wow

You can make the money, but the fact that you have no home and no shelter kind of makes it up for it. Some are swindlers, but many are not.

There was a guy who used to work the Chicago Red Line El train. He was on crutches with a hip-to ankle leg brace. One day, I was waiting for a bus outside the Berwyn El stop, and I saw this guy come out of the station, but his braces and crutches in the trunk of a late-model Buick, then get in and drive off. The problem is, it's not always easy to tell the cons from the genuinely needy.

Vouchers or coupons might work to keep the panhandlers honest. On another occasion, a guy asked me for money for "...bus fare to get home". I offered him a full-fare token and he walked away.

Typo - he put his braces and crutches in the trunk.