Begging on West Street/Division Street

[MC Spyda 10]

Just say "Yes, thanks" and carry on about your business.

[agnostica 10]

I've noticed this, and it is quite intimidating.

Thankfully not all are aggressive.

When I have spare cash I will buy food/a drink but I never give money (just my personal scruples there)

 

The ones that really infuriate me at the moment are the ones working the tram stops.

 

Last week I ended up letting two trams go by because they were packed, and being on crutches at the mo didn't want to fight my way through to the disabled seats and was approached three times by the same person, who was obviously waiting for people to arrive and then walking the queue. After the second time I watched how many people gave him cash and the third time he asked I politely asked whether the "at least 4.50 he'd gotten from the last walk up the queue wasn't enough to get his hot drink he was asking for?"

Got a really dirty look as he realised his game was up (for now) and he left. As Itrytoplease said - some are making a fair living out of it!

 

Would this be a middle aged black guy wears a parka and opens up with "do you smoke" ? If so he has been at it years think the cafe he talks about is cunningly disguised as one of the betting shops in fitzalan square

[charlotta 10]

I think he once shouted loads of abuse at me, called me racist and screamed at me because I didn't speak to him.

 

It was dark and I was on my own at the tram stop, I was not long in Sheffield and worried about getting home!

[agnostica 10]

I think he once shouted loads of abuse at me, called me racist and screamed at me because I didn't speak to him.

 

It was dark and I was on my own at the tram stop, I was not long in Sheffield and worried about getting home!

 

Bankers draft?

[charlotta 10]

Bankers draft?

 

No at Fitzalan Square tram stop.

[MikeDaMouse 10]

Don't mind buying homeless or beggars food or something to drink (non alcoholic) I think its good to help those folk who are down on there luck.

Im not sure if its fair for them to sit next to a cash point though, but like another post said it cleverer than sitting next to a skip and begging.

 

The worse kind of beggars are those that stand in shops or city centres trying to get you to sign up to some sort of charity. This in my opinion is steeling... Making out your donation is going to help when in fact it pays there wages and there commission e.c.t

[Isabelle 10]

I've noticed this, and it is quite intimidating.

Thankfully not all are aggressive.

When I have spare cash I will buy food/a drink but I never give money (just my personal scruples there)

 

The ones that really infuriate me at the moment are the ones working the tram stops.

 

Last week I ended up letting two trams go by because they were packed, and being on crutches at the mo didn't want to fight my way through to the disabled seats and was approached three times by the same person, who was obviously waiting for people to arrive and then walking the queue. After the second time I watched how many people gave him cash and the third time he asked I politely asked whether the "at least 4.50 he'd gotten from the last walk up the queue wasn't enough to get his hot drink he was asking for?"

Got a really dirty look as he realised his game was up (for now) and he left. As Itrytoplease said - some are making a fair living out of it!

 

I was approached by a man at the Middlewood tram stop a while ago asking for money because he 'only had £3 left on his electric'. He put me about because he stood too close to me, so i made a point of stepping backwards. I told him I didn't have any cash.

 

It really put me about, someone getting right in my face unannounced.

 

---------- Post added 13-01-2015 at 19:25 ----------

 

Don't mind buying homeless or beggars food or something to drink (non alcoholic) I think its good to help those folk who are down on there luck.

Im not sure if its fair for them to sit next to a cash point though, but like another post said it cleverer than sitting next to a skip and begging.

 

The worse kind of beggars are those that stand in shops or city centres trying to get you to sign up to some sort of charity. This in my opinion is steeling... Making out your donation is going to help when in fact it pays there wages and there commission e.c.t

 

The 'chuggers' as some people call them, are worse when they knock on your door, you cant get rid of them. They will tell you it is the best way to donate but they are getting paid, a lot of them are students earning extra money.

[agnostica 10]

No at Fitzalan Square tram stop.

 

Near enough for it to be the same guy. Didn't strike me as been aggressive though

[Maureen ann 10]

Hello to M.A....you maybe seen as a vulnerable target especially if it shows in your outward appearance. Aquired skills of such detection is part and parcel of their survival techniques.

 

As a retired psychiatric nurse i am quite used to judging people's characters and hiding my feelings, I felt intimated but didn't show it. He looked really wild as if he could be a user of drugs and appeared angry when I said no I just stared him out and he turned away. I don't want to be responsible for fuelling either his drug or drink addiction

[orbs 10]

when I worked in town the same young couple always used to beg on fargate (and in whining voices) then my bus route changed and I stood in same shelter, they always had loads of tinnies and had plenty to drink. one of my sons worked in a pub down moor and at the end of each day beggers came in to change the money into notes, they nearly always got £40-50

[Badlittlepup 10]

I have personally been homeless. But like the vast majority of homeless people I was the 'hidden' homeless. With a bed in a hostel and getting basic benefits, not begging.

 

As a result if I give to charity it's normally a homeless charity, especially YWCA, Archer Project and Salvation Army.

 

There was one woman who was a street beggar in Sheffield who I would give money to as I actually got to know her and I knew that she was on the street because she had evident mental health issues and couldn't take her beloved dogs into hostels.

 

But she was the exception to the rule in general I don't give to street beggars. Shortly after my own experience of homelessness I got a job as a barmaid on minimum wage in Central London. There were a lot of beggars and I got to know familiar faces. I also go to know that many of them (particularly the ones who loitered near cashpoints) weren't homeless and often while I was waiting to get the nightbus home they would walk past me and get into hugely expensive black cabs (which I could never have afforded) to return to their homes. And other lies too, saying they were pregnant to people who talked to them to get money and sympathy but I would see them there for the next 9/10 months when no bump or baby would appear but they'd keep telling the same story.

 

Really, if you want to know your money is going to help the homeless give it to a charity who can make sure it gets to the right place.

[kidley 48]

It baffles me why people, give to people who beg, that is what they are beggars, any body that thinks they are homeless - destitute etc etc are fools, did nora beg,? genuine homeless dont beg. They used to call them tramps i never seen them beg like that. This country with all its faults has never let any body starve to death or let them go without food and water.