What would you do?
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like dat count, then $10 can get u FIVE mac chicken burger tis wk!!Originally posted by X-men:I think what you did is perfectly ok.
$10 maybe peanuts
to some but if it does not serve the right purpose then it's a total waste.
$10 can get you:
to feed 4 hungry person with $2.50 chicken rice
to buy 10 $1 bread talk bread
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That "inhaler" lady, I guess I might do as you did. If she fail enough, hopefully, she can turn to a better source of financial gain, like getting a job. But I don't know. S'pore? Are we a write off when we hit 40?
As for the tissue sellers, I remembered "paying" for the tissues but not taking the tissues. With tissue sellers, at least they are giving you back something.
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You can still get about 1.4k doing simple admin work when you hit 50. It's just a matter of lowering your ego and taking the job. It's a job you can grab it and continue looking.
Anyway, I would have done the same thing as well. Too many people trying to pull a fast one these days. -
BINGO!Originally posted by tare:like dat count, then $10 can get u FIVE mac chicken burger tis wk!!
DAMN! I am hungry now... I need food.. haven't had dinner
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Wow! It looks like panhandlers in Singapore are taking a cue from their counterparts in the US.
It's no secret that the overwhelming majority of street panhandlers here are nothing more than common criminals and street thugs. They'll usually approach you with some sob story about their predicament, and hit you up for cash.
The more common opening lines they'll throw at you include:
"My car broke down and I need cab fare to go get help"
"My mother is sick and I need cab fare to go visit her."
"I haven't eaten in several days."
"I need money for medicine."
And when you politely refuse or just ignore them, they'll invariably cuss up a storm and then slither away to find their next victim.
Sometimes, a confrontation with a "panhandler" can actually be a precursor to a robbery attempt, as a colleague and I found out a couple of winters ago. We had emerged from a cineplex after a late night showing and were walking back to his vehicle in an adjacent parking ramp, when a couple of brutish-looking negroes emerged from the shadows and approached us. One of them asked brusquely if we could spare them some cash as their "ride" had apparently broken down and they needed cab fare to get home. My colleague politely declined and we walked past them, but the two thugs started following us while hurling insults and obscenities. By the time we got to the vehicle, the obscenities had turned into demands for cash, and the two thugs were getting menacingly close to us.
I should mention that both my colleague and I have concealed handgun permits, and we were both carrying that night. When the two thugs ignored our demand to not get any closer, my colleague unholstered and drew his handgun, and I began to reach for mine. I'll give the two negroes credit for knowing when to back down from a volatile situation, as they immediately turned tail and ran off.
It took a while for the adrenaline to wear off and I hope never to have to go through something like this again. This incident has caused me to take a very skeptical view of panhandling.
MG -
Wow.....what a personal account!!!Originally posted by Meia Gisborn:Sometimes, a confrontation with a "panhandler" can actually be a precursor to a robbery attempt, as a colleague and I found out a couple of winters ago. We had emerged from a cineplex after a late night showing and were walking back to his vehicle in an adjacent parking ramp, when a couple of brutish-looking negroes emerged from the shadows and approached us. One of them asked brusquely if we could spare them some cash as their "ride" had apparently broken down and they needed cab fare to get home. My colleague politely declined and we walked past them, but the two thugs started following us while hurling insults and obscenities. By the time we got to the vehicle, the obscenities had turned into demands for cash, and the two thugs were getting menacingly close to us.
I should mention that both my colleague and I have concealed handgun permits, and we were both carrying that night. When the two thugs ignored our demand to not get any closer, my colleague unholstered and drew his handgun, and I began to reach for mine. I'll give the two negroes credit for knowing when to back down from a volatile situation, as they immediately turned tail and ran off.
It took a while for the adrenaline to wear off, and this incident has caused me to take a very skeptical view of panhandling.
MG
It will definitely scare the devil out of me. No wonder there is no ladies night out for me. -
There used to be a guy going around Margaret Drive, asking folks for money. I never gave him anything because I didn't have good vibes about it. One of my friends gave him $2 one day and I chided her for it but I needn't have to do it because the very next instant, this man went up to order kopi for himself, sat down right in front of us, and sipped his kopi happily, watching soccer on tv at the same time! A stallholder then came up to tell us that this man is a regular cheat who preys on soft-hearted folks. You should have seen the look of shock on my friend's face.
I've been approached before, for bus fare and what-not. I always tell them, 'Hey, approach the police, they'll help and they might even give you a ride home!'. Usually, they will be
for a while, but then they'll try to convince me again so, I'll just repeat that same sentence, and if need be, repeat it again and again like some robot, until they realise that I'm not going to be their next victim, then they'll move off.
I'm so relieved that when I was in the US, I wasn't approached by any of the 'street beggars'. I've heard accounts from my American friends of how they were robbed after being approached by one of them. My favourite 'defence' move is, to always look like I'm mighty pissed or royally angry if I'm moving around alone. I always make sure to NEVER look vulnerable / lost / timid when I was there!! I might have been shivering in my shoes when I was out and about alone in the States but I never ever showed it in my face. I try to fit in, and put on this 'been there, done that' look to blend in with the crowd. I was lost on a few occasions but if I had to backtrack, I always put on this bored look and confident swagger to show whoever was observing that hey! I'm not lost... I meant to walk this way! 
MG, your encounter was really scary! I'm glad though, that you and your friend are safe! -
Good technique.Originally posted by Rhonda:My favourite 'defence' move is, to always look like I'm mighty pissed or royally angry if I'm moving around alone. I always make sure to NEVER look vulnerable / lost / timid when I was there!! I might have been shivering in my shoes when I was out and about alone in the States but I never ever showed it in my face. I try to fit in, and put on this 'been there, done that' look to blend in with the crowd. So, now you will be "heavily armed" when you move down under!!! -
I thought she wanted to move Stateside.Originally posted by littlestream:Good technique. So, now you will be "heavily armed" when you move down under!!!
MG -
I did, a while back. (Gee, have you known me this long already?Originally posted by Meia Gisborn:I though she wanted to move Stateside.
MG ) However, I realised that it's easier and faster for me to move down under, plus the US Universities do not offer me exemptions when I do a degree conversion program, and that was a huge turn-off for me.
So yeah, down under it is... for now! -
Thanks to all for sharing your views, which I enjoy. We were going out for dinner then, and the encounter with the "inhaler woman" kind of left a dark cloud over me during dinner. Later, I rationalised it this way: it wasn't wrong for me to be cautious, since she's a total stranger, and her walking away means she's not desperate enough for my help.Originally posted by littlestream:That "inhaler" lady, I guess I might do as you did. If she fail enough, hopefully, she can turn to a better source of financial gain, like getting a job. But I don't know. S'pore? Are we a write off when we hit 40?
As for the tissue sellers, I remembered "paying" for the tissues but not taking the tissues. With tissue sellers, at least they are giving you back something.
On Mon evening, heard this prog on FM95.8 where the lady DJ related a similar dilemma. A Japanese man (I think) grabbed her on the MRT train and said:"help me", and during the few seconds when she deliberated whether to help or whether he's a prankster, the man fainted and fell. The DJ felt bad for not helping, thereby causing the man to fall. The guest on the show said that it's alright to be cautious, and that the person seeking help should not be defensive when questioned by the people he/she approached for help, if it's indeed a genuine case.
Re the tissue sellers, I sometimes just take 1 pack, just so that they don't feel as if they're getting money for nothing or begging. But there are just so many of them, that I think I have to be more selective.
ps: thanks too for enlightening me with info. on the inhalers -
gosh MG tat's scary!! thank goodness u have a weapon with u.... but here in sg, u can't even carry a cutter more than .. 6 or 8"?? forgot....
used to have someone who asked me for "cab fare" to get home... i ask him why must take cab?? the most i only give him $2 to take BUS!!! -
No wonder i have never experienced these incidents.Originally posted by Rhonda:My favourite 'defence' move is, to always look like I'm mighty pissed or royally angry if I'm moving around alone. I always make sure to NEVER look vulnerable / lost / timid when I was there!! I might have been shivering in my shoes when I was out and about alone in the States but I never ever showed it in my face. I try to fit in, and put on this 'been there, done that' look to blend in with the crowd.
But i i realise that whenever my girlfriend is out with me. I'd meet them one way of another.
Must be because of her. -
Sorry, dude, we snaffled her!Originally posted by Meia Gisborn:I thought she wanted to move Stateside.
MG
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Actually, MG, what your thugs did sounds similar to the techniques used by gangsters here as an excuse to clobber someone. They start small, find some excuse to take offence and then wade in.
Ah well - neanderthals of the world, unite.
Which state are you from, BTW? -
Yup, sounds like SOP for some criminal elements. Have you had any similar encounters?Originally posted by Gedanken:Actually, MG, what your thugs did sounds similar to the techniques used by gangsters here as an excuse to clobber someone. They start small, find some excuse to take offence and then wade in.
Ah well - neanderthals of the world, unite.
Which state are you from, BTW?
I'm in Minnesota, by the way.
MG -
tot 600,000 then is peanuts...Originally posted by X-men:I think what you did is perfectly ok.
$10 maybe peanuts to some but if it does not serve the right purpose then it's a total waste.
$10 can get you:
to feed 4 hungry person with $2.50 chicken rice
to buy 10 $1 bread talk bread
10 dollars is only atoms.... -
Nah, I think it's all right. If the woman was truly genuine about her case then she wouldn't have just walked away just because you asked her questions. If she really needed the money, I would think that she would be showing a little bit of patience.
Don't blame yourself if it really turns out that she was a genuine case. Blame the conmen and conwomen out there who take advantage of people's kindness - they are the ones who truly undermine people's trust in charity.
If someone ever came up to me asking me for money, I'll just give some spare change regardless of the amount they're asking. I'm just a poor undergrad who scrapes by through giving tuition, and I don't have the means to run a charity show. I can't give $10.... I can only give some loose coins which I may have.
If they don't like the money, then just too bad. -
Came across that sort of thing in my earlier years when I mucked about with gangs.Originally posted by Meia Gisborn:Yup, sounds like SOP for some criminal elements. Have you had any similar encounters?
I'm in Minnesota, by the way.
MG
Over here in Melbourne, I've only caught one burglar so far. The bugger swung a spanner at me and clocked me on the forehead, but I kept going at him and he lost his nerve and gave up. When I got him by the scruff of the neck, I realised that he was five inches taller than me and wearing heavy boots, while I was barefoot. Judgement being the better part of valour, I told him I didn't ever want to see his ugly mug again, let him go and went back in the house to call the cops.
Ah, Minnesota. I worked in LA and St Louis for a short while, but one of these days I'd like to see the rest of the states.