walk down the street in portland and no one will look you in the eye. If you do it's intepereted as consent to ask you for change. it's not limited to the stereo-typical panhandlers: an unshaven guy with a hardluck story and a sleeping bag or a crusty punk with facial tattoos and a dog. middle class looking kids from 20-30 ask you for change, most are polite you say no. someone even yelled up from the street below to my second story apartment window asking if i had any sparechange "i'm trying to get home". he was shaved and wearing a frat boy-esq sweater. i tossed him down twenty-something cents before i realized how silly it was. it's hard to reply negatively when someone makes a "reasonable" request, my instinct it to try to help. but when your asked several (6 today) times in the course of a day it starts to become annoying. my plan is to start answering thier "reasonable" requests with one of my own, "do you have an extra stamp?", "can i have a cigarette?", "where'd you buy those shoes?". if they repeat their query i'll repeat mine. when they reply i'll say "it's cool, don't worry about it" or "hey thanks" as i walk away.
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