Q: What do you do when (presumably) homeless people ask you for money? This happens fairly regularly where I live and I really don’t think “I’m sorry sir, you are not the most efficient from of charity” would be received well. So I tend to ignore them, or say “no” and keep walking. Which feels cruel. It doesn’t help that the ask is something like “any spare change?” so if I don’t want to give them money I usually have to lie or get into a longer conversation.
A: I used to give homeless people money a lot because of basically this problem! I eventually realized that was unsustainable and stopped carrying cash so I did not have the option, and could truthfully say “I’m sorry but I don’t carry any cash”. This is inconvenient if you want to carry cash for emergencies or that one stupid Berkeley sushi place that doesn’t take cards, but “I don’t have any cash to give you, sorry” is always true. I still occasionally buy someone ice cream but this feels less pressure-y and more “it’s hot out, it will make me happy to buy myself and this person some ice cream”.
It also is totally okay to ignore people on the street. It feels bad to me too, and I try to avoid it, but streets only work because people mostly agree not to make random costly requests of one another except when desperately needed, and it is morally fine to avoid interacting with people while out in public.
I like this answer from theunitofcaring on tumblr: