The old I need money for gas scam.

i will help them but make them work for it,was in the la canal delivering something to a job site and a homeless guys walks by so i ask him if he was hungry as a roach coach was there and he said yes but didnt want to bother me so i asked him if he would work for it and he said yes so i had him roll up some rope for me as i was getting his lunch,he felt good for doung something and i felt good for helping nim,ordered him the biggest burger lunch on the menu

 

I do not give anyone money either. It will go for drugs or alchohol. I have handed out a lot of sandwiches and sodas though. I used to see a guy every week when I ran a Chicago dedicated, he lived in the old delivery entrance in the building next door. He was still working around the neighborhood doing any odd job he could find, and never panhandled. I would give him a couple meals each week, an old winter coat I had and a blanket too. Decisions he had made in his adult life had put him there. I still think about him now and again, hope he's o.k. Not trying to honk my horn here. Just trying to shine a different light on the subject.

 

I've got so tired of being approached in truckstops, and in my truck when parked, I am too quick to tell some panhandler or what I think is a lot lizard to 'screw off'.

One time I stopped in a half closed shopping center near Augusta, GA, to take a nap. I was hardly asleep when somebody was banging on my door. I peaked out of the curtains and some youngish looking black lady was standing there. Groggy, I figured 'hooker', and let out a very loud string on profanity.

She walked off. Agitated, I couldnt' get right back to sleep, I opened the curtains, and noticed on the other side of the truck, the black lady was standing next to a parked car, with the hood up...and steam rising from a busted hose or something.

I guess she was looking for help?



A few years ago I was at the Pilot (now loves) near Evansville, Indiana. I was parked close to the main building. A nice looking young lady walked up to my truck, and gave me the '20 miles from home and not enough gas' story.
I told her no. It was daylight, weather was ok. She wandered up the row of parked trucks, got some cash, then I saw her pull over to the gas pump, a male head pops up in the front seat. Guess he was hiding?
She pulls out a CREDIT CARD, inserts it in the pump, and pumps gas. Then, they leave the pump, head to the drive through window at Wendys, and got some food.

Many years ago, some bum approached me in a rest area in Louisiana, and asked me for money. He was a young, junkie looking guy. Tall, thin. I had stopped to use a pay phone to argue with my dispatcher. And it wasn't a pleasant conversation. He nailed me as I walked fuming back to my truck.
I told him 'NO' and kept walking back to my truck, was driving for a moving company back then.
He kept bugging me as I walked, wanted me to give him some furniture pads he could sell.
'NO. I would have to pay for them. Leave me alone'

The jerk punched me in the center of my back as I walked away. OK. i doubt it left a bruise, and didn't really hurt, but it wasn't a love tap.

I decked him with one good, pissed off blow, and was considering drop kicking his ### into texas, when some old lady getting into a car in the rest area yelled out 'Hey you big bully, leave that poor man alone or I will call the police!!'

I got into my truck and drove my big bully self into the next state, watching for the cops to come up behind me at any moment, looking for the 'big bully' driving that #### moving van that was as obvious as a circus wagon.

 

i wasn't going to post, but i read the entire thread and some stories were very inspiring. What goes around truly does come around. When i was 16 years old, i had a local job at wal-mart, and being that young with no bills, it is normal to have a few couple hundred dollars in the bank. With nothing else better to do with my money, i would waste it on food, every week i would be at Subway. One day, there was this fella in front of me, i could tell he was from the local college here. He was having problems with his student card going through to pay for his sandwich. I could just tell he was in a bind, he looked real bummed out, like he was going to cry. I could also tell he haven't ate that whole day. The cashier said they can't give him the sandwich for free either. Anyways, i stepped in and said i can pay for his sandwich. The dude's eyes light up and he was extremely thankful. That whole day, i felt like a king.

Two years later, and now i'm in college. It was a nice day on thursday (the new friday for college kids), and i decided to drive around the new town and relax for a bit, i love driving. Hours later, i found myself lost in a whole new different city, i was not expecting to end up in the next town where i knew nothing about. Luck have it, i was also low on gas and will not make the trip back home. I pulled up to the gas station and could not find my wallet nor phone at all. I realized that i left it back at my place because i wasn't planning to stay out for this long. Now, i'm a pretty tough guy; state football champ, 1st team all conference, wrestling workhorse award, you name it. But, i finally broke down and went in to ask the manager if i could "borrow" some fuel. The manager said he could only do $5 and would be from his own pocket. I made it home with $5 worth of fuel and made it to work that night. Without his help, i would've been fired from my job with a no-call no-show on my 2nd day on the job.

I worked that whole week and totally forgot about the $5 loan i received till the next week-end. I finally went in to repay this man $20 above his loan to show my gratitude, but he was nowhere to be found. The new manager said the guy i'm looking for already transferred to a new store which the new manager knows nothing about. So i gave the new manager the $20 and told him to just keep it. To this day, i'm still looking for that guy that loaned me his $5, someday when i get rich enough, i'll find him and repay him back. He probably saved me from losing my job that night.

I hope my story is able to reach out to some of you as well. Not everyone is a bad person, some people truly do need help. Today it could be me, but tomorrow it could be you.

 

A new car,really? Hey man if you need some help financially my digits are 507-766-####. That was a good story.Thanx.

 

You have to understand truckers/truck stops are targets for bums. Truck stops are a mecca for beggars. They all go there and wake you up in the middle of the night and stuff on a regular basis. You eventually become numb to it. Though cautious doesn't mean we don't lend helping hands.

One night I pulled into the Iowa 80 truckstop and the CB was alive with a conversation of a couple broke down in a clunker and the truckers were gathering money for bus tickets so they could get home. Iowa 80 just happens to be a Greyhound stop. I joined in the conversation and said they were con artist only to get hit with a barrage of truckers defending them. They already collected all the money needed but $60. I took care of business and was leaving and they were still talking on the CB. They told me the couple was by the front door. So I pulled out and went by the front door and there they were with a little new born baby and the woman was crying. I popped the brakes and got out and gave him a Visa gift card with something like $66 left on it.

There's an old thread somewhere about good deeds done. It's a good thread to read about things truckers have done.

But for the most part we run across 99 bums for every real person needing help. One that sticks in my mind was a guy driving around the parking lot pulling up to drivers walking. He pulled up to me at the fuel island and asked for gas money. I told him if he needed gas money that bad to get out and walk the parking lot, lol. I did notice he had a half tank and a beer sack on the floor board. Some are just plain idiots.

Another time a guy with a dog come up to me asking for money for food. I didn't have any to spare but I told him I had some dog food for his dog since I had my dogs with me. I gave him a can of Alpo and he asked if I had a plastic fork which I did. I didn't think until afterwards but I bet he shared that can with that dog!

 

I've had a few confrontations with these scumbags over the years, I know that prolly comes as a shock..

I guess I'm one of the numb ones because they get nothing from me anymore other than get lost..

 

I had a guy walk up to me as I was pumping my gas with my little girl in the car. He asked me for money "miss, do you have any money?"

Um...yes but not in cash form sorry that's a sure way to get robbed....

I'll help people who are in emergency situations, but not because they dont want to work, spent their money on drugs, or dont take care of what they already have.

 

OK.Check this out. I just now got done eating (enough for two) in Baker City and was walking back to my "home" when a thirty-somethin dude standing in the lot saw me and came over. Yeah,I'm thinking "Aw ####..here we go." He said he is a Truck Driver but his phone wouldn't work because of the network he uses and if he could use mine.

I told him to come with me and dialed the number for him so he could tell his family he was O.K. When finished he thanked me at least 4 times and said he could not find anyone in the last hour who would help him. He walked back to his truck in the row across from me.

I dislike beggars that words cannot describe (words I can use here anyway) but there is a DIFFERENCE between beggars and just people who need help for whatever reason.

 

I never give strangers who approach me anything. If I'm approached by anyone who starts giving some kind of sob story, I look them in the eye and firmly say I can't help you. They stop mid sentence, turn and walk away 100% of the time.