Cosmoline

It's an amazing thing. Since I started trucking around town on my cruiser last year, I have YET to be asked for change by the many homless people and bums who wander the streets of Anchorage. Indeed, they greet me as a fellow traveler!

Anyone else had this experience?

deputyjones

You have bums in Anchorage? I hope instead of funding soup kitchens there they buy them bus tickets to warmer climates

tsl

Are you sure it's not because you're moving so much faster than the bums? It's much harder to accost a cyclist that it is a pedestrian.

Here, many of the bums are on bicycles. They seldom confuse me with one of their own. First I wear a helmet instead of a dirty knit cap. Second, I have halogen headlights and bright blinkies, rather than broken reflectors. Third, I carry stuff in panniers rather than hanging plastic bags from the bars. Finally, my cruising speed is considerably higher than their wobbly average speed.

Cagers certainly don't notice the differences, but the bums immediately recognize that I'm outside their hierarchy. Which only confuses them when I acknowledge them the same way I do any other cyclist.

I-Like-To-Bike

Noblesse oblige?

tsl

I hardly think a nod or a wave from the bars is noblesse oblige. I don't care if an approaching rider is a poseur, roadie, commuter, recreational rider, bum, BMXer or a kid with training wheels. I acknowledge them all.

CdCf

Echo, echo, 'cho, 'o....

sunofsand

Maybe they're greeting you as a fellow bum.
Maybe instead of tossing some change as you turn your head
get to know them a little
The many -handful- of bums I've known don't ask for anything
Besides some time and respect
That must mean they see themselves as different from those they seek money from
What happens if you make all people believe that all people are truly equal
I don't know. lets befriend some bums and find out. It may just be amazing.

East Hill

But then they might stop being nameless faceless bums and turn into real human beings.

A frightening thought for many.

East Hill

Big_knob

WTF?!?!!
Where the hell is your politically correct forte!
I take offense to you ppl calling homeless people "bums" that just rattles my bones!!
Wait til you desk jockies & cubicle slugs lose your job & your bubble bursts.
You'll get to think about your own bum self as you pop a squat on the nearest curb.
plenty of gutter to go round,real estate is booming!

capejohn

The original poster did separate the two.

Pay attention

I-Like-To-Bike

Correct, it was another poster who nobly and proudly acknowledges those "bums outside his hierarchy" and don't wear the approved cycling hat like himself.

tsl

Sorry. Kept getting the "Server is busy, try again later" message. So I did.

Deleted excess posts.

tsl

Jeepers. Tough room.

Big_knob

Dear Sir,

How can one truly differentiate a "bum" from a "homeless person" without knowing them personally?
Just because one panhandles does not make them a "bum" . That is what is known as SURVIVAL implemant mode.


Thank you for you patronage,
Big_knob

bmclaughlin807

When I was stationed in Alameda, my friends and I hung out in Berkeley a lot... there was one particular bum that I saw all the time... one day I stopped and talked with him.

Turns out he wasn't 'homeless' ... he had had a rented room at a motel down the road for more than 6 months. Turns out he was making more per day panhandling than I was on my military pay. Hell... he was only making slightly less then than I am now. Damn, I need a new job.

Big_knob

Hmmm... That wass probably me... Was it on telegraph ave near Larry Blakes By Durant ave?

Bekologist

I wave at all the obviously homeless people I ride by. Wave to them, solidarity. I also give a nod and a wave to the seriously senior citizens out getting exercise. Ring the bell, ring the bell.

MyBikeGotStolen

Isnt a job also known as SURVIVAL implement mode?


Also, thats why you save money and have a back up plan for times like this, there is other jobs out there to last between "desk jockie" jobs

Big_knob

you funny so what you think panhandling isn't a job?


Well i am not going to "wikipedia" & "google" all the statistics & percentages about how many people are living on credit & paycheck to paycheck for you.
well you da man wit da plan, taintcha

Cosmoline

I don't see bum as a bad word at all. Bums are people who panhandle for a living and have no real interest in changing. They panhandle as a profession, and many are very good at it. The homeless are those who are still hoping to get off the streets. I have no moral objection to bums, though they can get annoying just like any other salespeople.

Big_knob

Yeah i spose you right, homeless should not be seen or heard as done. Just shuffle them from town to town.
Roll 'em up & turn 'em away.
on the other hand BUMS are proffessionals that stand & poses a threat.

MyBikeGotStolen

it is not a job, it is bothering people and trying to make people feel bad for them (often under false pretenses) to try to get money "for food" (which usually means beer and/or drugs)

And since you want to bring up wikipedia:

Thats from wikipedia. Sounds to me like LABOUR is in that definition. Not hassling everyone that walks down a sidewalk or stops at a red light.

What about crack dealers? is that a job they have? is it ok for them to drive BMW's and be on welfare/ unemployment? They are asking for FREE money that working people have earned, also under false pretenses.

Big_knob

WORK or a TASK <
well you know as well as i that "sounds to me" can be manipulated & twisted to ones own.
not "free" once again WORK for it.
Drug dealers? That has nothing to do with this topic.

MyBikeGotStolen

So you are in fact saying that begging is a legitamite job?

What about the bum you see out on the side of the road with a leg brace on asking for money. Then the next day you see him riding by on a bike? Isnt that getting money by deception? AKA lying?

Ok, well forget the drug dealers. What about crack heads on welfare. They are also out there getting peoples hard earned money so that they dont have to work.

The only difference is that the welfare junkies have the government making people give up their money and not being asked for it

Big_knob

What exactly is that?
well i am sure you can come up with a "legitimate job" or 2 that operates on deception, can't you?

well here in this state welfare recipients have to work for the money & some programs they have to even pay it back supposedly.

just because your BikeGotStolen doesn't mean you have to be so negative