Adventures with Panhandlers #5
@teamfreak16 (43586)
Denver, Colorado
April 19, 2016 9:46pm CST
I tend to get panhandled a lot. This is because I spend a lot of time walking around areas where panhandlers hang out. Downtown. I love to be downtown. So do they. Once in awhile, something weird happens.
Today, something new occurred. I got hit up for change while riding the bus.
I've been panhandled at the bus station, I've been panhandled at the bus stop. But never on the bus. And I ride the bus a lot.
Dude was sitting in the back row, asking tons of questions about routes and transfers. He asked about which stops to use.
Then he started asking everyone in the back for spare change. I didn't have any as it was, and I told him so (and, as I always do, I apologized.) But on the bus you can't keep walking. You're kind of stuck there, and it's more awkward than you might think.
This isn't as weird as the guy that insisted I give him a hug (which I did,) or the guy that asked me for ten bucks (really?) Or even the guy that hides in the parking garage in Modesto.
This was weird because it was just different. I have witnessed a drug deal on the bus. I once had a fistfight break out right on top of me on the bus. But nobody has ever asked me for money.
If you ride the bus, has anyone ever hit you up for change? Is this common? Has the law of averages finally caught up to me?
David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls, Nigel Tufnel and John "Stumpy" Pepys perform their 1965 hit on "Pop, Look & Listen". Drummer "Stumpy" died the following yea...
8 people like this
7 responses
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
20 Apr 16
Here in LA panhandling is a common everyday occurrence.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
20 Apr 16
@teamfreak16 With our population, they are everywhere. They walk down the middle of traffic lanes going up to each car window, they hold court on freeway off ramps, they take up position at bus stops.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43586)
• Denver, Colorado
20 Apr 16
Oh, I bet. People think it's bad here...
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43586)
• Denver, Colorado
20 Apr 16
@JohnRoberts - Every time Colorado Springs thinks they've found all way to stop it, the ACLU gets involved. It got so bad last summer that Manitou hired a security firm to patrol the downtown area. I bet it's still nothing compared to out there, though.
@teamfreak16 (43586)
• Denver, Colorado
20 Apr 16
He wasn't being aggressive or anything, rather, it was uncomfortable not looking at him without it looking like I was trying not to look at him.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382026)
• Rockingham, Australia
20 Apr 16
@teamfreak16 Oh I see. And just for interest's sake - panhandling isn't a term we use here. At least I've never heard it used. I wondered what it was first time but it didn't take long to work out from the context.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43586)
• Denver, Colorado
20 Apr 16
@JudyEv - What term do they use there, just out of curiosity?
1 person likes this
@kevin1877uk (36987)
•
21 Apr 16
@teamfreak16 I guess you find them more or less everywhere.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43586)
• Denver, Colorado
21 Apr 16
We have a lot here, but because our downtown is so small it seems like there are more than there really are. Sometimes I get really weird requests.
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
20 Apr 16
I have seen it on coaches when panhandlers have charged on during tours in poor communities often bribing drivers for permission to board but not on local buses
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
21 Apr 16
@teamfreak16 yes it is quite common in Morrocco
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43586)
• Denver, Colorado
20 Apr 16
So if you're on a tour, a beggar might manage to get aboard and do his thing. Never even thought about that method. Interesting.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43586)
• Denver, Colorado
21 Apr 16
I get it all the time, only sometimes it gets weird.
@teamfreak16 (43586)
• Denver, Colorado
25 Apr 16
I used to ride the Light Rail all the time when I lived in Denver. Got bothered at one of the stations, but never on the train.
1 person likes this
@Ronrybs (21497)
• London, England
25 Apr 16
@teamfreak16 In winter the trains are warm and they hop from train to train so aren't hitting up the same people
@FourWalls (86680)
• United States
20 Apr 16
I don't carry money downtown for that reason. In Nashville they've passed anti-panhandling laws, and they have signs up downtown advising tourists to not give panhandlers money.
As for your Spinal Tap video, here's an interesting piece of trivia: the guy playing bass in the video is Danny Kortchmar, who, among many other things, played with Carole King on Tapestry, most of James Taylor's music (including writing "Honey, Don't Leave L.A."), years with Jackson Browne (including writing "Shaky Town" on Running on Empty), and co-wrote with Don Henley (including "Dirty Laundry" and "All She Wants to Do is Dance").
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43586)
• Denver, Colorado
20 Apr 16
They tried a no panhandling law in Downtown Colorado Springs a year or so ago. The ACLU got it overturned. Manitou only has a no aggressive panhandling rule.
Had no idea that was Danny Kortchmar. I just assumed it was Harry Shearer.
1 person likes this
