Ok, what is it with begging or trying to con money out of people?

I was accosted by someone selling Big Issue on the way into work this morning, then on the way home another guy wanting to “borrow” 40p for his bus fare and “he’d asked just EVERYONE”. When I said no, and pointed out I had a return bus ticket in answer to his “Well how are YOU going to get home then?” question I watched him wander off, ask another couple of people and then pop into the shop to buy some food. Then confronted by another nasal snivelling individual. This time armed with a vial of insulin. The story? He’d just taken his insulin, and was scared because of an attack he had suffered because of it. He HAD to get home to his mother so he could eat something and this was all the money he had” *shows me about 70p in coppers and 5p coins*. This might have been more convincing had I not seen the man leaning against the wall and reading a newspaper tell him to try me, and scowl at him when he said no. It might also have been more use had the vial been empty, had there not been three other suspicious youths in the area working a similar scam, and had I not been a little suspicious at the fact that the insulin had actually CAUSED the attack and that he had to eat something to counteract the insulin.

Had I thought about it, I should have pointed out he had enough money to actually go inside the shop he was patrolling to buy something to eat, or if he felt that ill he should use the telephone next to him and call an ambulance. However I ended up saying “Relax, don’t panic, you’ll be fine and no I’ve no money on me.”

It really annoys me when people try to con money out of you, even more so when they are so BAD at it. They don’t even have the decency to pretend to go for a bus; no they pop to the paper shop like someone’s just rang the bell for coffee break. Honestly don’t criminals and scam artists have any integrity, any pride in their work?

So because of these people, I refuse to give anyone money, begging, no! Big Issue again no (there must be something they can sell of more use than that. No-one reads it, there’s nothing particularly interesting in it so why buy it?) And certainly not people walking around the street “I’m so sorry to have to ask you…” and “I didn’t know who to ask, but you had a kind face…” and “You’re the first person to stop and listen to me…” guess I can now add “I’m sick and I don’t know what to do, I want my mother…” to the list.

End of rant!