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Comment by kw71 | Hacker News Reader

I got some insight from a beggar in Moscow who I met outside a food stall who complained of hunger. I told him to order what he wanted. He refused and wanted cash instead.

Not all are like this. I started offering to buy food and some seem grateful and accept, others become belligerent.

You can make a lot of money in a day standing at a busy traffic signal getting dollars from people, more than you can make working for minimum wage for a day.

So I mostly quit giving cash, except in cases where I have been travelling and the person I've met provided a useful service or local knowledge to me as a tourist/foreigner.

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Most homeless people can get food, at least in the United States. It's possible that he had other needs that he didn't have easy access to otherwise.

The state I live in is pretty harsh, if you are not working you cannot get SNAP unless a doctor signs off that you are disabled, so that leaves the foodbank (requires resources to travel) and religious operations.

By offering to buy food instead of giving cash, you are saying that you are not trusting that his pleas for money is sincere. You are calling him a liar and implying that he would be buying alcohol or drugs instead of food for the money. So having to accept the aid from you would feel very degrading and I wouldn't either if I was a hungry beggar. I think even if you are a beggar you deserve some dignity.

> who complained of hunger

You're off base there, mate. Or maybe you've just never been actually physically starving.

If all he wanted was money, he should have said so. By refusing to accept what he was asking for he was proving to be less than trustworthy.

I don't think it was stipulated that this beggar was starving. Have you been a beggar and have you had people offer to buy food instead of giving cash? Not saying you are wrong, but I don't understand why you say that my explanation is off base.

> By offering to buy food instead of giving cash, you are saying that you are not trusting that his pleas for money is sincere.

Not necessarily. There a couple homeless people who hang around outside a cafe near where I work. When I pass them, I'll offer to buy them a coffee and some food. I don't give cash because I don't carry any. I carry plastic so offer to buy them whatever they want.

Beggars can't be choosers - literally.

On top of the trust issue, one advantage of giving food to a beggar is that he is much less likely to get mugged for food than for cash.

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