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I've got a several stories:
1. Dude approaches me the the parking lot and says he needed gas money. I take him to the filling station and put a few buck in his tank (emergency short trip). I bid him farewell, and when he thinks I'm not looking, he swings back to the same parking lot to hit someone else up. I drive back to the parking lot to ask him what's up and he takes off.
2. I take a dude to a gas station to put some gas in his tank. He stops me after $5. He didn't want me to put too much in, in case someone else called him on his bluff.
3. Took a father to the grocery store to buy food for his kids. He was very grateful and bought things like raw hamburger, pork chops, etc.
4. Dude approached me in a restaurant parking lot a couple miles from a hospital, claimed to have a family member there, and a non-patient son that was hungry. He wanted money so he could buy him food. Smelled like a scam, and the world wouldn't end even if his story was true. I reached down and pulled out my inner asshole and said: "It's not like he's going to starve to death if he misses a meal." Dude said "You better get in your car and leave, or I might not be able to contain myself." Still think he was scamming. Why not hit up people at the hospital? Fellow patient families are likely to have empathy for your family situation.
5. People who come to your house offering to do work for $ will either do shitty work or are trying to con you. No good experiences to report.
6. Ran into a guy who I tried to help over a several day period. It quickly became obvious that it was way beyond my capabilities to turn his life around or even turn his life 5 degrees. Lesson: there is a reason that people end up in the situations they are in.
7. Dude needs a bus ticket in Memphis. I offer to buy it for him, we start walking to the bus station. He wants to go down a shady ally. OH HELL NO. I end up buying him dinner instead. He acts resentful. But he walks away eating the food I bought him with an expression of satisfaction on his face.
8. i was looking for a parking space in downtown KC in the early '80s (wayyy before cell phones). It is pouring down rain. Big ole dude frantically flags me down on the street holding his stomach. I crack my window, he has trouble communication, but I finally figured out he wants a ride to the hospital. He acts like he's been stabbed but I can't tell, and even if he is, there is no way I'm letting a stranger twice my side inside my car. Tell him I can't help him and move on.
9. One time a long time ago the shoe was on the other foot. I pulled into a parking garage. This was before ATMs. Too late, I realized I didn't have any cash on me. The garage didn't take credit cards. I needed like a $1.50 to get my car out. I checked between the seats for change. No dice. I finally pulled behind an obviously well-to-do woman who was paying her bill and begged her to pay mine. She paid, but made it obvious she didn't appreciate being approached in that manner. Thank you, rich stuck up woman, wherever you are.
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