There is one thing we can't avoid: if somebody doesn't want to work, he won't. Begging is safer than stealing, but if by begging he can't get enough to get a living, he will steal.
With a pure economic point of view, I prefer to give some pocket coins every now and then, than having my stereo stolen, my house broken into, or paying tax money supporting an inmate.
Sometimes people offer to sell paper handkerchiefs or mini-flashlights at a premiun. Obviously I could buy them cheaper at a "dollar tree". They do that because begging makes him feel bad: selling something at least gives them some "self esteem", some feeling that they are indeed working instead of begging. I buy the odd article every now and then.
I work in one of the biggest train stations, and occasionally somebody would ask me for something for food. I offer to pay him coffee and pastries. They always accept. While we have coffee I use to ask them for their whereabouts. Usually they have sad stories behind. Busted after a divorce, have to live in the streets. Being a drug addict for a long time, can't get a job. And with the financial crisis, this is getting pretty common. I feel lucky that I have a job, so if I can offer a hot coffee and something to eat to somebody who has slept on the cold streets, I'm glad to do it.
On the train back home, usually I meet with the same guy that many afternoons ask for "money, or something edible you could give me". The guy looks like a heroine addict. If you think about it, he is not "living without working" because for that, he would have to stay in bed and the money would come flying towards his pockets. He wakes up every day, got to the station, probably jumps the turnpike, and if he wants money, he has to ask for it in every wagon, saying the same sentence every time. He must do that one time after the other, one day after the other, to get some money. I bet that if he would be offered a job, he would accept it, because, after that, he is working to get some money.
There is an african guy begging at the door of a market, and one day I heard an old lady asking him to "go get a job". Easier said than done. With almost 20% unemployment in Spain, how many chances an inmigrant without visa could get a job? If giving him a coin every now and then is enough to have him 8 hours a day in front of the supermarket, at least you have him under control and he is not dealing with drugs or robbing your kids.
Some times is is a matter of justice, and some times it is simply being practical, but I give more now than I used to, because it is true that many people is going through hard times, and probably more people will.
There are some ways to avoid people who just want the easy living. One day one guy asked me for "some change he had to make a phone call". I took my mobile phone off the pocket and asked him to tell me the number, he could borrow mine. He replied "it is not for now, I have to make the phone call this afternoon"....
Another day a lady, while I was getting my train ticket from the machine, asked me for "20 cents she needed for the ticket". I told her to put the money in the machine and select the ticket, that I would put all the money she would need. She shouted at me "what? You don't trust in me???" I said: "Do you need the money or not? If you do, put what you have and I'll put the rest".
Another day, another lady, asked me for money she needed to travel to somewhere. I replied the same :"let's go to the ticket booth, you put what you have and I'll pay the rest". She replied "oh no, it is not for the train, it is for the bus" so I replied "Then, what are you doing asking for money in the train station? and left.
