Am I poverty(ist) or something?

M

MrG

New member
When people are begging be it outside the fast food outlets such as Nandos, Steers, etc or traffic light to traffic light, at parking bays and such then I have no problem walking away ignoring them or declining a donation to aid them against their poverty stricken cases. White person doing that makes me rather uncomfortable and more difficult to resist. (maybe im racist as well), but I still do not cave to the request of money.

However when these perfectly fine (usually female) citizens are handing out flyers then asking for a donation to a specific cause in aid of charity/event xyz I find it very difficult to reject. :eek: Does anyone else have this problem?

Perhaps its also cause 95% of the time they address me in Afrikaans and I feel I HAVE to actually answer them and cant just ignore them.
 
I give money to this one guy every month (since he has had really bad luck and yet he is one of the friendliest people I've ever met) and some to friends of ours who are missionaries. That's my quota. There are just too many people that need help and I feel that if you give to some, then good. But it's impossible to give to everyone.
 
I'm a Soutie (Thanks for the word Rambo) so Afrikaans doesn't work on me. The black people also think that speak to me in Afrikaans will make a difference :confused:
 
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I don't have this problem. I've learned to say no quickly and effectively. It is all in the voice, the body language and the facial expression (usually one of pure hate does the job).

However, you do get those people who "attack" you and stick something on you before you have the chance to say no (happened to me a few times). Then I get out my wallet, dig out the smallest note I've got and give that. I do find hawkers etc popping up everywhere and getting more persistent and annoying!

e.g. in Menlyn there have been people selling Cape Town Fish Market stuff SINCE Easter. I can give them their entire pitch! Next time I go and they're still there I swear I'm going to tackle one of them...
 
I don't hand out money to any one that begs, does not matter who is asking. If in car, will always just shake head no and that's it. Don't need to apologize or feel guilty, they are the ones doing nothing to earn their keep in life.

I've started noticing a trend where people are now "begging" for money in pick n pay. It's not exactly begging for money, but for you to actually pay for their groceries because they don't have money. They have a basket full of groceries. 3 different times (different pick n pays) it's happened to me now. It's bad enough at every robot or if get out car somewhere, but inside the actual shop as well is too much.

I sometimes give to the charity donation ones, mostly for the animal ones, but it's not very often. Don't usually ignore them, but just say "sorry, no" and carry on.
 
I've had some comical situations with beggars though... But mostly what i do is either ignore them or give them a small ammount from my wallet... as in R2...

In any case there are some beggars in Cape CBD who walk around with a blind person asking for money. I've seen them more then once jump out of the way of a passing car... a couple of times the blind guy pulls the other guy away before he gets run over! Which is quite funny.
 
I generally don't give to beggers. I hate the ones that stand right in the McD's drive through. Makes me feel so damn guilty!!!

Anyways, I also throw my spare change into anumal walfare tins at supermarkets. Prefer helping the animals as I believe there is alot more money going to human charities than animal ones.
 
Animal charities = instant donation.

Car guards, people with fake disabilities, or beggars with absolutely nothing wrong with them other than laziness = voetsek.

Perhaps I just hate people.
 
you'll be shocked/surprised at how many actually live quite well, they do this to squeeze folks with tiny hearts.

makes my blood boil
 
The only time I give anything is if I feel there is a danger of my car being keyed if I don't or it is a fairly formal carguard (e.g. restaurant parking at night).

Also, white person = instant gtfo. Chances are the person got a reasonably good education during his/her school years making them better off than the vast majority of the people out there. If the black people with little/no education aren't getting anything then the white ones with (probably) at least Gr12 certainly aren't.
 
I only give money when there are two beggars nearby, vying for my donation. Then I'll tell them to battle it out and the last man standing gets 50 bucks.

But to be perfectly honest, society has raised most people to be tolerating of beggars/people in need. Unfortunately this makes all these confrontations rather awkward, where in fact you don't need feel anything. I'm all in favour of helping people in need, but not through giving money to them. Not directly anyway. Rather send your donation to a trusted charity, or give the beggars food. Otherwise you risk your money going to booze.

In Bellville there is one man that leads his blind wife (she is really blind) with baby on back, up and down the road for hours on end. That makes me incredibly mad.
 
Tank said:
you'll be shocked/surprised at how many actually live quite well, they do this to squeeze folks with tiny hearts.

makes my blood boil
Click to expand...

Don't they also rent out their kids or something.

Also If they have working arms and legs they must get of their asses and do something about it.
 
I donate monthly to three charities, so I do my part in that sense. These days you can't throw a rock without hitting someone begging for money. Car guards can fck right off as can those people that drag children/blind spouses to intersections to try and win sympathy. Sure, it speaks volumes for the state of society, but really I can't give to every single person that puts on a sad face.
 
charity starts at home, then worthy causes like the cancer foundation, then other places, then finally if/maybe will a beggar get something
 
RustPuppet said:
Animal charities = instant donation.

Car guards, people with fake disabilities, or beggars with absolutely nothing wrong with them other than laziness = voetsek.

Perhaps I just hate people.
Click to expand...


Yeah, show me a picture of a sad little puppy and i cannot say no, @ OP, it because they female :p
 
I dont give to beggars out of principle. I will buy them a can of soup or something like that once in a blue moon. But when I have seen them for over a year at the same 2 shops, I refuse and actually asked the one girl why she doesnt just get a proper job. Never got an answer tho. The ones at the robots I ignore and since they also love asking me for ciggies, I keep an empty box in my car and tell them I have none. . .

I donate towards a few animal shelters - one where we just take them newspapers once a month since it is what they asked for.
 
HavocXphere said:
The only time I give anything is if I feel there is a danger of my car being keyed if I don't or it is a fairly formal carguard (e.g. restaurant parking at night).

Also, white person = instant gtfo. Chances are the person got a reasonably good education during his/her school years making them better off than the vast majority of the people out there. If the black people with little/no education aren't getting anything then the white ones with (probably) at least Gr12 certainly aren't.
Click to expand...

Wow so many things wrong with this post? You do know there are white people who didn't get great educations right, doesn't mean just because they are white they instantly got to matric? But hey you keep thinking that, I'll give food to the beggars instead of money, if I've got a sandwich or a pie in the car with me then yeah.
 
i don't think one should feel guilty about not giving. you're not responsible for their condition. they don't see you as their saviour, just another chance for reprieve from their suffering. there's nothing personal in it.

i'm wanting to get more involved in systemic issues. where i can actually make a contribution which doesn't involve money - e.g. making a website to aid education for an organisation which assists with basic literacy and numeracy.

that said, i sometimes give food to beggars, not money. i figure if i were in the same situation, i'd appreciate it. for all you know, the woman with a kid on her back was raped and decided to keep the baby, or her sister died and she took the child on. obvious bullshit is a different story.

if i've got some change, i'll pay a car guard - at least they aren't sitting on their asses. i knew a guy who was a car guard: a congolese refugee with a small child who spent most of his money on taxi fare, his wife and kid. anything left over went toward studies.
 
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