We have had something pretty similar to this in Chicago, with guys going on the el with "discharge cards," saying they just got out of prison. Most often they say it's Joliet, which is convenient, because the adult facility at Joliet closed a good while ago.

Fix your italics tags in this post, Ezra.

Hey, Ezra, you forgot to close your italics tag and your entire blog is now italicized.

My favorite panhandler ever was the one who asked me and my friends to donate to the United Negro Pizza Fund. My least favorite one was the one who harassed me into giving him a dollar, asked for more, and grabbed my ass on his way out.

This legal-way thing, though, I have never heard. I guess panhandling styles are a regional thing--in NYC you get some kind of aggressive types, a lot of ones who make a speech to the entire subway giving a pretty extensive story. In Cambridge (at least the area I know) there are a lot more people standing or sitting very still against buildings, saying "spare change" over and over.

he just got out of jail and is trying to do this "the legal way,"

I guess he wants credit for that, which is setting the bar pretty low. I'm amazed that anybody still panhandles because who carries cash around anymore? Every single time someone asks me for money I say no, not because I don't want to give it to them, but because they won't take my debit card. Well I guess they probably would take it but I don't want to give them the whole card.

Walking around in DC for more than 5 minutes can make you a supporter of City Journal style analysis.

I get asked for cash 4-5 times a day from when I leave my house until I come home at night.

I usually only feel threatened by the ones wearing power blue shirts who ask me the environment though.

Urban neocons aside, it is a quality of life issue that should be addressed by progressives.

The other night I was at Penn Station with just a couple minutes to spare before my train, and there was a long line at the NJ Transit ticket machines. A guy came up and started directing people to some ticket machines around the corner that had no one at them. He got like 8 people to leave the line for the other machines. As I finished buying my ticket he started explaining that he was homeless and could use some money. I gave him more than I've given any other panhandler I can recall, anyway -- by making it possible to catch my train, he damn well earned it.

The guy who opens the door for you at the Dupont Circle CVS, on the other hand, I could do without.

My favourite panhandler sign in Toronto is from a guy who is really ready to earn it: "You can kick me in the ass for $10"...

The best panhandler in DC is the Praise Jesus guy outside the lower entrance to Union Station. He stands opposite the flower salesman (who appears to be deaf or at least very good at tuning the guy out) and, instead of selling flowers, he sells happiness in the forms of tambourine dances and random bursts of talking about how awesome Jesus is. He never tries to touch anyone, and never addresses any particular person unless they address him first. And I see far, far more people give him money than any other panhandler. I would say that more pandhandlers should try this approach, but it's probably pretty hard to do unless you are genuinely happy.

the Praise Jesus guy sounds like he is pushing the boundaries of where panhandling ends and street performance begins.

Ipod. Headphones. Problem pretty much solved.

Ipod. Headphones. Problem pretty much solved.

Every day on the train I put my headphones in my ears; most of the time I am not listening to anything, but it stops strangers from talking to me which I find unpleasant.

The story of the Praise Jesus man reminds me of The Compliment Man of Adams Morgan. When I was a party girl lo those many years ago (the 90s), he used to tell us all how beautiful we were while sitting on the curb drinking hot tea at night, and occasionally (if we had cash left over after the bar tab) we'd give him a snack. He didn't want money, as I recall.

I think panhandling is free speech until it becomes an obstruction or harassment. It sucks to be bothered but life isn't all sunshine and roses.

I used to live in neighborhood in Chicago that had professional panhandlers and there is nothing worse then getting the same BS story repeated to you on consecutive days. It kills the good samaritan instinct in you.

I don't have any stats to back it up but my personal experience is only a small number of panhandlers are doing it out of desperation. Most are doing it as a kind of half scam/half job.

I usually don't have cash either, and often just say "sorry", but I also think being rude to people asking for money in a low-key way is egregious (aggressiveness is of course a different story). A dude once broke into very sincere seeming tears recounting how someone had hit him for asking for change earlier that day. Lame!

The best guy in LA is the sweet skinny old man, "O' Slim", who waits outside a Mexican food place asking for tacos and wishing you blessings on your day.

Tambourine dude at Union is pretty great. We always say hi, and I always give him a buck, when he bags my (read: my girlfriend's) flowers for me.

However, Adams Morgan residents, please beware Jerry. This guy seriously will follow you for blocks in an attempt to get you to go to the cash machine for him.

It's another "I just got outta jail" sob story, only with a Jesus twist. He actually yelled at me on the street until I finally looked back at him and started strong with a "what religion are you." It went downhill from there.

"I just got outta jail; I need city ID to get into this program that Clark Construction has for ex-offenders; I got all my ducks in a row, except for the fee--why don't you go get me $20 dollars outta the ATM." Oh, and he told me that he used to think nothing of pistol whipping his street rivals.

After many, many not-so-subtle attempts to get him to leave me alone, I walked into the Columbia Rd. Safeway; he walked in and started screaming about "maybe if I go back to my old ways people'll notice me."

The second time I saw him, it was very late at night and within 50 feet of the same Safeway, and he started in on the same bullshit, until I told him he tried it with me already.

Anyhow, yeah, Jerry.

Thanks for listening.

-Micah

ps--DC gives ex-offenders free city IDs. I looked it up.

I would much rather give to musicians. Bleeding Gums on H St and 18th in DC is superb, as is the reggae guitarist at Faragut North station, when he can get a gig and kick out the chinese lute-playing cat-strangler.

The hyperkinetic guy whose grasp of the english language has collapsed to about 12 words on L St and 19th is less attractive as a donation prospect. Sample sentence, "gemmee hemee gemmee, hurrmm, spare change, bless you, have nice, hemee hemee", repeat all night.

But I have sympathy for the vets, although I have no idea how to verify what they're claiming.

Hopefully if one of these guys does go back to the illegal way, it will be limited to punching Seitz or jeebus in the face and then taking his Ipod. Style points if he starts singing with the current track while walking away.

"Hopefully if one of these guys does go back to the illegal way, it will be limited to punching Seitz or jeebus in the face and then taking his Ipod"

I hope he stabs your mother or another moronic spanger kid like yourself.

I don't deserve to be punched in the face.

This isn't a trend, it's just a function of you being around long enough. I got the just-out-of-jail story my first month in the city and it never stopped. There are infinite variations. Likewise the change-for-booze shtick is as old as time; it just depends on the audience.

My personal favorite is the guy who stopped me three years ago in my neighborhood saying he had a flat tire and was trying to get back to Baltimore. I tried to be helpful to no avail, and anyway he wasn't pushy about money. The reason he's my favorite is that he stopped me again on the same street a year later with the same story, then a third time on the same street this year. I'm kind of sad I moved because I wonder if he'll show again next year.

A little socialism would go a long way.