If you’re genuinely homeless, I have all the sympathy in the world for you. But lately, I’ve noticed a trend of people pretending to be homeless just so they can exploit the public instead of getting off their arses and doing something productive.
And do you know something? I think it’s an absolute disgrace. This is entitled behavior at its finest, and it makes a mockery of those who drag themselves out of bed to do jobs they hate just to pay their bills.
There’s a regular beggar near where I live who sits outside a shop. Strangely enough, he’s often nowhere to be seen when the weather is terrible, but on a sunny day, you can bet the last quid hiding down the back of your sofa, he’s suddenly “homeless,” grifting the general public.
Funny, isn’t it? How so many of them are miraculously not homeless when it’s freezing cold or pouring with rain.
This guy has been at it for years, and he’s got it down to an art form. “Got any spare change, gaffer?” he asks before you’ve even reached the cashpoint to check your balance.
I watch in disbelief as mostly women (not being sexist, just an observation that women seem to have a stronger instinct to ‘help’ people like this) rush to buy him drinks and sandwiches at the drop of a hat. I spoke to him once about all the food and drink he gets from the public, and he sounded really ungrateful, complaining that it’s always cold food and that it gets boring when what he really wants is hot food.
Speaking of hot food, one day, as I was heading into the shop, a woman shouted over to him, “Your starter will be with you in a few minutes!” She’d only gone and ordered a takeaway for him from the Indian restaurant. I wonder what he had for his main course and did it include dessert? If I’d had a chair, I’d have fallen off it.
When I first saw this guy outside the shop, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and even gave him money in the past. I don’t give any money to “homeless” people outside shops anymore because, in my opinion, the majority of them are con artists.
I kept spotting him when I was out in my car, walking up toward the shop. His route was so predictable that it soon became obvious he wasn’t homeless at all. This guy has somewhere to live. This is his job.
Yes, folks, rather than do any kind of real work, this guy walks up the road from where he lives, then parks himself outside a supermarket, pretending he has nowhere to go.
I asked him once where he went at night, and he told me he stayed in Asda car park. Well, I call BS on that because I’ve never seen him there.
Every decent-weather day, he’s there, asking people for spare change. Today, I overheard him say to a woman passing by, “Can you get me a can of Red Bull?” What an absolute piss-taker.
I want to put a sign above this guy’s head. One that reads, “This guy is panhandling for your cash while he has a place to live. You’re all being mugged off.”
But I can’t do that. All I can do is never give him a penny again and hope his number is up one day. Though, if that ever happens, I suspect, just like the Littlest Hobo, he’ll simply move on to the next shop front.
Anyone giving money to people outside shops is killing them with kindness. Stop giving them money, and you’ll stop feeding the problem. I can almost guarantee you that 99% of them aren’t homeless anyway.
Someone I know spoke to a beggar outside Lidl, and he admitted to making £80 a day doing this. No wonder it’s caught on.
Another supposedly homeless person outside Lidl said, “I’ll probably be here tomorrow. It’ll either be me or my brother.” His whole family is in on the con. I couldn’t believe he said that. I heard it with my own ears. All two of them.
As long as there are gullible punters, there will be parasites sitting outside shops, waiting for your hard-earned cash. Don’t fall for it, my friend.