get up off of your knees...

as i drove to work today i saw a transient sitting on the sidewalk asking passers-by for money. he's not sitting on the floor, mind you, he's brought a folding chair with him, and he's perched at the end of an alley driveway as it hits a main street. so as people coming out of the alley have to wait for traffic to clear before they can turn, this guy is sitting in a chair right where the driver's window will be and he's holding a cup as his receptacle. he may even have had a radio with him, to alleviate his boredom, no doubt.

i guess his angle in life is to be passive agressive and always have a short cut. he wants charity, but he doesn't want to put forth any real effort to get it other than sitting near a car window and being so filthy and smelly that drivers will more than likely cause a traffic accident just to get away from him before they give him spare change.

i have huge issues with false sense of entitlement. where did this man develop this sense of entitlement - that he should still receive payment despite his lack of effort? does he not understand the common sense of commerce? who forgot to teach him that lack of motivation to do anything is what prevents him from being a productive member of society? i know the old addage of "you get nothing unless you ask for it", but come on buddy, i work hard for my money, so do a lil something to make me want to feel like helping you out.

for example, one night after hanging out at the golden gopher in practically skid row of downtown helLA, a group of us had to walk 6 blocks back to the standard hotel to get our cars. about half the way back, a gentleman in the street started walking along side us, singing, and asked for spare change. he had a nice voice, and he was entertaining us to entice us to help him out. i think he was even taking requests. his gambit worked and he got a couple dollars from us -- mostly i think we paid him to stop singing and following us -- but still... i feel like i got my money's worth from that charitable non tax-deductible donation.

quid pro quo, baby... my charity doesn't come cheap.