Panhandlers: Help or No?

Hey Mongoose:
My wife gets so mad at me every time I pass up one of these panhandlers on the street  in Bowling Green. She says it's our duty to help someone in need, and I agree...BUT normally there's a help wanted sign across the street from where these people are begging. Am I supposed to help someone that won't help themselves?

Dear Hands Out Don’t Shoot,
My wife gets mad at me when I use her panhandlers while I’m welding so I feel your pain. 

The following is a true story:

Not more than two weeks ago I was coming home from working around 8:00 pm and got stopped at a light in Bowling Green.  It was a nice evening, I had my windows down and here comes Mr. Face Tattoo Cowboy Hat-wearing guy, holding a sign that read, “broke and hungry”. Ol' Tat Face walks right up to my window and holds his sign up to me. I had left my house before 6 am that morning and hadn’t eaten since breakfast and was just headed home after a 14-hour day. I saw the sign, he saw that I saw the sign, I said “me too brother”. He laughed and asked if I had any spare change, I then asked him how much his face tats cost—he walked back to the next car without saying another word to me. 

Oh yeah, funny story, so?  Some people have bad luck, can’t help it, need a break. Some spend their money on cowboy hats and face tats then wonder why they’re broke and can’t get a job. You'll often see these folks that also have expensive dogs, guitars, and other non-essential items. You can't eat a guitar or dog,--well, I guess you could, but anyway--You see where I'm going with this...

I trust my gut, if they look like they need it and didn’t put themselves in that situation, I’ll give them what I can. If they look like they have no one to blame but themselves and their bad decisions—I drive on past .

Pro tip: if you want a job somewhere other than a tattoo parlor don’t get tattoos on your face. 
​-MG