As I was walking to the Safeway @ Pan Am Center, I guy and a girl approached me and asked if I
was famillar with the area. Thinking they needed directions, I said yes. They guy went onto explain his car ran out of gas on 66 and he left his wallet at home. I told him I had no cash. He then asked if I knew of a church nearby that could help him out.

Do church's dole out money to hard luck stories? My wife manages a large hotel and tells me transients come in all the time and ask the front desk clerks for a phone book and then call local churches asking for money.

Other than saying I have no cash, what else should I have done? People approach me with stories all the time: the shelter charges $6 to sleep there; car trouble, need to see a sick relative in the hospital and need cab fare, etc.

I know that 99% of the time it is a scam. But what about the one person who really needs help? Do the police help out someone who ran out of gas with no money or ID? Would the police give someone a ride to the hospital to visit a really sick friend if the situation warranted it? Or should we just shoot them all because we have a concealed weapon permit?

How do you politely help someone without giving them $?

"Or should we just shoot them all because we have a concealed weapon permit?"

WTF are you talking about? I hope you are kidding.

Yes, church's do hand out money in cases like this. I know our church maintains such a fund and it is up to the pastor as to whether or not he/she wants to give them some money. I have no idea as to how often someone asks for money or how much they give.

As for helping someone w/out giving them money, we donate to reputable charities and let them figure out who is deserving and who isn't. However, I do not give money to people who come up to me in a parking lot and ask for it.

BTW, my favorite is the little old lady who approaches you with a card saying she cannot speak english and could you please help her out.

I only give to animal charities. Most people don't deserve a handout. They are usually bums who are responsible for the shape they are in.

why me Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> BTW, my favorite is the little old lady who
> approaches you with a card saying she cannot speak
> English and could you please help her out.

I have never seen a little old lady do this, but I have been approached several times by Spanish ladies with a kid in a stroller. Once I called the police because she approached me in the Giant parking lot in McLean. It was summer and well over 90 degrees. That poor child.

At Pan Am you can offer to buy them something to eat at McD's if they say they have no money for food and stuff. Usually they are scamming you, so in that case they will usually say no and walk away.

In this guy's case you could have offered to call the cops for him if he can tell you his license plate number of the disabled vehicle.

I get this stuff all the time in DC. People will walk up and tell me they need money for the bus. So I say "sounds good, let's go to the bus and I'll pay the driver" and they yell at me. Very entertaining.

Once in alexandria an old hag gave me one of those cards, I no speak english. I told my buddy she stunk like shit, she told me in perfect english to go fuck myself.

Other than saying I have no cash, what else should I have done?

Stuff like that hasn't happened to me too much around here in this county. It seemed like it happened on a weekly basis when I lived in PG, people asking for rides, money, or if I could pick someone up, or if I could drive somewhere to give someone's car a jumpstart, etc. At least when I lived in DC it was always obvious they were just homeless people asking looking for change; PG had openly aggressive hustlers.

The ONLY thing I do is offer to call someone for them. Every time, and I mean EVERY time, their response has been something that lead me to believe their original story was a bunch of B.S. to begin with. I'm persistent that the only thing I will do is call someone who can come and help them, and when that's not good enough, I just walk away. I sorta feel bad because I'm sure there are probably a few folks that legitamately needed help... but anyone who expects a complete stranger to just hand them some money is probably not worth helping.

It'd be funny to hear some stories about these kinds encounters here in this county. I only have one notable one here in FFX, but it was one of the nuttier ones I can remember.

.
Attachments:

Sometimes I give money to bums and tell them to use it on food or booze, or whatever floats their boat. I just gave two bucks to a bum in DC the other day, you could tell he was missing a couple marbles upstairs and lived on the streets.

If the bums or an ex-wife dont get it some stripper will, so WTF.

That's a tough call. Sometimes I'll give them money if they seem to make sense, a lot of times it's pretty blatant that their trying to scam me.

In college a roommate of mine got robbed. The guy caught him walking back from an ATM and said "MY car has a dead battery, can you do me a favor and drive me over to the auto store so I can get another battery?" Roommate said sure, around the corner they went and the guy then pulled out a gun and said "give me all your money." Took it and ran off.

Two weeks later same ATM and guy who fit his exact same description to a T tried the same thing on me. I said "F off, interesting that my roommate got robbed by a guy at this ATM using that exact story!" The guy took off. Called the cops but the guy was long gone by the time cops got there.

What always surprises me is the similarities of their story's. Car broke down, no wallet, etc. I have been hearing more about churches and my wife confirmed that people at her hotel ask for a phone book and then start calling churches lookinmg for a handout.

It would be interesting to know if they really do routinely dole out money and to what extent. If I was short one week could I stop by for a quick $20 bill? Please no jokes here about Catholic priests....

And would the police really help out someone who's car ran out of gas and had no wallet? If they would, then I would have a perfect excuse if someone was really in a desperate need.

I did run out of gas on 66 once. A cop did pull over and asked if I needed help. I told him my wife was on the way with some gas. He was really nice about the whole thing.

Radiophile Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And would the police really help out someone who's
> car ran out of gas and had no wallet? If they
> would, then I would have a perfect excuse if
> someone was really in a desperate need.

VDOT has some roaming help vans... it is possible the police can contact them.

Indeed, motorist assistance is actually pretty good sometimes. Very polite.

I haven't seen one those orange trucks in a while. There still around?

I see them here and there, mostly on interstates during rush times.

CVS also runs an assistance patrol. Whatever they pay them isn't enough. Very dangerous job. I know of a few who have been hit by drivers who had their heads up their ass. The state trucks have a huge arrow board but it doesnt seem to help. On occasion they will run into the large trucks that have the cushion impact, the ones that they set up for road crews.

That would be those trucks with teh huge moveable thing on the back that tilts up and down right? I have seen a few times where some dumbass drove straight into one. Stupid drunk/cell phone/asian drivers.

The Va Motorist Assistance guys I see drive white Crown Vics.

Be careful with those guys....they like to hang around with the Troopers and they'll drop a dime on you in a heartbeat.

.