People are uncomfortable about money, especially when asked or asking for it. Money isn't weird to me, but as part of my series of uncomfortable experiences, I went to a busy intersection to panhandle right in front of idling cars. This was a multifaceted uncomfortable experience summed up in the following:
1) A lot of AB testing needs to be done for successful panhandling. I changed my intersection, my posture, and clearly, I need to experiment with my wording on my sign. One fellow panhandler said, "Oh, you need to go for the pity. This is too fluffy. Say that you are homeless with 3 kids or some shit." (see photo.)
2) People are typically tuned out and turned off by this. Have you done the following: stopped 2 yards before the white line at the light so as to not be parallel with a panhandler? Not even glance, just staying dead set on the road ahead? Rolled up your window before you approach? TAKE A PHOTO with a dead set face? Talk to your passenger, and the topic IS the panhandler? No eye contact whatsoever, just in general? I might as well have been a pole. Another fellow panhandler said, "Oh yeah. Humbling is a light way to say it." It's a bit. . . perturbing. I wanted to tap on windows and say, "Hi! I'm a human! I see you NOT trying to see me. I see you right here, 3 feet from me, reading my sign. I see you muttering to your friend about me. I HEAR you muttering to your friend. Don't you need some nice things said about you? Kid, put your finger down and wave to me, for christ's sake." Now, a few people smiled. A few people did something. See below.
3) The average I made in an hour was $10. Plus extras, like marijuana, which one nice man offered. One guy I spoke to said that his girlfriend, on a good day, will do about $100. This is not shabby. This is more than minimum wage, friends.
4) Every car is a little story in a steel bubble. You can see so much going on-the energy, the essence, a narrative truncated to the time ordained by a red stop light. I was looking in one car. The woman was clearly upset, looking out the passenger window, tears down her face. The guy seemed distraught and annoyed. "Here," he barked over to me, flinging out 5 bucks. "Tell her compliments, please. I need help here." I did. Not sure it worked.
5) I was suspicious, which I think totally cut into my potential revenue here. One other panhandler (yes, there are many in the area) said, "What is this, your first day? You are way too fair. Your skin gives it away." This, despite my grubby attire, no make-up, ratty ass shoes and all other attempts to pull off a likely bum look. Another one said, "This for school or something? What's your white ass out here for?" This is interesting-being called out as a fake but for skin color alone. New experience, for certain.