Big issue sellers

[manxcat 10]

By buying a big issue you are supporting degenerates to continue living there ferell lifestyle. Most homeless people CHOOSE that life because there face doesnt fit in normal society.

 

I don't buy it anymore and won't again. But I don't agree with your post about people choosing this lifestyle. You don't get so many people coming from normal, stable family backgrounds ending up on the streets (OK there will be a few of course, but proportionally not many). Which is not to say people from disadvantaged backgrounds should be allowed to beg and sponge off hard working people to fuel their "habits". I'm going to be perfectly honest and say I don't know what would be the best way for getting people off the streets and off drugs etc but whatever it is I'm sure it doesn't involve selling the Big Issue and handing out "spare change" to beggars.

[EdnaKrabappe 14]

Does 'Rat' still sell it? He used to sell it in Leeds when i worked and lived there and then he moved to Sheffield and sold it near the train station. He was a lovely bloke and just chose not to join the rat race 'hence the name.

[Swan_Vesta 11]

By buying a big issue you are supporting degenerates to continue living there ferrell lifestyle. Most homeless people CHOOSE that life because there face doesnt fit in normal society. They lack the social/interpersonel skills needed to get and hold down a steady job. Ive got no time for them whatsoever,only help genuine people who deserve it, dont waste kindness on ingreats who just take take take.

 

Trip trap, trip trap ..... Who's that walking across your bridge?

 

Why, it's the billy goats gruff.

[manxcat 10]

i find the big issue sellers are perfectly polite, all it takes is a no thank you, there was one bloke who sold em down chapel walk, he was a brilliant salesman, he'd always be doing magic tricks with cigarettes and stuff.

 

It's the monks who i find most irritating! it's like, i don't care how nice your being, your still following me when i've said no thank you!

They are definately not all polite!! I friend of mine complained to the Big Issue after the seller started running after her, abusing because she didn't buy it!! This particular seller is a pain in the arse, now no longer in Sheffield, fortunately. But there are plenty of others nearly as bad.

 

Personally I would pay more tax for the government to do something to get these people off the streets and leading normal lives. It should not be the responsibility of individuals buying the Big Issue.

[Ousetunes 10]

I used to avoid them like the plague. If that fella was standing outside Virgin on Fargate and I wanted to get to Waterstones, I'd be inclined to go the long way round in an effort to avoid him and his 'Big Issue, mate?' plea.

 

Then for some reason, I had a change of heart. I actually bought a copy (something on the cover was of interest to me) and I was quite impressed with the magazine. The seller was polite and in a strange way, I went away with that little feeling inside me that I'd contributed to someone else's fortunes. (That may sound a little smug but it actually did brighten up my day.)

 

From then on, I always made an effort - if it can be called such - to say politely and promptly 'no thank you' whenever I was confronted by a seller asking if I would like a 'Big Issue, mate?', as opposed to walking past and pretending they weren't there.

 

I usually got a pleasant 'Okay, pal; thank you' and I no longer dislike these people.

 

However, as for women with clipboards on Fargate....,

[Shoesme 10]

the women on fargate! its like a ruddy minefield.

[manxcat 10]

Does 'Rat' still sell it? He used to sell it in Leeds when i worked and lived there and then he moved to Sheffield and sold it near the train station. He was a lovely bloke and just chose not to join the rat race 'hence the name.

He chose not to join the rat race but expects the rat race to fund his lifestyle choice by buying the Big Issue:huh:

 

If this is the guy with dreadlocks waving his arms around, he's at York train station now

[mojo1 10]

He chose not to join the rat race but expects the rat race to fund his lifestyle choice by buying the Big Issue:huh:

 

If this is the guy with dreadlocks waving his arms around, he's at York train station now

 

How is buying the big issue any different from buying any other magazine?

Is the man in the booth shouting 'late star, city final' any different? no he's selling a newspaper to fund his lifestyle aswell. The point you seem to be missing is that by selling the big issue they are working for a living and not begging for handouts. That he doesn't want to be a part of the rat race doesn't change the fact that he still lives in a world that takes money to live in. How would you suggest he supported himself? Begging? Mugging?

[purdyamos 10]

He chose not to join the rat race but expects the rat race to fund his lifestyle choice by buying the Big Issue:huh:

 

 

I can see why you could say they are funding his lifestyle choice by drawing benefits, but not by selling a product they have bought and are selling at a profit? On a very small scale why are they beggars and the workers at WH Smiths not? Why can't you get your head round the fact that selling a product isn't charity, it's basic, starter-level self sufficiency? And on your previous point, customers are not 'responsible' for getting people off the street. The Big Issue seller him/herself is. That's the point.

[Whatif wewin 10]

Did we not have this thread a few weeks ago?

[manxcat 10]

I can see why you could say they are funding his lifestyle choice by drawing benefits, but not by selling a product they have bought and are selling at a profit? On a very small scale why are they beggars and the workers at WH Smiths not? Why can't you get your head round the fact that selling a product isn't charity, it's basic, starter-level self sufficiency? And on your previous point, customers are not 'responsible' for getting people off the street. The Big Issue seller him/herself is. That's the point.

 

Selling the Big Issue is not the same as buying the Star from a street vendor or going into WHSmith. You are not obliged to "no thank you" every time you walk past a newspaper vendor are you? I don't mind saying "no thank you" to a Big Issue seller but I do mind being told to "have a great ******* day", because I haven't bought the Big Issue off him. Newspaper vendors don't generally do that, do they? I know sellers like this should be reported and that they are not all like that etc etc etc, but I'm just not convinced that hard selling the Big Issue on every city centre street corner is a positive way of getting people off the streets and I've come across enough abusive sellers to put me off ever buying it again.

 

The aforementioned "Rat" is I think the guy that was abusive to my friend. If he chooses not to join the "rat race" - fine. But he's no right to be abusive to innocent passers by who choose not to buy the big issue to fund his lifestyle choice.

[drinkingman 10]

Did we not have this thread a few weeks ago?

 

It bears repeating if helps educate some of the people who read this forum.

 

I suggest these people actually buy a copy and read it. They might be pleasantly surprised.