Another galway character... the spare change guy

nobodythere

There's a new guy around galway asking for spare change. When you say no he just says "alright sir, I'm sorry to bother you". I miss the days when you said no and the bum would shout after you and call you a fsckin scabby bstard. I walk away feeling so guilty and wanting to go back and give him some money

Anyone know anything about this guy?

i met him on shop street last night.hr asked me about three times.but im a scabby teenager/student.

padi89

Yeah the last day i was walking down by roches with my nephew and i see this bum in front of me.So he goes "Sorry mate i dont suppose you have a cigarette?" .I reply "Im sorry i dont smoke",much to my amazement he turns around and says "Oh im sorry for asking you guys,im just looking for a cig".He seemed like it was totally embarrasing for him to beg and it probably was,unless he was a good actor.Normally they give you a dirty look or make some stupid grunt at ya.
To be honest i would much prefer this more friendly approach as i think if i did smoke i would be more inclined to give it to someone thats thankfull.

nobodythere

but he says it after you've gone through the whole "BUM ALERT!" brain process, you're not gonna go back and say "since you were so nice about it...". He's just trying to guilt trip us! Smarter than all of us put together!

gabriella

That guy is such a gentleman! true story- my friend and I were walking through shop street on early morn and unknowingly my friend dropped her mobile and that guy obviously had seen it occur and chased us down to return it to her, he could have easily pocketed it, the man is pretty decent for sure!:)

TerrorFirmer

Don't forget the "Banging two spoons together" guy - hardly worth creating a new thread over but I see him all the time begging on shop street, and he hasn't been mentioned in this league of superheroes to date

MrJones

or what bout the small guy with leather jacket that has
been busking outside anthony ryans, playing guitar for last umpteen years.
he's generally playing the lady in red..

padi89

MrJones wrote:

or what bout the small guy with leather jacket that has
been busking outside anthony ryans, playing guitar for last umpteen years.
he's generally playing the lady in red..

Yeah that guy is there at all hours of the day night and morning.The last time i saw him was over at Lidl with a fine looking girl and i mean "girl" half his age.Busking must pay well!!!!!

kc66

Has that guy learned any new songs? He seemed to be always singing the same two or three songs.

The talk about bums reminds of Bill Hicks. Not sure why cos its not really related but Ill post it anyway cos hes a legend:

"I'm from Houston, Texas originally, I moved up here a year ago. The first thing I noticed when I came here was the homeless situation. Now I'm no bleeding heart, okay? But . . . when you're walking down the streets of New York and you step over someone who might be dead do you ever stop to think, 'wow, maybe our system doesn't work.' Does that push a memory bubble up out of you? If there was only a couple of bums I'd think 'well, they're just farkin' bums,' but there's THOUSANDS of these guys. I'm running a bum hurdle down the street. It's the hundred yard bum hurdle.

"gotanymoneygotanymoneygotanymoneygotanymoney? I tipped that last bum but I didn't tip him over. Okay, that hurdle counts.

"Some of these guys look healthy but they're just bums. The very idea. They want me to just give them the hard earned money my folks send to me every week. "You leech. Get a job, my dad works eight hours a day for this money."

"You ever get those bums that turn mental on you? "Sorry, I don't got any money."

"MOTHERfarkER!" "Wo wo, where's my checkbook? Hold on. Is that Mr. Bum? How do I make it out? Is that Capital Vagrant? I didn't know you were psycho, definitely wasn't your personality that put you on the street was it?"

With another guy, he said, "Thanks a lot, buddy. You don't know what it's like to be broke!" I said, "Yeah I do, that's why I work. I know exactly what it's like. You sleep on the pavement, you dig through the garbage for food and you bum money from strangers. Am I right?"

"That is what I do."

"I feel sorry for these guys because I don't know why they're bums. Nobody every asks them. "What are you doing? Why are you digging through the garbage."

"You got a quarter?"

"Hey, for that same quarter I can get that bum to squeegee my window. I'm going to comparatively bum shop. I want the most for my bum quarter, and I want a receipt. That's how you get rid of them. Get a receipt.

"Some people say, "Don't give him any money, it's probably for drugs and alcohol"

"Yeah. You've never been a junkie then. Drugs are pretty important to a drug addict."

"God damn right it's for drugs, lady! And if you don't give it to me I'm going to cut out you farkin' heart and eat it front of you."

"Well, if you put it that way." Ding.

Chewbacca [14-12-2007]

spare change guy?

The baldy one with an english accent?

he's always outside cuba. He's not homeless.

He lives in Woodquay and has quite a penchant for renting DVD's and is quite partial to Jimi Hendrix. I met him in a video store that should probably remain nameless, he was renting 5 films and we had an argument about the merits of Eminem as a musician versus as a poet.

I think he errs on the side of scumbag, despite his manners.

luckat

Best beggar I ever met was a man in New York with a beautiful Georgia accent, chanting "Spare fifty dollars? Spare fifty dollars?" I cracked up, and so did he. Nice moment.

Best begee I ever met was a friend who walked out of the newspaper office where he worked and was immediately surrounded by a few beggars. He had a long conversation, asking after their kids and other halves by name, then spread out a few quid among them and there were mutual courteous goodbyes-till-next-time.

nobodythere

Well I saw him last night stuffing a load of cans into a bush