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I was walking past a gas station earlier when a guy shouts to me "Hey, I'm stuck without any gas or money. Came up from Orange County earlier. Can you help?"
I just ignored him and kept walking. This has to be one of the most overused scams - I can't believe people still fall for it.
Since I walk the same route each day I've seen another guy try the same trick. When he called to me the second time I looked at him and saw a flicker of recognition. I just laughed and walked on.
No real point here; just bemused that this one still goes on. I mean, what can they ask for? $5? $10? They'd have to get an awful lot of hits to make it worth while and I'm sure the gas station doesn't want them there hassling people all day.
Perhaps I'm missing something - anyone got another take on this?
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Stop and think.
What's minimum wage in the US? $7.25/hr
So one "hit" an hour and he's ahead of Burger Hell - and it's cash in hand, so taxes don't come into it.
One "hit" every ten minutes and he's doing well!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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A buddy of mine and I were driving down in San Diego one time.
We stopped at an light and there was a guy on the corner with a "Homeless please help" sign. My friend rolled the window down and handed him $5.
He then asked the guy how much he makes per day panhandling.
The guy said $200-$300 A DAY!!..
I thought "$6000 a month tax free" - not a bad gig.
I've never handed out money since.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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I was with a coworker a few years ago and he was about to hand a few bucks to a "homeless" kid, when his cell phone rang (the kid's).
That was back when you pretty much could only get a cell phone if you could provide a fixed address.
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A guy did that to me some years back when I was down in Orange County. Came up to me with a full bottle of beer in his hand, speech slurred, unsteady on his feet. "Hey buddy I need some gas to get home". I pointed out that he was standing right outside a gas station, to which he replied, "Yeah, but I have no money". I suggested he spend less on beer.
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So I had to walk back to home. 
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I thought the moral of this story was going to be that the guy was too drunk to drive home, but then I remembered that Americans have a different attitude to drink driving than us Brits
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It's amazing people still fall for that. Now when is that Nigerian Prince going to put those millions in my account?
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The prince is waiting for you to pay advance $$ into his account. And then, the promised millions will come to you. 
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I am currently in negotiations with a Nigerian government official. There was a vice president of engineering at Shell Oil who died with a large bank account there. I'm helping the government official to.....
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Leave it to a few bad apples to ruin it for everyone, aye? Some poor soul actually ends up needing gas and is a little short on money, and people just assume they're scamming.
In the past, I have, on occasion, helped out a person or two. I'm not rich, but I'm not strapped for cash, so one tank isn't breaking the bank. Until this one guy...
Comes up to me, 'Hey man, I got kids I gotta get to X place, can you help?' Yeah sure...
Two weeks later, I see the same guy, same station... 'Hey man, I need a little help...' I reply sorry, not today. He continues... 'Hey, do I know you?' I reply no, you don't know me. 'Yeah! Yeah, were we in jail together!?' ....... I reply no, we definitely weren't in jail together. 'You sure man? Down in so & so! Gotta be you!'
Why on earth would you think that trying to convince me we were in jail together (never arrested in my life, so... duh...) would get me to help you out?
After that, I never helped anyone again.
Slightly different instance: I had a woman walk up to me a few weeks later asking for money because her house had just burned down. Really lady? Your house had just burned down the last time you asked me for money... If you're going to scam people, at least try to remember who you told what!
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Kyle Moyer wrote: After that, I never helped anyone again.
That's how I feel. Sad, really, it means that people that really need help don't get it because of the scumbags out there. 
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I'm not quite sure the people that need help would beg in the first place. I it happened to me I would go the gas station and ask the salesman for a gas loan probably leaving my watch or driving license until I bring back the money.
In my opinion it is safe bet to assume it is a scum. Even at the cost of very rare false-positive...
--
"My software never has bugs. It just develops random features."
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Good point. 
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In Europe we have a much more civilised way of doing this - the Government takes the equivalent of the $10 you might have parted with and passes on $5 to the person stuck without money. Everyone is happy*
*According to the latest Government survey
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The best bet in my opinion is offering to fill up their car (to some degree, I'm not that well of) and pay directly to the cashier of the gas station. Offers like this from my side have been (not so gracefully) declined, but then I knew what was cooking!
Cheers!
"I had the right to remain silent, but I didn't have the ability!"
Ron White, Comedian
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I fell for that 10 or 15 years ago.
The attendant at the gas station told me that the two in the car pull that stunt typically twice a week.
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My wife had stopped in a fast food restaurant. Some woman approached her asking for money for food. My wife said no money, but she would buy food. The woman then tried to order something expensive. My wife said no way, the item in question was more money than she was spending on herself. I guess that the woman forgot the adage: Beggars cannot be choosers.
Fletcher Glenn
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Sigh, it's just me - Visual Studio has always done this, but today it's driving me nuts - you know the quirk -
You minimize Visual Studio, attempt a task, but VS is busy, so it restores itself. (Repeat sentence until you give up and wait for VS to complete).
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"Why Visual Studio is driving me nuts today"
Because you installed it...
Why does it get so much slower with each version?
Why does Intellisense switch itself off every now and then?
Why don't they do a bug-fix version instead of adding a heap of pointless rubbish?
And it's still the best IDE by several miles! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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What fires my flame is that with EVERY release of VS the menu items, toolbar buttons, and keyboard shortcuts are changed.
WHY???? WTF was wrong with where they were??? WHY did then need to be moved so now I have to relearn them ALL LOVER AGIAN!!!
What jack@$$ at MS decided THAT was a good idea?
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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Kevin Marois wrote: What jack@$$ at MS decided THAT was a good idea?
The cheese mover guy[^]
It was broke, so I fixed it.
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I would think that persons aspires to your tagline
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