Two years ago panhandling was off the hook and breaking all the rules in the book in Harm City. Now, not so bad.
What gives?
Let’s rephrase that.
Why aren’t the working class people I know being targeted for begging as much as 18 months ago, which often escalates and is sometimes also a method of establishing a viable mugging target?
For the same reason why people are staying inside, walking in groups, flying flags and avoiding major transit hubs—they don’t want to get mugged, jacked or stuck up and have largely stopped carrying cash.
Knowing this, the panhandlers have been less persistent—with some brutal exceptions, involving asking for the time mostly—and have tended to back off quicker than before, especially in many high volume begging zones.
The people I know who are avoiding panhandlers without confrontations in areas where they when so thickly that they cannot easily be avoided do so by continuing on their was as they say, ‘Sorry, I don’t carry cash anymore.”
These dudes understand that, because teenage thugs jack them up for their cash and change all the time and they wish they could qualify for a credit card. This also protects you somewhat from being marked as a fat wallet or easy hand. .
Thriving in Bad Places
I got sick of people asking me what time it was at work constantly. I noticed you could get a watch for a dollar at the dollar store so my reply became,"It's time for you to go to the dollar store and get a watch". If they got pissy I would ask them if they so mismanaged their money that they couldn't afford a dollar watch. We both knew that they didn't want the inconvenience of carrying a watch but they didn't mind inconveniencing me.