I miss the good ol' days prior to the ubiquitous phone scammers. When I worked in downtown Dallas last century (!!) I did a LOT of walking ... from the car parking on the edge of downtown into the city; later, from the DART train after they got that built ... the street hustlers abounded, to the extent that I almost ENJOYED the thrill of the next scammer.
I remember one bloke, just a panhandler, but he had GAME. Each day as I passed his "spot" he would nod "hello" to me and ask, "Brother, can you spare a dime?" I never could at first. "SORRY, man, I'm broke today, maybe tomorrow," was my usual response. He nodded thanks and always wished me a pleasant day. After a week or so of such pleasantries he began his game. Every other day or week, he would up the ante on me.
"Brother, can you spare a dime" became "Brother, can you spare a quarter?" Then after a few days of that, "Brother, can you spare a dollar?" That became five dollars ... then ten ... then a TWENTY as weeks passed. I stuck to my story of being broke, maybe tomorrow, and he upped the ante week after week.
The months passed by, and his requests would sometimes vary; never more than a twenty and never less than a dime, and always pleasant. It came to be that sometimes, I would actually say, "Brother, today I have good news; i have some change in my pocket and you are welcome to it!" He would thank me profusely, and we would begin the game again the next day.
I'm not sure how much in total I gifted him; I suspect that others on his "route" also gifted him something sometimes. It may be he actually made bank; I never asked, but he seemed clean and well-fed. Scraggly, yes; scrawny, yes. But never starving, dirty, or in rags. There came a day when I changed my route into the city (or maybe the man changed HIS route; I don't know) and I never saw him again. There are times I wonder to myself what might have happened to the fellow. But he was pleasant. I hope things worked out for him.