Met a homeless man on Saturday

GibbosEmpire

GibbosEmpire

Well-known member
While working on the door in Brighton I met a homeless man on Saturday. He stayed beside my door for from about 8pm to 3am. He said he'd just been outside the grand for just 2 hours and had been given about £160, and then an Australian lady gave him $100 aussie dollars, which is about 50 quid i think. He said he had a flat to go to, and that another guy is coming after for his "shift", I **** you not. People were constantly buying him alcohol as there was an off license next to us, he had a bag full of beer and was swigging a vodka bottle straight all night.


I know this isn't constricted just to Brighton, it happens alot all over the country, but I think it really detracts from genuine homeless people and gives them a bad name. How as a society do we change?
 
GibbosEmpire said:
While working on the door in Brighton I met a homeless man on Saturday. He stayed beside my door for from about 8pm to 3am. He said he'd just been outside the grand for just 2 hours and had been given about £160, and then an Australian lady gave him $100 aussie dollars, which is about 50 quid i think. He said he had a flat to go to, and that another guy is coming after for his "shift", I **** you not. People were constantly buying him alcohol as there was an off license next to us, he had a bag full of beer and was swigging a vodka bottle straight all night.


I know this isn't constricted just to Brighton, it happens alot all over the country, but I think it really detracts from genuine homeless people and gives them a bad name. How as a society do we change?
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Something like 90%+ of the money given to beggars goes on either booze or drugs.
 
zzzzz said:
Something like 90%+ of the money given to beggars goes on either booze or drugs.
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Which is why I don't give money. I offer food from the nearest bakers - they choose and I will go and buy. One kept arguing he wanted Greggs vouchers instead so he could sell them (he told me that direct) so I wished him well and left.

If they are genuinely homeless they will always accept warm food.
 
Doncaster station has a lad who wants you to go to the cash point for him, sums the place up.
Last home game I was at there was a young girl begging outside the HSBC bank, i went in the piggy and gave her some change from my pint she was genuinely grateful
 
The night before our play off final with Norwich I drunkenly decided to sit and talk with a homeless man at Kings Cross. I bought him and a few other homeless guys some food. They didn't want it. They said that they get more food than they know what to do with. He recited a story of a woman earlier in the day brining him a tray full of sandwiches - which he declined. The said, what the **** am I going to do with a tray full of sandwiches!!! 😮 (I'm not sure what this story adds to the thread to be honest 🤣).

I suppose a more relatable story to the OP would be when I was having a coffee up on Gray Street, Newcastle. Watching the world go by, I clicked two beggers on the opposite side of the street to each other. They would point to each other when nobody was looking, then gesticulate about which passer by to try and get money from. As people would walk by, you could notice an act being put on depending on how kind natured their victim looked. It really annoyed me that there are people so lazy that they'd resort to this for money and detract from the genuine cases of homelessness.
 
BlindBoyGrunt said:
For most of them that's the manifestation of deeper problems and if they don't get the money they need through begging they will get it some other way because they have to.
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That may well be the case but I'm not feeding their habits.
I'd be gutted to think I'd contribute to someone overdose.
 
GibbosEmpire said:
While working on the door in Brighton I met a homeless man on Saturday. He stayed beside my door for from about 8pm to 3am. He said he'd just been outside the grand for just 2 hours and had been given about £160, and then an Australian lady gave him $100 aussie dollars, which is about 50 quid i think. He said he had a flat to go to, and that another guy is coming after for his "shift", I **** you not. People were constantly buying him alcohol as there was an off license next to us, he had a bag full of beer and was swigging a vodka bottle straight all night.


I know this isn't constricted just to Brighton, it happens alot all over the country, but I think it really detracts from genuine homeless people and gives them a bad name. How as a society do we change?
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So what you are saying is you didn’t meet a homeless man on Saturday…. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
I'm sure his circumstances will be far more complex than you've described. I've been homeless twice in my life - the first time sleeping rough the second time sleeping on ppl's floors - and like the vast majority of the current 309,000 homeless in England didn't resort to begging.
 
There's a fella near Greggs on Newport Road and I often buy him something. I was sat in my van and up he comes 'any spare cash for a brew mate' yes fella no probs, I'll buy how many sugars! 'oh and a steak bake please' Oh and for desert I asked! Shy bairns get nowt.
 
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BaronSmoggie said:
So, I'm not homeless and I do similar. If they ask for cash, I'll give it to them, its not for me to pass judgement on what they do to make their lives a little bit easier.
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Or kill themselves.
As with a few of the others happy to buy them a coffee or a bite to eat.
Each to their own but I never give cash.
 
kuepper said:
I'm sure his circumstances will be far more complex than you've described. I've been homeless twice in my life - the first time sleeping rough the second time sleeping on ppl's floors - and like the vast majority of the current 309,000 homeless in England didn't resort to begging.
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Whilst I agree his circumstances aren't straight forward, a lot of people give money, food and drink because they believe they have no money or a place to go.
 
I will often offer to buy a coffee and a sarny. If they have loads of gear with them then I’ll give money. It’s pretty obvious who are the genuine homeless people. I always want to give them money regardless because no matter whether they are homeless or not, they are in a sh*t situation, but my partner b^llocks me if I suggest it.
 
I don’t know if you can all remember the fella in Boro town centre, think he was French. Used to spend all day begging in the centre then got the train back to his house in Whitby.

I think his name was Nicolas.
 
zzzzz said:
That may well be the case but I'm not feeding their habits.
I'd be gutted to think I'd contribute to someone overdose.
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BaronSmoggie said:
So, I'm not homeless and I do similar. If they ask for cash, I'll give it to them, its not for me to pass judgement on what they do to make their lives a little bit easier.
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Reminds me of this same conundrum being addressed by Ricky Gervais in the first series of Afterlife.

Uncomfortable viewing but thought provoking.
 
Begging is begging and the genuine needs get mixed in with the proffesional beggars. In Thailand i see women with babys and toddlers on the street... after been reliably informed the kids are most likely not hers but borrowed for a fee and are drugged to keep them sleepy the thought process changes
 
I was always comfortable giving a few spare coins here and there but it’s becoming a huge problem as poverty rates increase. You would only ever see beggars in town but they’re now outside most convenience stores, bookies and cash machines at least some of the time.

I’ve also heard rumours that some of them are dropped off in locations by dealers to work shifts in exchange for drugs. I’m not certain of this but I have noticed the odd one turn up and take the place of another one when I would normally expect them to defend their patch if they were making decent money.
 
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