One thing I’ve noticed driving around the neighborhood is there’s a family that panhandles at a major intersection. Two adults, a younger child, and an actual baby. The family members stake out at the center median. When traffic comes to a halt for a red light, they descend upon the nearby vehicles to ask for spare cash. I almost never carry cash with me, but the panhandlers have a solution for that: a QR code you can scan for Venmo or Cash App. They can certainly afford a mobile phone and requisite data plan!
It must be good business to ask for money at that spot, because I see that family there every Friday after work - the first time every week that I have to actually drive. I mean, if it weren’t lucrative to panhandle there, they wouldn’t be there for long! They would have moved to a different location where the drivers aren’t as stingy and selfish. But no; that family is there week after week. I can only conclude that I live around charitable folks with high empathy.
Business is so good that I’ve started to see other families go to that same intersection to panhandle! I guess the word has spread throughout the beggar subreddits. The corner of Junipero Sera and 19th Avenue is the place to be to collect some serious change. Write a proper sob story on a large piece of poster board, and watch the cash roll in. And because we rarely see the sun on our side of the city, the risk of sunburn is far lower than say, downtown San Francisco.
None of this is to demean the panhandlers. I’m not hating the player, nor am I hating the game. Never come between a person and their livelihood, however they’re getting it (so long as it’s legally, I guess). I’m merely making the observation, is all.
Upon this hill I’ll build a church.