"Excuse me pal, have you got some change for the bus?"
or
"Can you spare £2 a month for a good cause?"
or not even words, you get handed a bit of paper which says "I'm poor and looking for money for some fictional reason" (I'm paraphrasing there).
Now this isn't some kind of anti-beggar Daily Mail crap. This is a more pro-leaving-me-alone statement. I don't want to give money to people in the street. I don't want to give it to people in shops either but if I don't I can't take home my groceries.
What happened to privacy? The right to walk down the street and not be irritated by a pointless tangent into your life. Occasionally a guy will ask me for 10p "for a cup of tea". Now maybe I go to the wrong cafes, but if he can find me a place that sells a cup of tea for 10p and I'd gladly take him there and buy him tea, scones and some shortbread.
Another guy hangs around outside my local 24-hour shop after 11pm. He'll then interject himself into your life and demand money to get home. Every day. Well does he borrow money off people to come down to my 24-hour shop to ask for money to get back home? Is that his job? Last time I saw him he shopkeeper just told me to punch him. I might well do.
No, if I'm walking down a street I want to be able to completely zone out and not have to deal with life until I reach my destination. Christ there's enough crap in most people's lives without some idiot contributing to it by ruining their train of thought. Ugh.
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