I made it to the store - without getting robbed!

[Henneth Annun]

5 o'clock in a horrible part of Los Angeles....my friend and I walk to the store, it starts getting dark. We make it there and back, without getting robbed/raped/beaten/assulted!

I'm so happy. We survived!!! blaugh  

[Labradorescence]

Wow. you must live in a dangerous place. I can walk all over the place in my town and no one ever talks to me.  

[Henneth Annun]

Nah, we were on a trip to a "bad place". Where I live, half of it is safe and the other half isn't. One side is middle class to high middle class where I live, and the other side is low middle class to everything below that.

If you look up the crime records, one half has all these crime markers everywhere and the other side is almost perfect.  

[AdrianaKitten]

A HUZZAH from moi! 3nodding
I made one of those trips once, didn't turn out quite the same. Passed through a tunnel where a homeless man was standing up peeing. I had no quicker less weird way to get home so I put my hand in my pockets and tried to quickly cross to the other side of the tunnel. Suddenly he says "I'm not gonna hurt you." and I just throw my change onto the ground in surprise and break for it. I've often seen him since then and fed him for two Thanksgivings...his name is Robert. sweatdrop
So...I survived but with no change! eek  

[Henneth Annun]

Well it's only some change. 3nodding Your hundred dollar bills are far more important.

I was at the mall once and there was some homeless dude asking for change, so I went over and talked to him because I've always wanted to do that. He was a pretty nice guy.  

[trampyre]

Often they are; you just have to be sure you get the right 'vibe' before talking to them. Here in TO there are some street dwellers who are quite persistent, but then there's this guy in my area with a dancing Tickle Me Elmo, who just wants change so he can buy food at the coffee shop he's standing in front of. There's another bright lady, who waits out in front of an avant garde cinema and gives people her reviews.

I try to give out change if I have any, or at least acknowledge that the person is there (unless I get 'creep' vibes, inwhich I pretend not to see them or take a detour). If I don't have money, I just tell them I'll catch them next time.