markz said:There was a bum downtown, catering to the business crowd who was on disability and receiving our provinces "Severely Handicap Disability" $1600/m plus he most likely got city welfare housing. He had no legs, in a wheel chair but his "begging angle" was he had Calgary Flames logo hand painted on his wheel chair, plus perhaps the veteran angle too, he died about 5 years ago. He always had beer hiding under where he sat. He raked it in good.
There was a story on the news about a beggar in the downtown core who begged during the day, and when he was done he would hop in his car and drive to his house.
A group of "Bums" was also downtown in "Monk" clothing, they were asian, it was the style of begging where they would not talk just hand you a small letter asking you to spare whatever you could. One time I only had a dime and the bum wouldnt accept it. It seemed outrageous at the time but the denial of a dime confirmed my suspicions that these were scam artist bums, not true bums. That was/is quite a common scam type I have seen from time to time. Plain cloths deaf people do the same thing, go on the city transit trains and do their deeds too. Or transit stops, restaurants etc etc etc. Seen a true bum doing it old school style walking up and down the train asking for money. They got a captive crowd. But they move quickly.
I chuckle sometimes because there are so many other ways to cash in besides begging for money and picking bottles. Most dont want to bother and are happy doing what they are doing. Its a life style for them. I know a few like that.
Canmore Alberta, just outside Banff a "tourist bum" with an accent and nice ski clothing on "ran out of gas" begging for money. Seen him before doing that. Same type of thing outside a movie theatre in Calgary. Seen him countless times pulling that scam. I think he got trespassed from that property, and the bum moved on. Parking lots are a prime area for a "Looking Left, Turning Right" accident. Slow speed which is what you want. You dont want nothing faster then parking lot speeds. The bums just laugh at my suggestions for easier methods of cashing in on insurance of vehicles, homes and commercial places. That is their choice.
Where am I going with this?
There are more and more so called bums begging and its because everyones getting laid off because of the gas prices. The bums will lie, cheat and steal to get ahold of free, tax free money. I cant blame them. I've always wondered how much these bums can make in a day. But the real money is in injury law.
I remember the bums of charleston. This good looking african American girl wearing guccis and using her I-phone was going around asking people for money, claiming she couldn't afford to eat. What's ironic is that this particular girl in Charleston actually asked me twice on two different occassions, as if she didn't remember me. (But I definitely remembered her, and I remembered seeing her quite often around town. There's only a small number of 'retail hotspots' in Charleston, so that's probably why.)
But the fact I saw her everywhere at all hours of the day and using the bus system suggests she might've been homeless.