Scuse me mate you got 40p?

[Exulus]

Now i dont mean to be all high horsey here but how do they set their rates? I've been asked for 40p 3 times in the past 24 hours, (twice in the past 20 mins walking back home by two separate people) - how do they set their rates? A year ago it was 70p...is this a sign of the recession?

If i have a quid for every time i gave out 40p i'd be...err...60% richer

[PaulX]

I remember when it was "10p for the price of a cup of tea", always delivered in a voice that sounded like their throat had been sandpapered.

[pesh]

that must have been before cigs had filters

[PaulX]

that must have been before cigs had filters

Early 90s. It was the Tennents Super that gave them that voice.

I also remember it suddenly going up to £1. Inflation, huh?

[laurennoodles]

i used to hang with the 40p kids. i never had the guts to ask myself but all my mates did cause it was the price of the bus. but they used to do it loads then we'd get our (older) mates to buy us some cheap cider. good times.

[lahmjpowder]

Cant beat the crackheads of Brixton with their bargain "you got 5p bruva?".

[Aussie Raver]

I've been asked for £500 from a random guy in Shoreditch for a flight to the Bahamas.

[WaveyRaveyDavey]

A month or so back I was asked for 70p by a girl for a bus fair to Bromley Hospital.

No was the reply.

About five minutes later, whilst standing in the queue in the local Costcutters (surely a phonecall to Trading Standards is neccessary here!) about 50yds down the road, the girl joined the queue with a tin of White Lightning? A strong cider of some sort...

I NEVER give anything to anybody who opens with; 'I'm really sorry mate...'

I mean, do I have 'cunt' written across my forehead or something?

(Don't all answer at the same time, you'll crash the system!)

[lahmjpowder]

Thats always the way really.

Tbf though I do sometimes give a bit of change to some of the homeless crackheads. Because when your homeless, what you got better to do?

[baldmosher]

I generally don't give money to beggars. Mainly because it's illegal and I don't think there is any excuse for homelessness. I just don't buy the "I have no choice" bullshit. There's always help for you if you want it. If you're on the streets, you clearly don't want it. Yes I know drug/alcohol addiction is a fucking awful situation for any human being but I'm sorry but I'm not paying for your habit. You have to want to change. It doesn't take much effort to find the nearest Sally Army and wash & shave every day so that you look presentable.

I once had a scruffy old tramp ask me for a quid for some cider. I admired his honesty and gave him a quid.

I once had one of a couple of teenage kids ask me for 50p for the bus. I politely refused and his response was to ask me whether if he searched my pockets, he would find 50p. Being in a slightly quiet area of town, and valuing the remains of my McDonalds meal and my (albeit empty) wallet over my pride, I calmly turned around and walked into the nearest shop before he had chance to find out.

A few years later I had a lad ask me for spare change. I said "sorry mate". Much later that evening the same toerag asked me for change for the phone. I refused again and he followed me down the deserted street giving me shit about how I lied to him earlier cos he heard change rattling in my pockets. I gave as good as I got - I pointed out that I didn't say I had no change, I said sorry because I wasn't going to give him any because he was a low life scrounger. We then entered into a debate about benefits, jobseeking and how he was being a cheeky fooker because he could have just changed the £20 note that he said he had in his pocket from JSA, the daft sod. After following me all the way home he said "do you think it's a good idea showing me where you live" so I called him a cunt and told him to fuck right off and if he came anywhere near my property I would break his face. He left. It's about the only time I've ever threatened violence, but he started it innit.

I once gave 50p to a dude I see around Manchester quite frequently, cos he was beatboxing down the queue for cash. He at least doesn't look like he's a complete waster, although I presume he really is. Much better than sitting on the floor slumped in a heroin-induced bliss with a paper cup held out as I saw so frequently in Dublin. In Manchester most of the regular beggars tend to wear nice shoes so I don't believe any of them are homeless. There's even two twins here who swap shifts. Unbelievable.

[aura]

I used to live in Winchester, which offers a rather high pedigree of gentlemen of the road. Sometimes when I was asked for change I'd look at them and think fuck me, your wearing better clothes than I am! I do not give out cash to people on the street coz I am not exactly that well off myself and know that around our way a lot of these people have council houses and are on the blag.

[baldmosher]

That reminds me, there was a dude near my house who asked me for 20p, he was wearing a smart leather jacket and listening to an iPod. I thought "nice clothes, get stuffed" but when I came out of the kebab shop he was still around so I offered him 20p from my change as I assumed he was genuinely desperate to make a phone call, so when he asked me for more I said "What? Get real, not with that jacket, you've clearly got more money than me" and he seemed quite happy to have got his 20p.

There was another dude who flagged me down, he wanted £5 for a taxi to the hospital as he'd been mugged (clearly he had, he was shaking, there was a massive lump on head, his jaw didn't look too stable, ring torn from his finger and bleeding quite badly) so I offered to drive him to hospital, but instead he directed me around the corner to his "brother's house", so (after making sure he didn't want to go to hospital) I left him on the doorstep with some toilet roll I had in the car to stem the bleeding. I assumed he was either concussed or an illegal immigrant so I left him to his own devices. Presumably he went on blagging cash from people.

Oh and there was another dude who asked me for £2.50 so he could get his daughter back to Denton on the train. I didn't have the heart to tell him he should have thought about that before he spent all his money.

And then the woman who knocked on my door with child in arms saying "family am Bosnia" smiling with her hand out, well, get real I thought, that gold tooth must be worth a fair bit. I see her up the curry mile all the time, I assume they're on benefits same as everyone else. They don't stink and their clothes are always clean.

Some (most) people around my way are just poor and cheeky.

[CunningStunt]

What did they want the 40p for?

I found myself homeless for a few weeks after being kicked out of home.
I went to London where there are more shelters and charity help than anywhere else in the UK.
I washed every day, even if it meant washing my hair in the sink in a public toilet as I thought there was no excuse to be dirty and smell. Plus most shelters have showers anyway.
You can get a loan to apply for a permit to sell the big issue. It costs £20 then each copy costs you 70p to buy and you sell it on at £1.50 for a profit of 80p you can then sell it on for £1.50 making a profit of 80p. Vendors can only sell the magazine from 8am - 6pm meaning that there is no reason to be out at all hours begging.
I sold the Big Issue, and through that saved up enough money for a deposit for a place. Thanks to organised charities i never went hungry or slept in a doorway, they also helped me with clothes, to find a place to live and eventually a job. This took a matter of weeks. I did not choose to be homeless and I did not want to carry on that way! How anyone can make it their choice is far beyond my belief as it was truly awful!

There is no reason for these people to be on the street for any length of time, I do not give change to people who ask for it. I will however buy a cup of tea or coffee for someone i see standing in the freezing cold selling the big issue because i have been there and i know that the odd cup of tea and a smile from someone goes a hell of a long way when your toes are numb and you've been standing in the same place all day trying to better yourself out of the situation you've found yourself in.

[leah]

but who are 'these people', exactly?

it is worth bearing in mind, for example, research that shows that ex-servicemen (and women) are overrepresented in the ranks of the street homeless.

i suppose when you consider the reasons that some people join the forces (maybe the best bet for a career in absence of a decent education, the possibility of structure for people who have had chaotic early lives), add in the difficulties of readjusting to civilian life, and for the really lucky souls a bit of the old ptsd after having witnessed some seriously fucked up stuff about which people simply do not want to hear, you have a very complex situation which has a lot more to do with severe psychological dificulties than a failure to get it together to have a shave and sell the big issue.

i imagine it's a similar story for people who end up homeless after growing up in violent and abusive homes.

i recently met an ex-serviceman whose life seemed, to me, to be far from the stable, basically comfortable existence one would wish for anybody; what struck me was that he was a deeply sensitive, thoughtful guy whose life had got out of control and was left just coping with each day as it came, with little left for longer-term strategies... not a lifestyle of which the majority of people would approve, but the best he could do in his circumstances. heartbreaking, really...

[PaulX]

What do people make of this? A much-needed exercise in empathy for a Tory MP or a cheap piece of publicity with an agenda?

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-Ne ... 0641298371

[ShazzaSpannered]

I remember when it was "10p for the price of a cup of tea", always delivered in a voice that sounded like their throat had been sandpapered.

Yeah I remember coming out of a daytime rave (Seduction in Margate) and being sat in the car and a woman with no teeth tapping her tin cup on the window. When we wound it down to see what she want she said "10p for a cup of tea" in one of the most gravvliest voices I've ever heard.

She was scary, I had nightmares for weeks about her

[PaulX]

I remember when it was "10p for the price of a cup of tea", always delivered in a voice that sounded like their throat had been sandpapered.

Yeah I remember coming out of a daytime rave (Seduction in Margate) and being sat in the car and a woman with no teeth tapping her tin cup on the window. When we wound it down to see what she want she said "10p for a cup of tea" in one of the most gravvliest voices I've ever heard.

She was scary, I had nightmares for weeks about her

And the worst of it was she was 22. Say no to drugs, kids.

[16-BIT]

its usually the same price as a phone call now aint it that they ask for? as phone box is 40p now

[Magma]

What did they want the 40p for?

I found myself homeless for a few weeks after being kicked out of home.
I went to London where there are more shelters and charity help than anywhere else in the UK.
I washed every day, even if it meant washing my hair in the sink in a public toilet as I thought there was no excuse to be dirty and smell. Plus most shelters have showers anyway.
You can get a loan to apply for a permit to sell the big issue. It costs £20 then each copy costs you 70p to buy and you sell it on at £1.50 for a profit of 80p you can then sell it on for £1.50 making a profit of 80p. Vendors can only sell the magazine from 8am - 6pm meaning that there is no reason to be out at all hours begging.
I sold the Big Issue, and through that saved up enough money for a deposit for a place. Thanks to organised charities i never went hungry or slept in a doorway, they also helped me with clothes, to find a place to live and eventually a job. This took a matter of weeks. I did not choose to be homeless and I did not want to carry on that way! How anyone can make it their choice is far beyond my belief as it was truly awful!

There is no reason for these people to be on the street for any length of time, I do not give change to people who ask for it. I will however buy a cup of tea or coffee for someone i see standing in the freezing cold selling the big issue because i have been there and i know that the odd cup of tea and a smile from someone goes a hell of a long way when your toes are numb and you've been standing in the same place all day trying to better yourself out of the situation you've found yourself in.

That's a really interesting tale, thanks for sharing. It's rare you actually get to hear an experienced opinion in all of this....