FreedomFries says: 2005-08-17 12:31:39
A guy like the comment above is a thinker. He gets paid a buck, plus he gets a free shower.

nekochan says: 2005-08-24 11:50:11
I once gave a guy a quarter cause his sign said "need money for beer" - this was at the corner of broadway and portage. I told him he was only getting it for being honest. Plus, it was all the actual cash I had on me. My favorite sign was "want to get off streets, need money for bus ticket to rejoin family in BC" Now, I don't know about this guy's family, but if it was mine, they'd scrounge up the $150 bucks for the bus ticket and send it to me. Doesn't that make more sense than making your family member beg on the streets? And as money becomes more and more electronic, how are bums gonna get the change they so desperatly need?

BigB says: 2005-08-25 10:15:49
I was at Smitty's the other day and a woman came up to me while I was enjoying a smoke and asked me for change for a coffee and something to eat. I told her I would buy her something to eat and drink but I wouldn’t give her money. She called me a "f-ing a-hole" and scampered off. Then my buddy came out and gave her change. He cleaned out his pocket for her and she got equally mad at him because it wasn't enough to take a bus (he gave her between $3-4. Has bus fare gone up that much? GOOD!). This made me think; Part of giving is to feel appreciated isn't it? You’re going to feel good about yourself for doing it. What if every Christmas your family belittled you for the presents you bought for them? Saying what you bought them is junk even though you have put lots of time and energy into making or picking (saving) those presents. When I used to work downtown there was many times that I was confronted for a cigarette or change. I don't mind giving out a cigarette but I will never give change. I always offer for them to come in with me and I’ll buy them a coffee and surprisingly I only had one taker out of probably 20-30.

Anonymous says: 2005-08-26 12:59:17
The Bums in the Peg are some of the worst. Why someone would choose a cold barren wasteland to be a bum is one of life's mysteries (kind of the same mystery of why poor people are always so fat - shouldn't they be skinny?) Anyways, sure, on the Bum Continuum there are varying degrees of Bum. But overall, Winnipeggers seem to let the bums rule the streets. Next time you leave a social after dark and have to walk 5 drunken blocks to your car, make sure you keep your wits about you or you could be swarmed. The average taxpayers need to band together to put a stop to this. After all there's no justice like angry mob justice. Bums have more rights than you and I. I'm pretty sure if I wandered the streets high on crack soacked in my own urine harassing the productive members of society, I would end up in the drunk tank. But Bums seem to have an exemption. So you just put in an 8 hour work day, And now you're giving away your money? Friendly Manitoba doesn't mean you have to empty your pockets for every greasey bum that has stopped urinating in public long enough to beg for your hard earned coin. I once heard a lady on tv say "Don't call them bums. They're people who are homeless". Interesting, but I disagree. If you find it normal to s**t on the concrete in an alley (come on, even wild animals dig a hole first), if you set up camp in that park across from Disraeli freeway, and if you emit a strong odor of ass, then you fit the bum criteria. Get off the curb, take a dip in the Red, go to the Salvation Army for some new threads, and stop stealing my car. Is that too much to ask?

nekochan says: 2005-09-03 16:46:46
When they started posting those ads with the homeless guy holding a sign saying "please feed my addiction" they introduced the blue keys. You donate a little bit of money and you get a brochure with a blue plastic key stuck in it. The brochure lists all the places where the homeless can go for food, shelter and the such. The blue key allows them to cut the lines or something I think. I figure if I was to hand that out to someone, if would come flying at my head.

Fisher says: 2005-11-10 17:50:41
I don't like what all these pan handlers are doing to ME. U can't go anywhere downtown without encountering some one with a hard luck story and it is getting so annoying. I feel my heart hardening which stinks because I want to be able to reach out and HELP those who need it. I have seen one girl on the corner of Osborne and Broadway for what seems like a year now. Either she is raking it in or she is very ignorant and doesn't realize this is not working. I would think she is raking it in. The next time one of them comes to me and asks if I have any change, I feel like saying "no, but I am willing to bet YOU do!" That woman in the paper the other day, dragging her kids around at all hours of the night, claiming she lost her purse. That is so disgusting. What is a city to do? THe ones who DO need our help and compassion are being punished for the shameful actions of those who DON'T. **sigh***

Myst says: 2005-11-10 21:06:04
I catch the bus at 11:30, every night, on the corner of Main St and St Mary's Ave. Nearly every night someone will ask me for change, or a smoke. I tell them I don't have any change ( which I usually don't, thanks to Interact ), and I'm not about to give out cigarettes! I work to support MY habit, so should they. Recently, I had a woman try and sell me some bra's!!! BRA'S for heaven sakes!! Enough is enough. I'm going to start wearing a sign. "Don't ask me for change, I don't care. Get a job."

30something says: 2005-11-21 01:25:10
Why doesn't the city make it illegal to give people change on the streets? The only reason they continue to ask for change (and scare away our potential tourists) is because some people out there continue to give them money. Who in their right minds would give a 20 year old kid money when he could get a job at mcdonalds/subway/Ipsos Reid/go to university.Red River etc but whatever, it I was mayor (you can only wish) I would make it illegal to give change to bums, so that eventually the bumliness would die out.

Anonymous says: 2005-11-21 07:52:59
I better call Webster, there's a new word out there. Bumliness! ;)