re: Two Siegen Lane bums are running a pretty slick scam

What’s the scam? Sounds like people on the corner begging for money.

There is a pretty impressive hobo camp on the westbound side of the interstate in the woods between Siegen and Bluebonnet. Once the trees died down during the winter you could see all the tents.

My favorite homeless scam is the girl that's been pregnant for 4 years on the Carrollton/I-10 off ramp

I love when some just finishes maxing out on bench and I quickly walk over to tell them to leave the weight on. I then proceed to do a power clean with it and rep out some shoulder presses.

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She turned and saw the guy walking up to beg with the woman in the wheelchair and the look on her face said “how TF am I supposed to compete with that?”

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You should look into panhandling culture. There are pretty strict rules when it comes to begging locations and who gets what street corners, etc. I have several local cop friends that encounter bums on a daily basis and this is what I've learned:

1) Generally speaking, bums get together and divide up areas of the city. They use alliances and friendships to get the most desired locations. "Seniority" even plays a role, as local bums that have been there longer will push out those who just showed up.

2) When locations are disputed and consensus cannot be reached panhandlers often develop a schedule where, say, Bum A will work the corner from 8-10 AM, then pass it off to Bum B who gets it from 10-noon and so on.

3) Violence often resorts between panhandlers when they don't want to reach an agreement over certain locations and, like in prison, the toughest (or craziest) bum wins out.

4) Women and dogs and children greatly enhance the amount of money collected and panhandlers often "rent" them or use them in a sort of profit sharing scheme while working the streets. For example, a women will "sell" her services by standing alongside the panhandler with her kids. Her take will generally be half the money collected.

5) Bums don't mess with other bums when they sleep. Even getting near another bum's space bubble while he's sleeping is a fairly big social misstep and you can be kicked out of the community if you're not trusted.

I find the subculture fascinating, even if bums/panhandlers disgust me.

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Guys, yall's white privilege is showing. Just because they don't make have as much money as you doesn't mean they can't have a cell phone. Walk a day in their shoes. It's hard work begging for money everyday. Unlike your desk job in the air conditioning.

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NSIS...but some of these "bums" make more money than the avg sideline OT baller does.

I lived in downtown Houston for several years and had their routines, rules, and structure all figured out. That’s why I never bought the whole mentally challenged bit. If they can figure out all this (most of which is very creative and organized) then they can figure out how to hold a job.

Conclusion: they are there and living that way because they want to. You can either enable them by giving them food or money or you can tell them to frick off.

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I’m normally a softy when it comes to homeless folk since I don’t know what circumstances brought them there. The obvious scam really pisses me off.

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I'm not. I'm admittedly a dick because I know none of them are homeless, they are jonesing and I'm not paying for them to get fricked up. Having said that, I have given money once. At the Interstate westbound College drive exit ramp I saw a bum juggling three bowling pins and I had no choice but to reward that mofo.

Almost all of them have cell phones as well.