Asklemmy

TBH I wouldn't open the door for safety reasons. Now if they had approached me on the street and there were shops nearby, yes I would help.

All of those things can be done outside of my house, so I don't really see any reason why not to. Beard trim, blam, here's a razor, sandwich, here's that shit, here's a bottle of water, the hose is over there, here's some soap, blam. Even if I'm cooking up the most diabolical and insane homeless person of all time, I can still fulfill all of those requests while also keeping them outside, doing very little, and maybe telling them to also fuck off after if I'm a psycho.

The rest of this is gonna mostly be venting, so you can safely ignore it if you don't care.

People in america are totally cooked on homelessness, even though they're, on average, metaphorically inches away from it at any given time. Homeless shelters in america mostly are horrible places to go where your shit will be stolen and they will do nothing. They're bad for children, they're full of drugs, and very frequently they have curfews, rules against having animals or pets, rules requiring that you go to religious ceremonies, etc. Homeless people aren't just like, insane illogical transients. I mean they kind of are, but there's also a reason for why they do the things that they do, that includes maybe knocking on the door of a random suburb.

I would actually find it more likely in this situation that this random person would probably want to use my toilet since there are no fucking public toilets in america, especially as private businesses will deny use of their restrooms to people who look homeless. Then people get arrested for public defecation, urination, or nudity because there's nowhere else to go, obviously there's also mental health, and then all you see is how some guy on the street on fent gets arrested with his pants around his ankles and his asscheeks covered in shit and you think "wow that guy's crazy" and have no further thoughts. Context is eradicated.

Give someone in america the slightest advantage over the homeless, a shitty suburban flat, with a lower rent, that they spend two thirds or more of their income on, including roommates, and they will still somehow find a way to spit on the homeless after riding the bus into town every day cause they can't afford a car. They will still live their lives in fear and they will still come to hate the homeless because somehow the person basically making negative income is not able to afford soap or a high-fiber diet.

It's the "Oh, well, it's not my problem, that sucks for them, but I'm still allowed to be offended by it." sort of mentality. You can give them every reason under the sun why hating the homeless doesn't make any sense, why hating the homeless is immoral, why they don't deserve it, how they are products of their environment. Still people will desperately cling to it. It makes me understand how racism occurs, I suppose, because it's the same phenomena. "Ah, well, I understand all of the stats about racism, but this particular member of this particular racial minority, I still hate them personally for acting in line with the statistical average of their group.". Insanity. It's as though it's all just abstract thought goop that has no bearing on anyone's life, or that somehow I should be the exception to it.

I think it's gotta be a functional adaptation, or something. Maybe they can prevent themselves from going insane and becoming nihilists if they just suddenly become individualists and objectivists as soon as it becomes convenient, or something. It is not that hard to conceive of a reality in which the person cutting you off in traffic is rushing to the hospital, or, a reality in which they, maybe naively but understandably want to enjoy their expensive car while they still can, or, maybe a reality in which they're just panicking because they're late to work or something.

I am an introvert, I am awkward, I hate hanging around people and talking to people. Even I can talk to the homeless when they need someone to talk to, and reluctantly give them money, and rides to places when they ask, since it would otherwise be like two hours and twelve dollars of travel, bus stops, a transfer station, travel, more bus stops, before they get across town to do a fairly basic errand. The social fabric is falling apart. Please be nice, it is not that hard, it costs very little, it happens infrequently, and very possibly if some of you extroverted assholes picked up some slack instead of making things harder for the most maligned, I could go back to my cave.

I am skeptical on letting my friends in my house. I am not going let a random person with high odds of having some sort of physical/mental issue in my house no thank you.

Will I help? Absolutely. Just in anywhere that isn't my house.

You seem to have "but what if" responses for every answer.

My answer is no because I don't trust them. Same reason I keep my little dog away from all pit bulls, I don't trust them. Same reason I accept some women want to keep distance with all men, lack of trust.

There's water in the bubbler at my local park.

Give him food and water. I guess I can try trim his beard with scissors if he wants. And I would try to facilitate the bath. I know people don't want to let random homeless people into their houses because they're worried about theft, but it is so hard to get a shower or bath if you're street homeless, and besides, if he steals something from me, clearly he needs it a lot more than me. I don't have anything too valuable in my bathroom anyway so if he wants to nick some toothpaste let him.

I’d give it to him.

I'd give him food/water, cash, call him a ride, or whatever else he needed but he's not coming inside. Too much risk. Even just giving stuff I'd worry he'll come back.

I usually buy a meal for a homeless drug addict who sometimes it's asking for some coins in a near mall, I don't like to give him money straight cos I know he will buy drugs with it, I prefer to buy him something to eat.

Where I am there is not so much homeless people there is just poor people who asks for coins so no beard issue but I definitely like to give them something to eat instead of money for drugs.

I would never answer the door for someone I didn’t expect so I wouldn’t know why they were at my door anyway.

A beard trim... yeah, I'm too unexperienced to help him with that, but I'll give him a shaver and a cream...

Bath... I'd just hope there's a public shower nearby, and lend him merely some small bottles of soap and shampoo...

A sandwich and water... let's see what food I have...

I'm not opening my door tho, to him

I don't hold any answers but if you're reading this comment, I want to know how you take into consideration that if they are asking for money, that money can easily be used for drugs/opioids/other stuff which will hurt them.

i.e., Do you give them money or do you give them food, a bottle of water or stuff like that?

Can't hear knocking on the door from the living room and my doorbell is disabled most of the time. So unless people notfify me of their visit there is a good chance I just won't open the door at all.

Also there is a big construction site in front of my house right now, so I'm wearing noise canceling headphone most of the time. And with those I hardly even hear the doorbell when it's on.

First I'd wonder how they got through my security gate. I would not let them in. I'm a 5'3" middle-aged woman and I know my limitations, I'm not as young and strong as I used to be. I would talk to them through the door and not open it. If they said they wanted food and water, I might give them something but I would tell them to back up far away from the door before I put anything out there for them. Once they took it, I would ask them to leave.

Get in my car with him to bring him to get those things.

I suck at keeping a home ready for such an encounter.

We live in Canada in a very rural area. We've opened our door to strangers. Gave people a place to sleep and a hot meal, even let them live with us for a time to get their feet under themselves. I'd hope someone would do the same for my family if they needed it.

Side note: one of these folks is actually here today having supper with us and hanging with the kiddos. She's got a job and a house now and going back to school in September. Two years ago we let her set her tent up here and use the washroom for a few weeks.

Nice try, you filthy Hobo!

I'd close the door on him then call the police. Y'all can virtue signal all you want but these homeless people can have mental illnesses and be dangerous.