Work-related

 When I tell people about the homelessness I see down here, many apply what they know or what they think they know about it. Some say they're lazy, of course, and others say they're addicted to drugs or have incapacitating mental health issues. 

While drug and alcohol abuse and mental health issues are common, for many of the homeless I have interacted with the issue is more that they don't like their options, and can't get from where they are to some setting where they have better options. In short, they don't like being told what to do, to the point where they can't hold a job.

I was working on a brick walkway to the front of my house. It was a hot summer day, and I had a stack of bricks piled about 80 or 100 feet away. I was carrying the bricks six at a time to the walkway and setting them in place. 

A man came up and said I had promised him work some time in the past, and he really needed ten dollars. Did I have work for him?

I had already reached the point where I didn't make promises like that, but this guy came from before then and I vaguely remembered him.

Okay, I told him, bring me those bricks from over there, while I work on this walkway. That's worth ten bucks to me.

He asked if I had a dolly, or at least a bucket. No, I replied, I was carrying them by hand.

He brought me two loads, then said "You're slaving me man, you're slaving me!"

That's a pretty loaded thing to say. This neighborhood is majority black, and I am whiter than clapping when the plane lands. 

Here's five bucks, I told him. I think we're done.

Oh no, he replied, I need that ten bucks. No more of that then, I said.

He got back to work, and was right back to "You're slaving me" in less than five minutes. 

I gave him ten bucks and never saw him again.

Another guy came up around that time wanting to pick up the trash after Mardi Gras. Our area has been a popular spot for Mardi Gras for decades. People come down and park and barbecue and hang out. They also leave a lot of trash. 

So this guy wanted to pick up the trash, but by the time he got around to it, I had already picked it up. That didn't stop him from picking up other trash from somewhere else, leaning the bag against my porch, and asking for payment.