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?
I don’t even like opening the door to people I know.
Hell no.
Are you u all living in rosy mc Rosewood Santa’s little safe harbour everything is fine and dandy rainbow world? Or are you all lying through your teeth?
Letting someone in your home with clearly visible psychological issues, in your circle of trust, filled with those you hold most dearly and packed with your dearest memories, that place… And then letting someone in you know nothing about?
Hell fucking no.
In the real world letting some rando homeless dude in your home has a 50/50 chance of ending up in crazy town. There is a high probability that you, yours or your stuff get fucked up. I cannot and will not accept those odds. Even a 2% chance of shit happening is a risk I’m unwilling to take when it comes to my kids.
Would I help him? Maybe. It depends on some factors (like can I at that specific time, did I help him out earlier, do I have cash on hand) Would I let him in? No f-ing way.
So real answer: money: maybe, eat & drink: anytime. Clothes: I’ve got some you can have, no problem. Bath and clean: nope. Never.
While I do agree with you. Your wording could be a little bit better. You seem like a glass half empty kind of person, and I can respect that. However your statement makes it seem like all homeless people have some kind of dangerous psychological issues, and that is a wild accusation. Mental health problems come in all shapes and sizes
Thank you for your opinion, every individual is different. Homeless does not inherently equate to psychological issues nor drug addiction.
Sometimes people just had their house destroyed from a hurricane or tornado or whatever, and insurance done fucked them over, if they even had proper insurance in the first place.
Sorry you’re getting downvoted, but you got my upvote. Thank you for having enough of a mind and soul to care. 🤗👍
However your statement makes it seem like all homeless people have some kind of dangerous psychological issues, and that is a wild accusation.
He never said anything like this, and specifically called out pretty low probabilities throughout his comment.
As someone with diagnosed mental health issues, I can tell you that I mean no harm. But sadly, the pure difference in perception paired with unfamiliarity of the two parties makes the situation insanely dangerous, not the person.
You never know why the person is in this predicament and if they have a tendency towards violence, robbery or other things. I‘m not saying they are. I‘m saying you have to assume they are before making that decision. Can you defend yourself against a pulled knife or even gun, do you have enough mental capacity to observe them at all times. Those odds do not look good.
So, although I would never willingly look down on folks less fortunate than myself. I too will never ever let a stranger into my house if they raise any concerns.
Very better wording. Sorry if I was seeming like a dick. I’ve always had the view that people generally mean no harm, but might have articulated it in the wrong way. I’m definitely trying to work on that with myself as well. I also have mental health issues, and I was homeless for a good 2 years of my life, and would have been longer if a person didn’t invite a scruffy person into their home and show them goodness and ask for nothing in return.
After I typed that, I had to think about it for a bit. I was probably one of the few lucky ones. I’ve had the experience working in movie theaters, and I’ve encountered many homeless and have had good and bad experiences. The bad is more memorable (which probably says more about human nature rather than social conception at this point), but had many great experiences with homeless people. I have stories, but I’ll save them for the sake of typing a shit ton lol.
TL;DR: I like the cut of your jib, you seem very intelligent, and have good points. However, I still believe the whole argument comes down to pessimis vs optimism. I’m a very long winded person, so tldr are hard for me
“if they raise any concerns”
Yes indeed, those words sum it up pretty well. Everybody is different. Every situation is different.
Everyone deserves a chance though, with caution of course…
This is my thought as well. Even if things go well this time, who’s to say they will not feel entitled to come back. Maybe with or without your knowledge.
I’d send them away otherwise I might start getting a regular visitor to my house asking for stuff.
In public, I’m happy to give money or food.
I am skeptical on letting my friends in my house. I am not going let a random person with high odds of having some sort of physical/mental issue in my house no thank you.
Will I help? Absolutely. Just in anywhere that isn’t my house.
Removed by mod
If I had time, I’d maybe tell the dude to wait outside, then get my loafers, walk with him to the shop and buy a meal. Strangers in my house? No thank you. Good way to get robbed in my neighborhood.
There are free showers and halfway houses around here, so getting shower wouldn’t be a reason to knock on the door, I think.
Optimally, we should be housing everybody as its been proven time and time again how much cheaper it is than leaving people homeless. It’s what I vote for every time, but somehow people are just too selfish.
You seem to have “but what if” responses for every answer.
My answer is no because I don’t trust them. Same reason I keep my little dog away from all pit bulls, I don’t trust them. Same reason I accept some women want to keep distance with all men, lack of trust.
There’s water in the bubbler at my local park.
Yes, of course I intended on my post to be interpreted hypothetically. Every situation is different, and every person is different.
The food and water part, no problem. Strangers in my apartment is a hard no! Sorry.
Warn them that they are trespassing, call the cops, and then wait hours for one to arrive and either remove the filth or shoot it since it would take a high level of mental illness and/or nefarious motives to approach a strangers home and demand shit.
Woah dude. I’m with everyone else saying they’re not letting a stranger in their house. Calling them filth and talking about shooting them is psycho shit
I’m not shooting anyone, the cops are.
Like they said, psycho
He’s a psycho, I’ve already tagged him as such.
Another bloodthirsty ghoul hit from BaroqueInMind of seven different modlog pages…
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.
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.
Depends if I know them. There’s been a permanent camp around the corner from my house the last five years. My wife and I know a lot of the long-term residents and have helped them do laundry, charge phones, and file taxes. But a stranger? I’d direct them towards other local resources.
File taxes? I admit I’m fairly ignorant of the plights of and unhoused person … And any complex tax situation, TBH … but it seems like most of them would be under the income threshold that would require filing of taxes.
Homeless does not necessarily mean jobless. You still have to file taxes if you want a tax return. It’s a lot cheaper to live out of a car and have a PO box than it is to get an apartment.
Fair enough, I hadn’t considered homelessness by choice.
I know homeless people can and sometimes do have jobs, but assumed their income would be insufficient to require interacting with the IRS. Thank you for expanding my perception.
You remember a few years back when stimulus cheques were being sent out? They were only being sent to those who filed taxes.
Gotcha, thank you.
Given how I don’t let anybody homeless or otherwise in my house if I don’t know them, I’ll probably give them food and water
Homeless or rich it doesn’t matter I just don’t trust people anymore. With that said though I will happily help guide them to resources and donate to shelters fairly often. I have some bad history with strangers so even though I’ve tried working through it there doesn’t seem to be much change.
You doing what you did is awesome and I bet really helped that guy with more than just a shave.
All of those things can be done outside of my house, so I don’t really see any reason why not to. Beard trim, blam, here’s a razor, sandwich, here’s that shit, here’s a bottle of water, the hose is over there, here’s some soap, blam. Even if I’m cooking up the most diabolical and insane homeless person of all time, I can still fulfill all of those requests while also keeping them outside, doing very little, and maybe telling them to also fuck off after if I’m a psycho.
The rest of this is gonna mostly be venting, so you can safely ignore it if you don’t care.
People in america are totally cooked on homelessness, even though they’re, on average, metaphorically inches away from it at any given time. Homeless shelters in america mostly are horrible places to go where your shit will be stolen and they will do nothing. They’re bad for children, they’re full of drugs, and very frequently they have curfews, rules against having animals or pets, rules requiring that you go to religious ceremonies, etc. Homeless people aren’t just like, insane illogical transients. I mean they kind of are, but there’s also a reason for why they do the things that they do, that includes maybe knocking on the door of a random suburb.
I would actually find it more likely in this situation that this random person would probably want to use my toilet since there are no fucking public toilets in america, especially as private businesses will deny use of their restrooms to people who look homeless. Then people get arrested for public defecation, urination, or nudity because there’s nowhere else to go, obviously there’s also mental health, and then all you see is how some guy on the street on fent gets arrested with his pants around his ankles and his asscheeks covered in shit and you think “wow that guy’s crazy” and have no further thoughts. Context is eradicated.
Give someone in america the slightest advantage over the homeless, a shitty suburban flat, with a lower rent, that they spend two thirds or more of their income on, including roommates, and they will still somehow find a way to spit on the homeless after riding the bus into town every day cause they can’t afford a car. They will still live their lives in fear and they will still come to hate the homeless because somehow the person basically making negative income is not able to afford soap or a high-fiber diet.
It’s the “Oh, well, it’s not my problem, that sucks for them, but I’m still allowed to be offended by it.” sort of mentality. You can give them every reason under the sun why hating the homeless doesn’t make any sense, why hating the homeless is immoral, why they don’t deserve it, how they are products of their environment. Still people will desperately cling to it. It makes me understand how racism occurs, I suppose, because it’s the same phenomena. “Ah, well, I understand all of the stats about racism, but this particular member of this particular racial minority, I still hate them personally for acting in line with the statistical average of their group.”. Insanity. It’s as though it’s all just abstract thought goop that has no bearing on anyone’s life, or that somehow I should be the exception to it.
I think it’s gotta be a functional adaptation, or something. Maybe they can prevent themselves from going insane and becoming nihilists if they just suddenly become individualists and objectivists as soon as it becomes convenient, or something. It is not that hard to conceive of a reality in which the person cutting you off in traffic is rushing to the hospital, or, a reality in which they, maybe naively but understandably want to enjoy their expensive car while they still can, or, maybe a reality in which they’re just panicking because they’re late to work or something.
I am an introvert, I am awkward, I hate hanging around people and talking to people. Even I can talk to the homeless when they need someone to talk to, and reluctantly give them money, and rides to places when they ask, since it would otherwise be like two hours and twelve dollars of travel, bus stops, a transfer station, travel, more bus stops, before they get across town to do a fairly basic errand. The social fabric is falling apart. Please be nice, it is not that hard, it costs very little, it happens infrequently, and very possibly if some of you extroverted assholes picked up some slack instead of making things harder for the most maligned, I could go back to my cave.
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.
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.
TBH I wouldn’t open the door for safety reasons. Now if they had approached me on the street and there were shops nearby, yes I would help.
