Last night I worked until about 9 and then made the trek down the street to… you guessed it… the Flying Saucer. A fellow regular who I hadn’t seen in a couple of weeks was sitting at the bar, and the very first thing he said to me illustrated why we need an educational campaign about panhandling.
He said, “I liked the article in the paper, where they interviewed you about the homeless.”
“No…” I replied. “The article wasn’t about the homeless. It was about panhandlers.”
“Homeless, panhandlers… I consider them pretty much the same thing,” he said.
That’s the problem… people don’t realize that “the panhandling problem” and “the homeless problem” are two separate problems.
Ran into Mike King, who co-moderates the Handling-Panhandling online forum with me, at the Saucer. He had been sitting at Second and Beale watching a guy hit up tourist after tourist after tourist, must’ve talked to at least 15 people. This was after dark, which means what he was doing was illegal, even with a panhandling permit. Finally Mike went up and talked to him and the guy admitted he wasn’t homeless, he had an apartment.
Later after Mike and my other friend left, I moved to the window facing Second Street. I watched the guy pictured below (photo taken about a week and a half before) chase down tourists at the intersection of Second and Peabody Place and hit up each one for money.
I watched him from about 10 to midnight and he must have talked to 40 people. Again, keep in mind that panhandling after dark is against the law in Memphis. Finally I decided to meet this guy myself. I paid my tab, walked across the street, and pretended to be a tourist taking photos of the area. And wouldn’t you know, he came right up. After initial banter about places to go in the area, he said, “Look here, man. I’m a real guy. My name’s Terry.” He pulled out his ID and showed it to me. “Look, I’m just trying to get money to get a beer.”
Once again, this illustrates that the hardcore panhandlers and the homeless are not the same people. If this guy was truly homeless and down on his luck and needed a hand to turn his life around, he’d be more concerned with finding shelter for the evening, and maybe getting some clean clothes so he could go around the next day and apply for jobs. But no, he wanted a beer. Or at least that’s what he said. His bottom teeth were missing, and while I did not see him do anything illegal, it’s very common for people who smoke crack to have their bottom teeth missing (the pipe rots them out).
If you want to help the homeless, give to Calvary Episcopal’s Street Ministry. Or the Union Mission. Or call your church and ask if they have outreach programs for those in need. But PLEASE don’t give money to these idiots on the street.
