Gimme your change. Now!

I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older or perhaps I’m becoming more cynical or even if it’s coincidental, but I’ve been noticing lately that the homeless have become more forward. More brazen. More confident. More rude.

There was a time I remember when a confrontation with a homeless man/woman went something like this…

Homeless: Hello, sir. Could you spare some change? I’m hungry. (And that was followed by the reason they were homeless)

Me (with a warm heart): Oh yeah, sure. Here you go. God bless.

I always gave. And I never judged. I always gave them the benefit of the doubt. Who am I to judge?
You want a beer? Fine.
You’re hungry? Cool.
Drug habit? Ok. Again, whatever, here’s a buck. God bless. See you later.

I’m beginning to reevaluate my free handouts and monetary generosity. Why you ask?
Well, twice in the last two months I’ve been approached by- quite frankly- rude homeless people. I will share with you one of the cases…

I was at the gas station and I was on the phone with my dad. It wasn’t a life altering conversation but it was pretty important. A homeless woman came up to me and very abruptly and loudly said: Can you spare some change? She had all the classic symptoms of being homeless- dirty, smelly, bad hair, greasy nails, worn out shoes, etc. She was indeed without a home.

I looked right at her, smiled, and signaled “hold on” by giving her the nonverbal pointed index finger. It’s something most normal people do when they’re talking on the phone with someone and only need a quick minute to wrap up the phone conversation. I was actually planning on giving her some change but my hands were full with my phone and the gas pump (I was pumping). I really didn’t feel I was being rude and I thought to myself this lady can wait a sec. She certainly wasn’t in a rush, was she?
Were my 3 quarters, 3 nickels and 2 pennies something she just couldn’t wait for?
Was she in a rush to get home? Doubt it.
Was she late for work? Doubt that too.

Well, no later than about 45 seconds later she came back up to me- while I was just about done with my conversation but not quite finished- and very rudely said: I asked you a question!

I was shocked. Not annoyed, just shocked. I got off the phone and not knowing what else to do I gave her some change. When I gave it to her she looked disappointed. I guess I looked like a guy worth a few green pieces of paper. (Never mind I had on a sleeveless T-shirt, mesh shorts and sandals and I was putting gas into my beat up truck that I rarely wash)

I may have been willing to give her 2-3 bucks if she hadn’t been so rude but this woman was downright mean. In hindsight I wish I hadn’t given her the money but it’s OK.

I have nothing against the homeless and I do feel for many of them. And I almost always give change when someone asks me, but there are certain ways to ask. When you want something from someone show some manners! Perhaps this woman’s rudeness is what caused her to not get jobs which in turn caused her to go homeless.

She probably would go to interviews, interview fairly well, and then at the end of the interview would scream DID I GET THE JOB OR WHAT!?

Well, we were considering you, and your resume looks fantastic, but we’re going to go with someone else.

Yeah, that’s probably why she’s homeless.