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Comment by sodiumjoe | Hacker News Reader

Portlander here, I used to work right by the food carts downtown on 10th and Alder. The hospital bracelet guy is one of regulars, he's been running that schtick for literally years. There's a cast off characters like him who are fixtures there. I'm not against compassion for the homeless, but after running into a few of these repeatedly, I tend to refrain from supporting them directly and give to local charities instead. I'm not even arguing that you made a bad decision, just sharing my own experience.

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Here in Austin, Texas I encounter homeless people regularly and have become a bit numb to the stories after talking to people more and seeing their stories change.

I've bought food and even pumped gas into portable gas cans for people, refusing to give them any cash, only to see their story unravel when they realize they won't get money from me. The original story about needing gas to pick up their paycheck morphs into something else that requires money.

I had a man yell at me after I pumped gas for him because I didn't want to give him straight cash. And then seeing the same people whacked out on something or drinking beer a few days later trying to pitch you the same story.

The unfortunate thing is that those people do need help, usually mental health help but solving that problem will require more than people temporarily supporting their addiction.

I don't think giving them money should be about "getting people back on track" or anything similar. It's just to give them money for a beer, a burger or something to ease their day. Personally, I think there will always be people who doesn't fit into society. It's easier if we don't expect them to open a savings account with the 20 bucks we gave them, and just realize that it goes towards getting drunk/getting something to eat to numb the absolute mess their lives might be.

How is that compassion though? “Here’s $20, go kill yourself somewhere out of my sight. I don’t care.” Is the worst kind of indifference and apathy to drug addiction and mental illness I’ve ever seen. If it was your family member wouldn’t you want better? It just seems like someone has to look out for people who are just self-harming themselves openly in public. Giving them a couple bucks to go away so we can go on with our life and pat ourselves on the back like we helped them is just apathy. Cops need to arrest the meth and heroin dealers but they don’t do anything. It should be appalling but it’s become normalized.

The arrogance that goes into thinking one can decide what is the best use of a couple of dollars to ease someone else's pain is mind boggling. People in this society have a huge problem with believing their crappy little jobs are proof of their superior intellects.

I wouldn't be surprised if this was a scam, but I'm not convinced. Between my own experiences interacting with the homeless and scammers, seeing his fresh physical wounds (including staples in his head), and the weird amount of knowledge he had about physics and obscure computer operating systems, I just don't see it. If anything, he deserves my help just for being so thorough.

Why would society want to reward people who go to great lengths to defraud others?

It's just something we tell ourselves to assuage our embarrassment at getting conned.

And that’s just something we tell ourselves to assuage our embarrassment of being cynical and too powerless to help.

You're right, I suppose I should have said "because he's human", but I don't think this was a scam. Another point: he never once asked me for anything. Only after >30 minutes of conversation did I offer him a meal.

Someone needs to tell the homeless guy that with the right doctored up resume he'd be perfect for a Fortune 500 CEO position. The skills are the same.

I don’t think you understand what the role of a CEO of a company is. Despite your flippant implication, being an incredible liar isn’t even close to qualifying you for CEO of an F500.

Have you never seen a shitty movie ? A good advertisement ? Not as much difference as you might think. This society is built upon rewarding frauds. Homeless people with engaging stories are only punished for being poor, not for fraud.

Comparing objective truths to subjective opinions makes no sense to me.

Your post reminds me of a strange conversation I found myself in about 10 years ago.

I was approached by a guy at a festival who'd seen me taking "street photographs" with my SLR. He talked to me for a bit about photography and seemed more knowledgeable than average about the technical aspects.

After awhile we started talking about his personal circumstances-- being out of work, not having any cash, and finally pulling up his shirt and showing me a fresh-looking wound on his side and saying that he'd been attacked earlier in the day. I didn't end up giving him any money (I pretty much never carry cash), but if I'd had any I probably would have. Looking back, in light of your post, I wonder if there was a "help me I'm injured" grift that I just missed.

My general feeling is that the smoother the story, the more it is fake. If someone comes off exacerbated, blending the chronologically and details of the story, it is most likely true; extreme situations lead to extreme behavior. Now, when the story is smooth, it’s like a well trained actor orating a theater. The reason it’s so convincing is because the fraudster has had practice.

Reminds me of a guy who went to my school. He lives in Williamsburg as an artist. His family is very wealthy. He is always manufacturing crises (mostly health) to get (more) cash. Once I went over there to see my friend (his roommate at the time) and he'd dressed up a wound and setup a photo of himself "passed out" in front of his art work. People are so weird.

I guess he's doing the same gig just a bit more fortunate about his circumstances.

Years ago, and in a town that isn't Portland, I met a street dude with a similar story, including a broken finger supposedly incurred during the assault. His story seemed a little too "just-so", so I didn't stick around, nor give him any money.

Talking later with a local from that town, it turns out dude has been running that line for years, and regularly re-breaks the finger to give it that little touch of verisimilitude.

I have seen many scams over the years - the "ran out of gas" scam used to be common but it's finished now, etc.

As many people (even the Pope!) say, the best thing is still to give directly to homeless people but to never give more based on a story. The people with stories have a job, of sorts and I'll let them collect from their "employers". I just give a dollar here and there to those who ask.

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