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I was severely irritated on the train this morning. Being a New Yorker I thought I had grown accostumed to the panhandling on the trains. I now wonder if my perspective has changed or if panhandling is on the rise.

I would like to point out that I feel there is a great difference between being a performing street artist and a panhandler. Yes the artists ask for Money too, but they don’t beg for it. Additionally, they are trying to work for their money using their talents and not some lame story that may or may not tug on my heart strings.

I often give money to the singers, rappers, drum players and dancers which grace the NY city streets and trains with their talents. Normally I escape the panhandlers by keeping my head down and avoiding eye contact. Sometimes you see the same people. It’s usually within a span of months so it’s not that big a deal.

Today however I saw the same guy that was begging on the train on Friday. He made me so angry I almost spoke up and said something. His voice irritated me but not nearly as much as his rehearsed plea. The plea that began with “Ladies and Gentlemen, I don’t normally do this…” What he said was verbatim to the same song and dance he gave on Friday. The inflection and emphasis on certain words was identical. I was nauseated.

There was nothing about this man that said “I can’t work”. He was not handicapped. He was not dressed in rags. He was well groomed and yet for some reason felt that us MTA riders should pay for his survival. I think what angers me the most is that he couldn’t even respect our intelligence enough to change his story up a little. I felt as though he was silently mocking all of us. I came so close to standing up and shouting “Don’t give this man any money! He’s probably been telling the same lame story for years!” I wanted to call him out and ridicule him. :deep breath: I can go on… but I think I just need to rant a little to feel better.

lol, In all honesty the only reason I didn’t speak up against him was because he mentions ‘I just got out of jail’ in his little tale. He never reveals what he was in jail for. It would my luck for him to get violently mad and take hostages. I didn’t want to be responsible for the lives of all the commuters on the train.

I hope he picks a new train.