In the town I attend college, a consequence of a rapidly increasing population and student body is the presence of beggars. Most of them are harmless, but as part of practicing stronger personal boundaries and saving money for post-graduation life, I’ve gone from liberally giving money to finding a new pet peeve in beggars, particularly more recently after a few beggars invaded my personal space and continued to nag me for loot even after I said “no”. In my college town, we don’t have panhandlers holding out signs for food, cancer, etc; they’re more like middle class to stark poor fellows who come up to me with a long-winded story (getting abandoned by friends, lacking money for gas to get home, needing money for repairs) and ask me for money. A few have pestered me to buy products they were selling. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve began questioning the validity of their reasons for begging, or as stated with protecting my financial boundaries, if I should even allow them to beg at me.

How do you guys here on PC handle beggars, particularly more persistent ones like I’ve found? Do you give them money if they approach you? What do you think about some of these beggars like those who have approached me?