There is this lady who begs almost everyday near my workplace. I first noticed her more than couple years ago. What made her stand out from all the other beggars is how she went about asking for money. She said something to the effect that whether people wanted to help her with her goal of making some amount of dollars. I forgot the number of dollars she mentioned but what was interesting to me was how she talked about her goal and somehow made her begging a little bit higher class than all the others. She had a goal and was working towards it and here was passersby’ chance to help her achieve her goal.
After that, I saw her many days. She does not stay in one spot but moves in a radius of few blocks around my workplace. Which means that employees of few big corporations pass her on their way to lunch and back and forth from BART metro station. Through these few years, the number of times that I have given her money is less than 10.
My other encounter with her that I remember was few weeks ago. She told me that she is begging in order to make enough money (about $60) so she and her twin sons can rent a room in the motel at night. On the same day that she talked about the motel, I heard another lady on BART begging and saying that she too was begging to make money for a stay in motel. This lady had her teenage daughter with her.
Today I saw the “lady beggar with a goal” on my way to lunch from work. She was asking me for $2 so she could have lunch. I asked her what about the motel money and she mentioned that she needs $16 more in order to have enough money for tonight’s stay in the motel. I was thinking of giving her a dollar but she really wanted two. My problem was that in my coat pocket, I had only a dollar bill and a five dollar bill.
She saw my hesitation to give her the fiver and she said that if I gave her the five, she will use 2 dollars for lunch and the rest will help her with what she needs for a stay at the motel. What the heck, I gave her the fiver. She was happy. I think she even called me Babe. I don’t know if this lady is honest about needing money but she might be. Every time I see her, she is sober, determined and really seems to be working on her goal.
These days, I feel more sympathy for beggars. It might be because I see so many corporations begging for taxpayer money while they give outrageous bonuses to their managers. Any way, this is just an encounter I had today and also a writeup to acknowledge this lady who is so goal oriented in her begging — or at least she uses this goal thing as a hook to make more money.
