An incident with a couple of homeless junkies.

[Metalhead]

I was walking to a convenience store during a break at work, and I had headphones in my ear. I ignored this couple as I walked by them. They followed me for a block and a half and eventually tapped me, then told me they wanted a few dollars for some food supposedly. I saw the heroin tracks on their arms and I told them no. The guy then said I sounded like a retard, and the woman started hysterically repeating that slur against me. I simply laughed at them while walking away.

They repeated the shouting at me when I was walking back to the office but at least they stopped following me.

I told my boss about this, my boss thought their behavior was crap. I told a 12 stepper about this, and he told me I should have empathy for them instead of walking away while laughing. My mother heard about it and accused me of making it up for attention, but we all know her opinions are irrelevant here.

Some people suck. I hope this couple enters NA someday, but until them, they better stay the hell away from me.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

In the future, it would be in your best interest to keep your situational awareness piqued in urban situations. I go around blocks or cross to the opposite side of the street when I see people like that.

Do not allow yourself to be snuck up upon.

With the new drugs that are out, people are sapped of empathy or emotion. They are very self centered and potentially very violent.

 

[Forest Cat]

With the new drugs that are out, people are sapped of empathy or emotion. They are very self centered and potentially very violent.

As a wise man once said, you can turn your back on a person but never turn your back on a drug.

I saw something on tv from a city in the US, something about a new drug called "tranq". People were hunched over and standing like zombies on the sidewalks. This drug epidemic is out of control I think.

 

[Mr. Stevens]

That really sucks, Metalhead. I get approached by a lot of homeless people when I walk around the city. I usually tell them, "Sorry, I don't have cash. Have a nice day." That's the truth. They either say, "Thanks, you too," or just walk away.

 

[Aspychata]

This older lady in LA told me a couple followed her home from her bus and jumped her when she answered her door. So situational awaress is probably a good thing. We have a lot of young people roaming neighborhoods these days, where two years ago, this didn't happen. They are opportunists and some are more desperate than others. You need to especially be aware in hallways, parking lots, at night, ATM machines, leaving busses, elevators, exiting doors, and blind spots anywhere. And coming around corners. Once there was a guy behind me which l didn't know, and a guy crossing the intersection about 3 feet away from the corner l was turning. Later l figured out he would have been the distraction, and the guy behind would attempt to jump for purse. Two young guys. It pays to actively monitor behind you in certain areas. And groups of two people or more, you need to be aware of. LA is a excellent training area for this.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I was walking to a convenience store during a break at work, and I had headphones in my ear. I ignored this couple as I walked by them. They followed me for a block and a half and eventually tapped me, then told me they wanted a few dollars for some food supposedly. I saw the heroin tracks on their arms and I told them no. The guy then said I sounded like a retard, and the woman started hysterically repeating that slur against me. I simply laughed at them while walking away.

They repeated the shouting at me when I was walking back to the office but at least they stopped following me.

I told my boss about this, my boss thought their behavior was crap. I told a 12 stepper about this, and he told me I should have empathy for them instead of walking away while laughing. My mother heard about it and accused me of making it up for attention, but we all know her opinions are irrelevant here.

Some people suck. I hope this couple enters NA someday, but until them, they better stay the hell away from me.

Yes, even some of the addicted and homeless feel entitled these days. For as bold, assertive, and downright aggressive as some can be, you might think these same people could channel some of that mental energy into actually contributing something to their society instead of being an obnoxious parasite.

 

[WildCat]

I've stopped carrying any change on me for this reason and my response re: asking for anything beyond a cigarette or something else not really valuable is something along the lines of a polite "no".

Nearby where I work, I kid you not when I say there is almost a literal camp of vagrants, day and night who hang around the area. Good news is that most of them seem to keep to themselves; bad news is the others are usually asking for something or, with the more motivated ones, looking for trouble.

When out and about, by myself and especially in densely packed areas with a lot of foot traffic, I "keep my head on a swivel" as the saying goes. It's much harder to get caught by surprise when you're actively paying attention to your surroundings instead of focusing all of your attention on something else like I've seen people do too often.

 

[Rodafina]

I’m reluctant to buy into the idea that “homeless junkies“ are the issue here. I have been one of those things myself, and very close to the other one. Likely, I am just getting stuck on language, but the issue is neither that they are homeless nor addicted to drugs, but just terrible people, these two. Desperation does not drive everyone to invade someone else’s personal space, ridicule and harass them.

A more important point for me to focus on is what a terrible situation you were put in, Metalhead. I don’t even know what I would’ve done, but every sense would have been heightened and I would have been terrified about what I or they may do. Good for you for walking away, and hopefully you didn’t take any of their nasty input with you. I wish we all could’ve been there with you in that situation to stand by your side.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I’m reluctant to buy into the idea that “homeless junkies“ are the issue here. I have been one of those things myself, and very close to the other one. Likely, I am just getting stuck on language, but the issue is neither that they are homeless nor addicted to drugs, but just terrible people, these two. Desperation does not drive everyone to invade someone else’s personal space, ridicule and harass them.

A more important point for me to focus on is what a terrible situation you were put in, Metalhead. I don’t even know what I would’ve done, but every sense would have been heightened and I would have been terrified about what I or they may do. Good for you for walking away, and hopefully you didn’t take any of their nasty input with you. I wish we all could’ve been there with you in that situation to stand by your side.

This isn't heroin or pills. Our legislatures legalized every single drug and it's been a horrid Pandora's box.

Heroin doesn't exist anymore. It's Fentanyl cut with other synthetics.

Meth heads were bad enough. But this new Meth can very quickly turn the user into a lifelong paranoid schizophrenic mixed with O.D.D.

These new designer drugs are coming out of China and they alter the brain, permanently.

And they really do turn the users into "terrible people". Yes, it's the dope.

We are really living in the zombie apocalypse in the Pacific Northwest. It's pretty darn frightening.

 

[Forest Cat]

Heroin doesn't exist anymore. It's Fentanyl cut with other synthetics

It's a little crazy, first heroin was a big problem, then fentanyl came along and that was much worse and now they say this new thing called xylazine is actually worse than fentanyl. It's like the devil and his minions are having a "who can top this" competition.

 

[Rodafina]

This isn't heroin or pills. Our legislatures legalized every single drug and it's been a horrid Pandora's box.

Heroin doesn't exist anymore. It's Fentanyl cut with other synthetics.

Meth heads were bad enough. But this new Meth can very quickly turn the user into a lifelong paranoid schizophrenic mixed with O.D.D.

These new designer drugs are coming out of China and they alter the brain, permanently.

And they really do turn the users into "terrible people". Yes, it's the dope.

We are really living in the zombie apocalypse in the Pacific Northwest. It's pretty darn frightening.

I believe you. Very sad. Just very very sad.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I was talking, not too long ago, with a recovered 20 year heroin addict who is now a drug and alcohol counselor at a downtown detox clinic.

He said that you can't even find heroin anymore. It's all fentanyl. And you don't know if your first or second hit ever, you're going to die. Narcan doesn't work on a lot of the new stuff. It's evil.

 

[Forest Cat]

It makes sense, opium poppies have to be cultivated, takes times. These new things can be made in a lab right away, they can churn out ton after ton of it all year long. So financially it's a goldmine. It's also pure evil.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I do have a personal vendetta against the new drugs.

A year and a half ago, my favorite cousin, who grew up like a twin to me, died on a motel room floor. Murdered by his heroin dealer. Gave him a hot shot of fentanyl. Functional addict, father, husband. Very few knew he was using.

Just a month and a half ago, my uncle, his father, died of a fentanyl overdose.

I'm so angry.

And then my brother, he's on fentanyl and the new meth. He was such a funny, smart, techy guy. Understood computer systems like no one could. Brilliant mind, very tall and strong and attractive. Wanted to be a landscape foreman, like his father. Everyone liked him.

Now he's absolutely frightening. Violent, brooding, deluded, paranoid. Abuses family members. Extorts people for money. Robbing and stealing. Blames his drug use on relatives. Says he uses so that he can overdose and make them suffer. And he never leaves us alone. He has no friends except dealers. It's so sad. I love that kid so very much. I'd give him both my kidneys. But he's so scary, I can't even let him know where I live.

 

[Vindiesel]

That was definitely a near-miss Metalhead; I hope you only had one ear phone in one ear in-case somebody comes up behind your back if your walking in areas with homeless. The most dangerous person in this world is someone that has nothing to lose.

 

[oregano]

When I still lived in Sacramento there was this 7-Eleven (chain convenience store) that would sell reasonably edible junk food for cheap, stuff like individual pizza slices, that was deep in the north side ghetto/barrio. All sorts of weird people hung around the place. I learned to quickly say "no change, no smokes, sorry".

One woman followed me to my car demanding a quarter, I simply repeated myself till she wandered off. The worst one was a woman who, after I turned her down, started ranting about being a veteran and that she served this country and civilians treated her like crap as thanks. I would have given her a dollar if I had one, but I didn't because I didn't want to make myself a target for mugging.

Up here there are homeless but they don't really bug anybody. Over in Medford there is a law saying it is illegal to hand "objects" from cars to pedestrians, an interesting way of outlawing panhandling without the city getting sued. The homeless usually try to get around it by sitting in the parking lots, thinking that since the lots are technically private property that the law would be iffy. Up here everybody uses a car so the homeless just sit at intersections.

"Tranq" is xylazine, added to fentanyl to make it more potent, and to cancel out naloxone so the cops can't revive an overdose. All the drugs out there are synthetic, made in China and Mexico, and it turns users into psychos. I remember reading 20 years ago about "paco", which was the waste product from processing coca leaves into cocaine and that was sold in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It would make users extremely violent and kill them within six months. I think the new synthetic tranq/fenta combo is far worse though. It's like that old X Files episode that revolved around a drug that would alter DNA and turn users into literal monsters.

 

[AdamG]

I have run into very honest and nice "corner entrepreneurs". And I have run into very many more substance-abuse people begging for money. (It is pretty much the same phenomenon as email and phone message scammers).
.
I met this one honest guy, who gave me the gloves off his hands because someone would give him more, and my hands were cold. Because I gave him food, and clothing, and sometimes a us$5.
.
That is very rare.

 

[Aspychata]

I have had homeless turn down food in LA, and other homeless that act like l gave them the winning lottery ticket when l gave them food. It's difficult to see them struggling. This one lady was struggling in the store and it seemed like the right thing to do so l offered her some dinero. The minute l leave the store, there is a young lady pushing a car from the back just 3mins from the freeway, and nobody is steering. I got in back of her, and another guy helped her push it. Gave her some cash, and l told the guy to give a dollar or two for gas money, because she had no money. This happened pretty recently, so times are getting worse.

 

[mysterionz]

I’m in Florida, and I’ve seen homeless ppl every so often.. on one occasion there were some making camp near the grocery store I work at (near the CVS). Usually we have to notify management if that happens. A lady that went thru my line bought a set of toiletries + 5 dollars in cash. My dad once told me not to talk to a lady that “looked” homeless that made camp outside a restaurant parking lot.

And then there was a South Park episode called night of the living homeless which focused on homeless ppl overtaking the town of South Park.. I had to bring up SP again did I?

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I’m in Florida, and I’ve seen homeless ppl every so often.. on one occasion there were some making camp near the grocery store I work at (near the CVS). Usually we have to notify management if that happens. A lady that went thru my line bought a set of toiletries + 5 dollars in cash. My dad once told me not to talk to a lady that “looked” homeless that made camp outside a restaurant parking lot.

And then there was a South Park episode called night of the living homeless which focused on homeless ppl overtaking the town of South Park.. I had to bring up SP again did I?

"California-nia, super cool to the homeless
In the city, City of Venice
Right by Matt's house
You can chill if you're homeless."