Fleeing the Plantation

[user328]

Someone just paid me a dollar for a soda I sold them the other day.

I sometimes buy 8-packs of 12 ounce bottle sodas with EBT and sell them for a buck each to get gas money.

[Mister Obvious]

You sound like you know how to hustle... I love it!

Clever.

[Mister Obvious]

The day shelter staff didn’t want to share the guest password there, but you can always get it from someone who already knows it.

Think about that. A homeless shelter with a guest Wi-Fi account that doesn’t want the homeless to use it. One gets the sense that the people who work for this outfit are deliberately trying to be as unhelpful as possible. They have some pretty strange ways of doing things, which I may elaborate upon later if I can be bothered.

It's strange, but... maybe they have their reasons. I could think of a few. At least there's McDonalds and lots of other places that do offer free WiFi.

I'd be interested in hearing about your observations after you've thought about it all and have some free time.

[user328]

Someone just paid me a dollar for a soda I sold them the other day.

I sometimes buy 8-packs of 12 ounce bottle sodas with EBT and sell them for a buck each to get gas money.

I was buying bags of ice to keep them cold, but sales aren’t brisk enough to warrant driving to the store everyday.

Cheap cigarettes are $4.65 at a nearby convenience store. Since everyone is strapped for cash, they’ll often pay a dollar for a single cigarette when they can’t bum one. You get to know which people are always bumming and never have anything to share themselves when it comes time to reciprocate. These people are generally cut off from further handouts by those who have.

Some people always have a big bag of weed but are always bumming cigarettes. It never occurs to them to sell a nickel bag and buy themselves a pack of smokes.

[Mister Obvious]

From what you've seen throughout your experiences, do you think that to some people, homelessness is a lifestyle and even an almost stylistic choice? Cuz I've heard this concept being discussed by a lot of people who have been homeless and they say that there's a "homeless culture" out there that appeals to younger people and stuff like that.

[user328]

Homeless people are generally very self-centered and don’t care about the little things that would make things pleasant for everyone. One of the staffers said rich people would be pouring money into this outfit hand over fist if they thought it was appreciated. Some people show a shocking level of ingratitude. It’s the kind of thing that made me decide years ago to only donate to the organization and let them deal with the firsthand interactions with the beneficiaries.

[Mister Obvious]

Homeless people are generally very self-centered and don’t care about the little things that would make things pleasant for everyone. One of the staffers said rich people would be pouring money into this outfit hand over fist if they thought it was appreciated.

Agh... see, that's exactly what I've been told as well.

It's really sad, but I've heard it from several people at this point... people I know IRL, people I don't know. They've all basically said the same thing.

One of my goals (SUPER hardcore ultimate fantasy life dream) has been to buy a few apartment buildings with a donations/food bank headquarters that could temporarily house and provide for people/families who find themselves in dire situations.

Nobody's outrightly shit on my dream or anything, but I hear the same arguments against it from most people.

[user328]

That might work for people who generally have their shit together and have merely had an unfortunate life event that left them in dire straits.

Those people are in the minority. Most aren’t looking to return to a normal life, if they ever had one in the first place, and will shit on you for your efforts. It can put you off on helping people period. The number of people I’ve met here whom I’d piss on if they were on fire can be counted on one hand.

[user328]

I, too, have imagined things I would like to do to help the unfortunate, and have come to the realization that, at the very least, you need to be extremely discerning about who you decide to take on as a project.

[user328]

On Monday night, the supervisor here at the night shelter took away nearly all privileges - showers, kitchen, hanging out in the courtyard, etc. - because of the behavior of a few individuals over the weekend.

The police get called here several times a day because these people can’t refrain from acting like two year olds.

[user328]

Honestly, the only service I’d be willing to provide to the homeless en masse at this point would be a hot breakfast served from a walk-up sidewalk kitchen. They would line up, get their food, and eat it in an outdoor patio area. The furniture would be so constructed that everything could be hosed down after the meal. The service window would be locked down after the service was over. Under no circumstances would they be permitted to enter a building that I had the expense of maintaining.

[user328]

From what you've seen throughout your experiences, do you think that to some people, homelessness is a lifestyle and even an almost stylistic choice? Cuz I've heard this concept being discussed by a lot of people who have been homeless and they say that there's a "homeless culture" out there that appeals to younger people and stuff like that.

Some people don’t even want to sleep in the shelter. They prefer to sleep outdoors.

There are youth hostels in Europe that provide temporary lodging for young backpackers. I suppose that could be considered a deliberate homeless culture.

I encountered some young hippies in Asheville who call themselves the Rainbow Family. These are kids who wander the country and typically sleep outdoors or stay with friends in whatever town they happen to be visiting. Same difference as the youth hostel crowd, more or less.

[Mister Obvious]

On Monday night, the supervisor here at the night shelter took away nearly all privileges - showers, kitchen, hanging out in the courtyard, etc. - because of the behavior of a few individuals over the weekend.

That sounds like something they would do in a pre-school or kindergarten to punish the kids and keep them in line, lmao... =\

That might work for people who generally have their shit together and have merely had an unfortunate life event that left them in dire straits.

Yeah I started thinking heavily about the idea when that tornado came through Kentucky last year and left a lot of people homeless. That's really who I had in mind.

Honestly, the only service I’d be willing to provide to the homeless en masse at this point would be a hot breakfast served from a walk-up sidewalk kitchen. They would line up, get their food, and eat it in an outdoor patio area.

That's actually a great idea... if people got the most important meal of the day, maybe it'd provide some clarity for them to get their lives together or have a moment of "WTF am I doing with my life?" Lol, wishful thinking though most likely. Agh. Man.

[Mister Obvious]

It's a strange world.

[user328]

It’s kindergarten level punishment because the people literally act like five year olds. Ironically, the people who regularly take showers are not the ones showing their asses, so they’re punishing the wrong people.

I think providing disaster relief to people who lost their homes through no fault of their own is a good idea, but trying to help the chronically homeless will only bring you misery.

[user328]

The reason I thought of the breakfast kitchen idea was because the shelters here serve shitty breakfast and no coffee at all. Sending them on their way with a hot cup of coffee used to be standard practice in homeless shelters.

At this day shelter, you have to scan your card when you reach the front of the meal line. A lot of people don’t have cards, so they hold up the line while a semi-literate staff member writes down their information. Meanwhile, the line cooks have fixed 10 or 15 plates and left them sitting there to get cold while waiting for people to trickle up to the counter. They can’t be fucked to serve it hot as each customer reaches the counter. The breakfast is always either cold scrambled eggs with some kind of cereal or a cold sausage patty with some kind of cereal. Never sausage and eggs the same day. The cereal is often overcooked rice with some sugar mixed in.

[Guest]

sausage ,eggs , hash , coffee and poppy meds and a hot lady for the day is gonna be my requirements

[user328]

There are no hot ladies, unless you find meth face attractive.

[Mister Obvious]

The drug war is raging hard in Main Street, America.

It's all been shipped in to target and erode the most susceptible of the population, and it is indeed wiping people out.

[user328]

I made $20 giving people rides today.

When I lived in this town back in the day, we called women who had been doing meth a little too long “scorch girls.”