CABL Forum - Re: Homeless

One time I was in San Fran waiting at one of the trolly stations to catch a trolly across town. There was a guy there playing the guitar. He wasn't dressed well, in need of a shower and looked like your basic homeless guy out to make a buck or 2. He had his guitar case open and people that were standing in line would walk past, throw in some cash and request a song for him to play and sing. The guy was good and for the 4 days that I saw him there he knew every song that anyone asked him to play. I struck up a conversation with him everyday when I was there and come to find out he has been there in that spot nearly everyday for 30 years. Well finally on the last day I had to ask him. "dude how have you survived doing this for that long" He motions me close to him and quietly tells me " man this gig has afforded me a beautiful house in the hills and has put 3 kids though private school and will also pay for their college" I was stunned at this and he said NO WAY.....He looked at me and said "things aren't always as they appear" He asked me if I thought that people would throw down the cash like they do if he was dressed nice and looked like he didn't need the money? Every since then I have never looked at the people that are on the corners taking handouts the same way. I know that there are those that are truely in a bad way and need help but I would be willing to bet that a good part of them were just like this man. It's a living and for some I'm sure it's not a bad one.

After that eye opening experience I have never given money but have offered jobs to some. When you are splicing u/g sometimes it pays to have someone who will dig the holes for your doghouses and dig back cable, sink peds, drive ground rods and all those other things that just take up time. Only 1 time have I ever had anyone actually want to work and it was a guy that I ran across who was sleeping on a chair in the lobby of the Drury Inn I was staying at in St Louis. He was being rousted out of his chair at 6:30am when I was on my way out the door to work. When he was outside I walked up to him and asked him if he wanted to make some money. He said yes and off we went. He was a hard worker and did what I asked how I asked but after 2 days and $125 in his pocket I never saw him again. He must have been happy with that and had enough money go somewhere he wanted to be and had some beer money.

Anyways...now I have broken into the BIG DUCK class of story telling LOL...Take care brothas

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Re: Homeless