Boston's Panhandler Pandemic
The woman across from me, who might have been on her way to a Cher look-alike contest (I thought only men did those, but I'm pretty sure she was a chick), tossed a charlie ticket into his cup. He thanked her as if she had not just done him a good deed (assuming she had), but all homeless people everywhere. Who knows but it was a tapped-out ticket. I had my suspicions. I mean, What Would Cher Do?
Where I work on Boylston Street the panhandlers have apparently unionized. It is not unusual to encounter five or six in the space of a block. Prime real estate is out in front of Starbucks, where they work in organized shifts. I shit you not. You could set your watch by them.
There's a middle-aged man who has the morning rush-hour shift Monday through Friday, and makes more in a day than I do from sods coming out of that Starbucks doing penitence for their five dollar coffees. He meekly addresses all comers with the line "remember the homeless on your way out..." and "any little bit helps the homeless."
He has been at this on this very spot for at least two years—since I started working down there—and I have wanted to ask him if he represents "the homeless" in some other than the abstract sense, since he seems to be suggesting with his pitch that he will be donating the proceeds to them, and not heading to the nearest Liquorland for a fifth of hooch for himself (or to the nearest wherever for a nickel bag—one of my colleague says she thinks that's his thing).
I don't think the old boy is even homeless, myself. I get around, and I've never seen him in any of the shelters in the area. I think he's a garden-variety bum, sorry to say. But I can't say for sure. But neither can you. And that's the thing, innit? So he really is out there "representing" "the homeless" for people who are looking for a cheap indulgence (of the plenary variety the Catholic Church used to offer).
But there's no need to feel so-o-o-o guilty about spending what folks living in the Third World make in a month on your morning venti triple-flavored nonfat frozen mochachino with whipped cream and sprinkles (you gotta wake up somehow). The Starbucks Foundation does give a portion of your purchase to its literacy and after-school programs.
Personally, I think the cup-rattlers are a pretty sketchy lot, and people giving to them out of some guilt about social and economic stratification are only contributing to it by doing so. It may make you feel good about yourself for a moment, but its a cheap thrill.
If I had my druthers the cup-rattlers would be banned. There, I said it.
If you want to give to individuals worthier of your buck, I encourage you to give to the guys selling Spare Change News, which is part of the Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP) in Cambridge. It's pretty simple, the way it works. According to their website, "Vendors who wish to sell Spare Change must be sober, respectful and courteous to Spare Change/HEP staff, other vendors and customers." They purchase newspapers for 25 cents each and resell them for a buck. They keep the 75-cent profit.
Whether you take the paper or not (and I generally don't), at least you have some idea about the actual person selling it. Which is only important if you want to help an actual person, and not just assuage some vague guilt you have for your Starbutt's habit by tossing change at someone looking to exploit your guilt and "the homeless" at the same time.
I know it's pathetic to comment on your own blog, I mean apart from responding to other people's comments, but I had to mention that this morning on the short journey--about thirty feet--from Arlington Station to the entrance of my building, I encountered THREE panhandlers: one at the base of the stairs right at the entrance to the station, one as always next to the door to Starbucks, and a third INSIDE the entrance to Au Bon Pain. There is a little vestibule there, and he was standing inside, cup in hand, begging for alms.
This last one is the one who usually has the morning shift in front of Starbucks, and I could tell he was a little distraught that a younger beggar had usurped his spot. There had obviously been some kind of "discussion" around who "owned" this lucrative piece of real estate right outside Starbucks, and the older fellow had not been able to persuade the younger one that, according to The Back Bay Panhandler Union rules, panhandler rank and position is based on SENIORITY.
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That sounds like almost as much fun as using the ATM and finding that someone has set up camp in the ATM. I feel bad, especially in bad weather, but it also makes me wonder why, if we're the richest nation in the world we can't do something about housing for all of our citizens. At any rate, it doesn't make for the safest feeling banking transaction.
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