Asking Strangers For Food! (Social Experiment)

[General of Darkness]

Interesting stuff.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fC6RP6tZ1Q

[Santa]

That video makes me really hungry for pizza.

[Ponce]

While in vacation in Mexico me and my girl were walking into this restaurant and right to it in a doorway was a street person.......I order three meal and told the waiter to take one of them to the guy outside......when we went out there were two more guys eating with this one guy, it made me extra happy.

Here in my Micky Mouse town we have them all over the place and ALL of them have a dog......I usually carry extra cans of dog food with me and when one of them comes to me I usually give the guy a buck, sometimes more, and a can of dog food.....if they don't have a can opener I give them a P-38....got them at 100 for $20.00 at "Cheaper Then Dirt".

Yours truly........Saint Ponce hahahahahahaahh....... V

[General of Darkness]

While in vacation in Mexico me and my girl were walking into this restaurant and right to it in a doorway was a street person.......I order three meal and told the waiter to take one of them to the guy outside......when we went out there were two more guys eating with this one guy, it made me extra happy.

Here in my Micky Mouse town we have them all over the place and ALL of them have a dog......I usually carry extra cans of dog food with me and when one of them comes to me I usually give the guy a buck, sometimes more, and a can of dog food.....if they don't have a can opener I give them a P-38....got them at 100 for $20.00 at "Cheaper Then Dirt".

Yours truly........Saint Ponce hahahahahahaahh....... V

You are a really a good person Ponce. I'm glad to know you.

[Ponce]

Nothing to do with being "good" ....but rather lucky to be able to do it......why?, simple......if I didn't have and was unable to do it, would that make me a bad person?

Is like I tell you guys, I live only from my Social Security and when I give, I have more that comes back.

I have no problems because I now stay away from problems.........people.

V

[Buddha]

Wearing the company logo on themselves while asking for handouts probably didn't help much.

I've been in both spots, once after getting on the bus at night after work I sat down across from a guy who worked at a gourmet-ish pizza place around here. I said something like "damn, that pizza has the whole bus smelling good." He sat there for a second, and said "here take it" Kinda looked at him sideways and said "I'm not gonna take your food" guy said go ahead I'm sick of pizza. Delicious, chicken, bacon, pepperoni, peppers, onions, best pizza I ever had.

Conversely, a man came up to another job I had at a restaurant to apply. He was obviously homeless, matted hair, worn clothes, etc. When I got off, I saw that he was out on the patio filling out the app so I went back in the kitchen, cooked something up, and put it in front of him on the way out.

Unexpected kindness is the best kindness.

[Hitch]

While in vacation in Mexico me and my girl were walking into this restaurant and right to it in a doorway was a street person.......I order three meal and told the waiter to take one of them to the guy outside......when we went out there were two more guys eating with this one guy, it made me extra happy.

Interesting. Twice this has happened to me in Reno. After eating an awful-awful burger at the Nugget, I'd walk out with all the left over french fries. I'd give them to a homeless guy sitting there, just to see him share them around with the other homeless people there. Definitely gives you a good feeling seeing that.

[palani]

Sort of reminds me of the USDA food program for welfare people in the '60s. They used to give out bags of flour, dried eggs, dried milk, free cheese.

They stopped these food give-a-way programs and went to food stamps because people didn't know what to do with the basics.

[madfranks]

I used to work at a pizza joint, working closing shifts, and we would leave the mistake pizzas and burnt pizzas on top of the back oven, in case anyone working wanted to eat some. Well, one night, right before closing, a group of three bums came in and asked if we could give them anything, and BIG MISTAKE, we gave them I think it was two leftover pizzas on the back oven, one mistake pizza, one slightly burned. Well, like feeding a stray cat, they came back the next night and the next, right before closing, to try and get more free food, so the boss told us we couldn't keep the leftover pizzas anymore, precisely because it attracted those people. After we told them we couldn't feed them anymore, one of them asked to use the restroom, we let him, and he took a dump on the floor and left it there. A great thank you for the free food three nights ago.

The moral of the story is, being nice is a good thing, just make sure you do it in a manner where they can't track you down to keep asking for more.

Another funny story, once a toothless bum came in, ordered a small calzone, paid cash, and asked for a piece of tin foil "to fix a blown fuse". Well he took the foil and never came back for his calzone, even though he paid for it. We knew he was a junkie and forgot his food, so we left it in a paper bag outside the front door when we closed, and wrote with a marker on the bag, "you forgot your calzone". When we opened the next morning, it was gone, ha ha.

[crimethink]

The experiment would have higher integrity if the asker did not look so obviously not homeless.

We hand out free food routinely. Generally, whenever someone asks "can you spare some change?" I respond with, "what do you need it for?" If the answer is sincerely, "I'm hungry," I offer food. Not rarely, though, I get, "never mind." The latter are those wanting "change" (preferably the folding stuff) to buy cigarettes, liquor, or harder drugs.

[milehi]

I don't mind kicking down some cash to the homeless. I make them promise they're going to spend it on hooch. It won’t be a hard sell. Twenty bucks is the price of a crappy shirt to me, to our alley brethren it’s a gift from the gods.

A couple posters from this site watched me trade a craft beer in exchange for some entertainment. He danced a jig for us on a street corner.

[palani]

I make them promise they're going to spend it on hooch.

Just hand them a bottle of two buck Chuck.

[General of Darkness]

I don't mind kicking down some cash to the homeless. I make them promise they're going to spend it on hooch. It won’t be a hard sell. Twenty bucks is the price of a crappy shirt to me, to our alley brethren it’s a gift from the gods.

A couple posters from this site watched me trade a craft beer in exchange for some entertainment. He danced a jig for us on a street corner.

Ummmmm I was pretty drunk, so I'll have to take your word on it. :)

[chad]

one time in the french quarter, bourbon street, my buddy and i decided to panhandle. we were in suits, obviously we were not poor. we had a bottle of grand marnais we were drinking, so more obvious we were not poor. we just sat there drinking it and asking everyone for money. our wives were horrified and went down to that hurricane bar, whatever it was called, why were doing it. we made like $150 in an hour. everyone thought it was hilarious and kept giving us money. psychology is weird sometimes.

[Ponce]

Yes, and that's why the one to whom I gave the food to and shared with others is the real good person.....when you have nothing and you give it has more credit than when you have to give.

Like the story in the Bible that Jesus saw this real poor woman give to the church all that she had......a penny.

V

[madfranks]

Ummmmm I was pretty drunk, so I'll have to take your word on it. :)

Were you the one dancing for the free beer??