street people
never bothered to post before but some of these answers have really got my goat.
just to redress the balance a bit, i busk (badly) in the street for my income right now because i live in an area where the only jobs available are of the middle management/office type and as i combine the two qualities of being highly overqualified for low-end jobs but having no workplace experience since my teens due to being signed off sick for years, i simply cant find any work at all. so i play my guitar in the street with my dog on a bit of string. i often get comments of the "i bet your really rich, bet you live in a palace" type. not to mention the people who kind heartedly buy me dog food (usually tinned food which makes my dog sick) or greggs pasties (im vegan) because if they give me any money i will of course spend it all on crack and starve my dog.not that im ungrateful, its the implicit assumption i object to. so to set the record stright, i live in a 20 year old caravan in a field,not a palace. if i want to keep warm i have to go out and collect wood for my stove, if i want to poo i have to go and dig a hole, and i get a large percentage of my food out of skips. dont get me wrong, i love my lifestyle, my time is my own, its incredibly cheap, environmentally sound, and the world is my backyard but its not an easy ride.
for every smackhead and scam artist there are loads of others like me who struggle to find work in todays competitive job market. the prejudice in some of the QOTW answers to this question would be unacceptable if it was aimed at a racial or religious group of people.
one more thing, would you rather someone asked for your money or went out robbing people? you dont have to give anything to beggars but you dont get a say if you get mugged and lets face it the war on drugs aint gonna be won any time soon, addicts are a fact of modern life. sorry to rant, just couldnt let it lie.
(hazelkenny, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 13:39, 31 replies)

Good point
Well made...

Quite the rant though

*sends vallium*
(Darkpie 3.243F6A8885A308D31319, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 13:44, closed)

Just to get this straight in my head:
You live in a caravan, you eat out of bins, you busk in the street. But you can afford to both own a computer, and use the internet?
( OneSullenBrit *air sandwiches*, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 13:50, closed)

...
This begs for the question: how are you getting online now, then?

Okay, I'm glad that you're able to live free and all, but you're at least earning your living by providing some sort of entertainment. From what you've said here, you're not going out and approaching people and asking them for money- you're accepting what they give you as you busk. That's a big difference- I usually toss money to street musicians.

As for the rest, though- look, dude, I work pretty fucking hard for the money I get. I have to follow someone else's schedule, I have to pay bills and a mortgage to support my three kids, and I don't have the free time that you do. So why should I also burden myself by giving the money I've busted my ass for to someone who can't be arsed to support themselves? It's not as if I go to work because I love sitting at a desk, you know. I do it because that's the only way to make enough money to feed myself and my kids and give us all a safe shelter to live in. If beggars can't be bothered to do the same, fuck 'em. That's their choice. But I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for it.

Note here that I'm specifying beggars, not the ones who should be institutionalized and are on the street because they're too sick to work. I'm happy to have my taxes go to running shelters for them. It's the ones who are every bit as able as I am who can't bring themselves to do the minimum wage jobs to get by that really piss me off. I've painted houses, groomed horses at a racetrack, washed dishes, waited tables, split firewood, done rough carpentry, worked in a lumberyard and a lot of other menial type jobs to feed myself without ever having to resort to begging.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 24 Oct 2007, 13:51, closed)

No
I'm with the Resident Loon on this one.
(celticmick_7, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 13:58, closed)

"would you rather someone asked for your money or went out robbing people?"
Kenny, HM Revenue and Customs already do both to most of us. Those of us poor wage slaves have to deal with this on a monthly basis. Are you paying income tax on your 'earnings'?

As for the comments, well - should Nurses and hospital staff have to endure abuse and violence? Should bank tellers have to be shouted at by irate boorish customers with less social skills than a mollusk?
I'd call your problem an occupational hazard, mate - and be glad that if that's the worst that happens to you today be thankful.
(Vic Flange, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 14:11, closed)

Kill yourself.
Awwww! Life is hard Kenny!
Cry me a river you useless, bottom rung piece of crap. Please, please look into being euthanised.
(Leyxia, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 14:16, closed)

claiming to be overqualified...
for low-end jobs is bullshit

that says to me laziness or an unwillingness to deflate your ego to the extent that you'd rather spend your days feeling like people are looking down on you than getting a job.

I've been unemployed, on the dole, and worked for minimum wage before and I can tell you that any shitty temp job that you might find is better than all three.

the Resident Loon has it right; work may suck, but it sucks a whole lot less than not working if you are scraping by.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 14:17, closed)

Lay off the man.
How about internet access in libraries or cafes?
I'll take Ken's side in this if nobody else does. He's made a lifestyle choice and is happy with it - good for him. The point he's making is that not all buskers are crack/smack heads or alcoholics. At least he's playing a guitar and actually doing something instead of straight up asking for money.
(oneinthepink is at your cervix m'lady, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 14:23, closed)

No pity
I grit my teeth every day and do a job that gradually reduces me to a ruined shell just so I can pay all the taxes I need to get by. You're quite welcome to your way of life, but don't expect me to hand over any of my money to a begger with too little spine to earn money the conventional way. Most of us are over-qualified and/or too intelligent for the jobs we do, but we don't go and live in a field and crap in holes. If you have ability, and the opportunity to show it, somebody will give you a job. That's my hard-won experience.

You're conning yourself.
(frankspencer, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 14:28, closed)

Oneinthepink
Nice idealistic viewpoint on life. Give us the same story when you hit the 40% tax bracket and your hard-earned cash goes to pay for non-contributers like kenny.
(Vic Flange, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 14:31, closed)

Crusty the clown
Whats this obsession with crusties and dogs on string ? If you can't feed yourself properly then either:

a) Get a Job
b) Sell your dog
C) Eat your dog

Think about it Tarquin...
(wrigglesworth, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 14:38, closed)

on a semi-related note:
the original poster himself has admitted to not being any good on the guitar

why?

you have all this free time, why not devote some of it to getting good at something?

it'll make you more money in the long run. especially from people like me who will only give money to buskers more talented than themselves.

Exeter has some really talented musicians, artists and the like on the street, but I often ponder why you see so many who are bad at what they do.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 14:40, closed)

Vipros
Maybe he's overqualified to be good at the guitar.
(Vic Flange, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 14:43, closed)

@vipros
I have known quite a few who have this wonderful, fuzzy glowing dream of travelling around like the gypsies of old, singing for their food and living a wonderfully bohemian lifestyle with their guitar and their voice as they wander from place to place. Their self-image is so romantically beautiful that they don't really think about the fact that true musicians work very damned hard at it to get good- they think that the great musicians just get up in the morning, lounge around until it's time to go onstage and then the spirit takes them and the music flows.

I've known quite a few professional musicians. Their days are filled with hours of grimly practicing and getting better and learning how to do the difficult stuff, usually worked in around the hours required by a full-time job. The music doesn't magically flow, it comes with long hours of tedious practice. But the twentysomething skinny puppy with the guitar doesn't see that- so they turn into bums who thrash on their instruments and butcher songs and complain that they have to shit in a hole and eat out of dumpsters.

Nope, sorry, still no sympathy.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 24 Oct 2007, 14:51, closed)

Hmmmm!
I've been on the dole and I've been on the sick but I've always worked.
( girlinthehole, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 14:51, closed)

All bullshit
Overqualified, and exactly what are these qualifications? If you want to work you can get a job, you're lying to everyone including yourself.

Fuck off and die.
(el perro grande, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 14:54, closed)

Macdonalds are always talking people on . . .
try to get a job there, they will take you on even if your a doctor, as long as your willing to ask things like "Want fries with that" or "What size of drink" your hired
(Old Fella Doe a Dear a Female Dear . . . ., Wed 24 Oct 2007, 15:20, closed)

Kenny
You're a star mate, this is my fave answer to any B3ta thread ever as it has shown up the people who post here as a bunch of whingeing Tory snobs with massive jealousy issues towards anyone who refuses to be exploited like the rest of the wage slaves. It doesn't make any difference to me, I'm too busy selling chalk to yahoos for £50 a gram and hoing out me bitches.
(keeferreefer, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 15:28, closed)

Whingeing tory snobs?
I've never voted Tory.
(frankspencer, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 15:33, closed)

jealous?
I quite like my good job, my nice house and having time to surf and play with my band

I also like to cook, so not having to get my food from our people's bins is quite pleasant, as is not having to shit in a hole in the ground.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 15:37, closed)

im with Frankspencer on this one, ive worked like a bitch too
I wasted my childhood and ended up with a custodial sentance, when i came out i was a crim with no job or qualifications i cleaned toilets and became a kp in a kitchen after two years i became a chef through sheer hard back breaking work and worked up from the bottom, i'm now an it sales manager with a kool company but dont expect me to come out of a twelve hour shift and throw money to someone who to quote you your time is your own, no matter if ive been starving in a bedsit or whatever ive never begged.
( Trollman, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 15:49, closed)

Well.....
...it's the dog I feel sorry for. No one asked him for his opinion in all this.

I'm sure, given half the chance, he'd rather not get dragged around on a bit of rope, made to listen to the same talentlessly-strummed tunes all day, and live in a draughty old frigging caravan with an unwashed, unambitious, waster.
(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Wed 24 Oct 2007, 15:56, closed)

Hey! I feel your pain! - the world owes me a favour too!
Call me Thicky McThickerson but I'm not getting this at all. Are you whingeing because you "cant find any work at all" or bragging because you "you love your lifestyle" Which is it?

Do you dare compare yourself to people who face religeous and racial prejudice? Not exactly the same thing is it? Those people are persecuted because of their colour/culture or religeous beliefs not because they're too fucking lazy to get out of bed in the morning and occupy themselves in a way more productive than begging - and dont even bother arguing that busking is any different to begging, you're not exactly providing a service to the community are you?

"would you rather someone asked for your money or went out robbing people? you don't have to give anything to beggars but you don't get a say if you get mugged" - What the fuck is that about? Are you asking us to be grateful that you beg instead of rob/mug? Well thanks a lot! No, Really! I'm overjoyed!

Your little rant makes you come across as a lazy, excuse making, responsibility dodging twat with a sense of entitlement the size of a small country. You have no legitimate excuse for not finding a job (Yes - I have been unemployed and skint too before I get any "young tory snob" or similar retarded comments)You are protected by minimum wage (not like when I started working)so if you actually want a job (I don't for one second think you really do) then keep looking and you'll get one. Simple. Just takes some small effort on your part - or is that the problem? Grow up, sort your fucking life out and stop expecting to live on the scraps that well meaning but misguided mugs toss you in the street - theres nothing noble or romantic about being a parasite. Be a man and stand up on your own two feet or you'll end up as one of those pissy smelling tramps that does martial arts shadow boxing and arguing with themselves FFS.

If you are happy enough living as you are - fine, carry on just don't bother whingeing to other people about the crappy parts of a lifestyle you CHOSE in the 1st place.. Not everyone is lucky enough to choose. If I sound like I might have my panties in a bunch about this its because I have spent years working to get into a decent job only to find that I am expected to fund any and every cunt that cant be arsed to work - Bitter? Fucking right! And so should everyone else be that makes the effort.
(Reptilianoid, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 16:36, closed)

Mind you..
.. for all our, quite valid, points about Hazelkenny being a parasitic, freeloading scumbag, you've got to love the romanticism of shitting in fields and picking maggot ridden hamburgers out of bins.

He must be a blast to go on a blind date with!
(Vic Flange, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 16:54, closed)

On a side note
Anyone else think the 'Reply' button is the best thing to happen to B3ta? I've honestly had more fun reading the comments than I did reading Hazelkenny's post.

Oh, and if you get your food from bins, live in a caravan and use a wood stove for warmth, what exactly do you need the money for? If you are truly happy with your lifestyle, that is...
(Pavlov's Frog figures no-one really reads sigs anyway, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 17:14, closed)

All I can say is ...
... judging by the replies, there are a lot of embittered wage slaves out there.

Come on, guys. Admit it. You're jealous.
(pitarou, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 19:51, closed)

jealousy
I don't think it's a question of jealousy. Of course anyone would be jealous of someone who has managed to acheive a carefree and workfree life. This is more about people attempting to opt out of the tedious world of work by being a parasite and then whining about how the workers react to them and how being poor and a loser is everyone else's fault.

That said, I wonder how many of us wage slaves are equally to blame for our situations. If we could just learn better how to be arrogant, callous egotistical nobheads, we'd all be in senior management positions and coining it.
(frankspencer, Wed 24 Oct 2007, 22:00, closed)

i agree with Reverend Fister...
I feel sorry for your dog being stuck with such a jerk for an owner.

I don't mind helping out those who truly need the help.......and let's face it, if the state mental hospitals in the US hadn't been shut down years ago, then we wouldn't have nearly as many homeless people......the psych ward revolving door isn't working. but on the other hand, there are those who are drunks, addicts, or to lazy to work.

in short, get a job you prick.
( flirting with badgers What? It sounded good at the time., Thu 25 Oct 2007, 3:03, closed)

Being a Vegan
is frankly a luxury you can't afford.

I've no sympathy for lazy do-nothings, but in his defence hazelkenny makes no mention of recieving state benefits so why do we assume he's living on handouts? Busking is merely selling a service but with a flexible pricing structure - it's not begging.
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Thu 25 Oct 2007, 3:24, closed)

'flexible pricing structure"
good point.

and, you're right, he didn't mention being on benefits.

i noticed the vegan bit too.....thought it was a bit odd
( flirting with badgers What? It sounded good at the time., Thu 25 Oct 2007, 4:39, closed)

and another thing
Kenny says "the prejudice in some of the QOTW answers to this question would be unacceptable if it was aimed at a racial or religious group of people."

I can't quite see the parallels. Not all Muslims are terrorists; not all black people are drug dealers. But all street beggars are street beggars, no matter what they spend their money on.
(frankspencer, Thu 25 Oct 2007, 9:16, closed)