEY GET A JOB. I DID", everytime someone can on my subway train and started, "i'm sorry to bother you..." But during the week of poverty, everytime i saw a beggar, i would tell them, "i hear you, man....I just paid for this ride with some pence from the UK!" . HOWEVER, all of that having been said, I'd like to take some time to give any of my homeless beggar readers out there a few tips:

Keep it nice
I can't tell you how many times i've seen beggars lash out when things don't go their way. One time I was walking home, and there was some woman on the street begging who started out so nice and was like "sweetie..i need money..." -- I did the obligatory "look down and pretend you didn't hear" move. Obiviously Woman on the Street didn't like this AT ALL, and she responded with, "well you look like you've never had to go hungry for too long". Hey, you just called me sweetie -- now you're telling me i look like i've never skipped a meal?? Any shot you had at my turning around and giving you some spare change has flown out the window. Yesterday, on the subway, one particularly aggressive beggar yelled, "SLUT", to this awkward librarian type with glasses who didn't look up from her book to give him money. I, of course, didn't make matters any better b/c even after he got off the train, i turned to the entire train and asked, "wait, did he just call that girl a slut??" Awkward Librarian looked like she wanted to die.

Show some creativity
There are some homeless people who really show some creativity -- they sing, they tap bricks on the ground to make noise, they breakdance, they hum really loudl while rocking back and forth. I like to see this, and I am definitely more inclined to give you money if you, in whatever way you can, "worked for it".

Look the Part
I sometimes see beggars with nicer nikes than I have. This makes me particularly livid, as, right now, I have 2 pairs of shoes I continue to wear with holes in them. Now, I'm not saying I *should* be walking around with hole-y shoes, but I don't think beggars should be wearing un hole-y shoes when they are asking me (girl who is wearing shoes w/holes) for money.