Quote Originally Posted by Hooahguy View Post
I suppose buskers count as this, right? Sometimes I give to them if they are really good. Never give to normal beggars.

When I was in London Overground there was this really good band which was busking and I decided to give them half a pound because I genuinely enjoyed their performance.

About a minute later the train driver/conductor came on the speakers telling us that we shouldnt give to the buskers and that people like them were ruining the British benefits system. Felt weird knowing I had just contributed to the downfall of the British welfare state.
“Ladies and gentlemen, soliciting money in the subway is illegal. We ask you not to give. Please help us to maintain an orderly subway.”

Like that? Yeah, don't give money to panhandlers traversing the metro cars.

On a nearly empty F train car hours after the morning rush, a handful of people were scattered throughout, immersed in magazines, iPods or their own thoughts when a sad song filled the train car. The singer, a stout woman with beads of sweat running down her forehead held a small piece of white cardboard that read: “I — have 3 kids. I — don’t have work. Please help.”

“This song is for my family,” explained Aphrodita Chiciou, a Romanian immigrant with a deep, raspy voice. “For pay the bills, electricity I pay everything.” Chiciou is one of among hundreds of panhandlers and peddlers that rely on generous straphangers to get by. She said she makes between $50 and $60 a day.
I think I've seen this one over the years many times, though I don't recall her singing.