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What would you do if a scraggly homeless person knocked on your door, and all he asked was for a sandwich, a bottle of water, a bath, and perhaps a beard trim?

I’ve actually skipped work just to help a homeless guy get his beard trimmed. Bought him pizza too. Kinda hard to get anywhere in life when you look like shit.

Be kind to the homeless, they just need a helping hand here and there.

What would you do?

EleventhHour ,
@EleventhHour@lemmy.world avatar

This has happened on a few occasions, I’ve always fed and bathed the person, on a few occasions,I’ve let the person stay with me for a little while, and once I dated a guy for a little while.

This has ended with mostly positive results. And these people didn’t really come knock on my door (we usually met out-and-about).

RonnieB ,

I’d help them then immediately go online and beg for praise.

over_clox OP ,

I don’t know if this is supposed to be sarcasm or not.

Keep in mind, not everyone knows how to use the internet or even has access to it.

jimmydoreisalefty ,
@jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world avatar

IMHO: Always help out the working-class people if you can; the homeless and’middle class’ are the working-class.

You don’t have to let them in your home or do too much, but I would offer them a box with food, plenty of water, and a basic care package.

We all need to make time to join in helping our local communities. 1 hour a year is much more helpful than 0 hours a year.

Mantra:

“We should focus our actions, time, and resources on Direct Action, Mutual Aid, and Community Outreach… No War but Class War!”

scytale ,

I can certainly give them food and water, but sorry I’m not trusting enough to let a stranger in my house.

over_clox OP ,

I never said I let him in the house, I trimmed him up on the back porch.

Dude was old and all his belongings were in a single backpack, pretty sure that even if I had let him inside, he wouldn’t have stolen anything.

Like seriously, where’s he even gonna put stuff? Homeless people don’t tend to have much space for extra stuff…

LesserAbe ,

Good for you to help someone, genuinely. It’s a little weird you asked a question and then once people answer you try to debate them.

Some homeless people steal. Not saying as a group they all do, but I don’t know which category this stranger falls in. Once inside my house they know the layout and perhaps see things that would be of interest to come back later to steal. Of more concern is I don’t know the mental health of this individual, and I’m less concerned about theft than my family’s safety.

HarriPotero ,
@HarriPotero@lemmy.world avatar

I’d wash his clothes, too.

over_clox OP ,

I actually would have offered that as well, but honestly I was staying at my mother’s house at the time, so using the indoor facilities was kinda out of the question.

But the hair clippers were mine, so I just ran an extension cord out the back door to trim him up, and then we went and I bought us both some pizza.

I did what I could, always thinking like what if I was in their situation?

Postmortal_Pop ,

I wouldn’t let him in, because my partner has very strong feelings about anyone in the house, but if he doesn’t mind waiting outside he’s getting a lot more than a sandwich and water. A full meal is a very rare thing on the street and some bread and Ham isn’t a meal. I always have left overs or prepped meals ready and he’s eating until he’s full. Water is the same, as much as he can stomach.

I’m no barber, but I can trim my own beard so I’m sure I can manage his. If the stars align, I have a real stylist down the street and I’d happy to ask if she has time for a clean and cut.

Most importantly, I’ve got contact info for shelters and food banks. When if I can’t do anything else I can help find someone who can.

over_clox OP ,

Honestly, I didn’t let the fella in either. But I did bring my hair clippers out on the back porch, and made a point to trim both his beard and his head down short.

I’m not a barber either, but hell, there’s a huge difference between looking scraggly versus looking somewhat tidy. I did my best with the clippers, and the fella was very happy with it.

Then I went and bought us some pizza and a couple of beers. Why beer? Because I’m generous sometimes, plus beer is cheaper than water in my area.

TheBigBrother ,

I usually buy a meal for a homeless drug addict who sometimes it’s asking for some coins in a near mall, I don’t like to give him money straight cos I know he will buy drugs with it, I prefer to buy him something to eat.

Where I am there is not so much homeless people there is just poor people who asks for coins so no beard issue but I definitely like to give them something to eat instead of money for drugs.

over_clox OP ,

Agreed, if you already know the person has bad habits, then definitely don’t support those habits.

But hey, occasional help with the basics never hurts. Everyone needs food and water occasionally at bare minimum, plus many people forget they also need occasional help with hygiene.

It’s not like they want to be dirty, they just don’t tend to have regular access to facilities to bathe, shave, or wash their clothes…

But yeah, I ain’t about to just hand them money. If I’m gonna help, I’m gonna help. I can’t do much, but I do what I can when I feel I should.

reversebananimals ,

Wow you’re a woke globalist. /S

Everyone should really check this piece of shits post history

wesker ,
@wesker@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

My experience with homeless people on my porch has usually been them stealing from it or shitting on it. So I’d be rather shocked if they just asked for something normal.

I wouldn’t oblige the bath, but I could help them with some food and water.

over_clox OP ,

There is a difference between a homeless person and a thief. It’s a bad stereotype to consider all homeless people as thieves.

In my experiences in life, thieves almost always have a home. I mean, where is a homeless person gonna store your television?

They’re not the same.

corroded ,

It’s true that not everyone fits stereotypes, but be realistic. The vast majority of homeless people are drug addicts, alcoholics, or both. Addicts with no legal source of income are going to steal.

I don’t hate homeless people at all, and I legitimately have sympathy for someone who fell on hard times and is trying to get their life together; I do hate addicts who are willing to take advantage of hard-working people. The venn diagram between homeless and addicts is very close to being a circle.

over_clox OP ,

Want a little plot twist? Everyone is addicted to something or another. Why is caffeine legal, but cocaine illegal? People piss money away at Starbucks while dissing the homeless.

FireTower ,
@FireTower@lemmy.world avatar

There’s a slight but significant difference between being addicted to Starbucks and crack.

over_clox OP ,

There’s also the fact that instead of buying a $20 cup of coffee, you can get a $2 or so cup of coffee at most any old random gas station, and still have money left to buy 2 or 3 burgers to feed a couple homeless people instead.

corroded ,

I don’t want to buy 2 or 3 burgers to feed homeless people. I mentioned this in another comment, but the group of people who are homeless and the group of people who are addicted to meth, heroin, whatever are largely the same group, maybe with a few outliers. Why the hell would I want to buy lunch for someone who’s going to go out and rob or harass someone for $20 so they can go buy a bag of their drug of choice?

People like myself (and others in this comment section) don’t hate the homeless. We hate drug addicts who shit all over society (sometimes literally) in order to get their next fix.

Here’s an experiment you can try: The next time you see a homeless person begging for money so they can buy some food, refuse to give them money and offer to buy them food instead. They’re probably going to call you a piece of shit and if you’re lucky, they might leave you alone after that, but probably not.

People need to have sympathy for the homeless, but not for addicts. We should have social programs to house the homeless, as long as they can pass a drug test. Food banks, work-placement programs, they should all exist and be taxpayer funded, as long as those using them can pass a drug test.

over_clox OP ,

I’ve already done exactly this with an ex girlfriend. Wonder why she’s an ex…

dingus , (edited )

Yeah, it bothers me when young, naive people on the internet don’t get this. Homelessness is often a lot more than just not having enough money. Often (but not always), it involves deep psychological issues. One of the reasons why the homeless issue is difficult to solve is because you can’t just throw money at them or even just give them a house and expect for everything to be fixed. They need psychological help, and often help with addiction, in addition to the money. I feel for these people, but it is absolutely not the simple issue people like to make it out to be.

Personally, I don’t even answer the door for strangers unless I’m expecting someone.

wesker ,
@wesker@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

They steal our patio furniture, and then I see it in the camps down the road. We’ve had to start locking it up with chains. In this case they are both homeless and thieves.

over_clox OP ,

Sadly, sometimes they can be thieves, but that doesn’t seem to be the usual case when I’ve met homeless people.

Then again, maybe it’s because my instincts tell me who to avoid from a quarter mile away. You know, like that dude behind the Burger King dumpster with a face full of tattoos… Yeah, probably best to avoid…

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