If You Were Penniless And Alone

[GH85Carrera]

I was out to dinner with my wife and another couple in a trendy area near downtown, Oklahoma City. As we were done with dinner and going back to the cars a "homeless" panhandler approached us and asked for some "spare cash" and I bit my tongue and did not say there is no such thing as spare cash, unless it is just pennies. Anyway the other husband in the group pointed down a street and said the Jesus house is two blocks down that road. He then rotated, and pointed back up the street another way and said the Catholic charities is 6 blocks that way on the left side of the road. And he started to point to the Salvation Army the panhandler just started cussing us and said he needs cash not a meal had a place to sleep.

So he just wanted money for booze or drugs. Nope, not gonna help you when real charity.

The entire setup in the OP is just something I can't comprehend. Even at my poorest, with less than 10 bucks in the checking account, I had a bank account. I have only been unemployed for 4 working days in my life since age 16. I have never had any help from a charity, or government agency in any form.

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I was out to dinner with my wife and another couple in a trendy area near downtown, Oklahoma City. As we were done with dinner and going back to the cars a "homeless" panhandler approached us and asked for some "spare cash" and I bit my tongue and did not say there is no such thing as spare cash, unless it is just pennies. Anyway the other husband in the group pointed down a street and said the Jesus house is two blocks down that road. He then rotated, and pointed back up the street another way and said the Catholic charities is 6 blocks that way on the left side of the road. And he started to point to the Salvation Army the panhandler just started cussing us and said he needs cash not a meal had a place to sleep.

So he just wanted money for booze or drugs. Nope, not gonna help you when real charity.

The entire setup in the OP is just something I can't comprehend. Even at my poorest, with less than 10 bucks in the checking account, I had a bank account. I have only been unemployed for 4 working days in my life since age 16. I have never had any help from a charity, or government agency in any form.

I once had $1.57 in my checking account….still have the ATM receipt, though the ink is so faded you can barely read it. At the time $5 was the minimum withdrawal amount and I withdrew that to get a slice of pizza. Kept that receipt as a reminder….seems like a lifetime ago. I was well employed at the time, just living beyond my means I guess…my rent was something like 75% of take home - stupid. But, it worked out….

EDIT: when I say “well employed”, I was making like 22k a year….in a high income area. The only way to live cheaper would have been to get a roommate (didn’t know anyone in area) or move FAR with a huge commute. Probably should have done that, but….I didn’t

[id10t]

Originally Posted by McLovin

You don’t have the documented “history” but you still have all your knowledge, so eventually you’d be able to use it to make a living.

For example you mentioned a law degree, but you can’t use your bar card.

You’d still be able to get a job at a law firm. It might be as a janitor, or file clerk, etc. Any position would do. Just get in the door. It wouldn’t take long for someone with 25 years of litigation experience to become a top paralegal or “legal assistant” at the firm.

Same would hold true for pretty much any profession or vocation.

If that’s what one wanted to do. With just oneself to support it probably wouldn’t be necessary to work even that hard, esp if SS was available.

In that case in a field I have 35+ years of experience in where $50/hr jobs are possible with no real degree I could be sitting pretty good

Hell given the little niche language we still have a ton of I could probably call my current employer and get a remote work contract job filling the hole my sudden disappearance caused

[GH85Carrera]

Back in the era long before cell phones, and deadly STDs, I finally owned my first house, and had some spare cash, I would go out on Friday nights looking for female companionship. I stopped at an ATM and got my $40 I allowed myself to blow for the night. There was an ATM receipt laying on the top of the ATM with a checking account balance of over 25K. I carefully folded that up, and kept it in my wallet. When I gave my phone number to a lady that I was hoping to have a second date with, I wrote my number on the back of that receipt. She was fun, but she was just another fish in the sea I threw back.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by McLovin

You don’t have the documented “history” but you still have all your knowledge, so eventually you’d be able to use it to make a living.

For example you mentioned a law degree, but you can’t use your bar card.

You’d still be able to get a job at a law firm. It might be as a janitor, or file clerk, etc. Any position would do. Just get in the door. It wouldn’t take long for someone with 25 years of litigation experience to become a top paralegal or “legal assistant” at the firm.

Same would hold true for pretty much any profession or vocation.

If that’s what one wanted to do. With just oneself to support it probably wouldn’t be necessary to work even that hard, esp if SS was available.

When I moved to Oklahoma City, I went looking for a job. I had no resume, and zero history in OKC. I walked into a professional photo lab and asked if they were hiring. He of course asked what I knew about darkrooms and photography. He took me to a 6'x6' darkroom with a manual color enlarger, and he handed me a 35mm negative and said make an 8x10 and put it on that processor. He had reset the enlarger to 0-0-0 color balance, and the lens was not the right one for a 35mm negative so I had change the change the lens and had to to dial in a base color correction by just by experience. My first test print was only a few points green and he said OK you know that. He handed me a roll of scrap 35mm film and a processing reel, and said load the film on the reel. That was super easy for me as I used to process 30 to 40 roll of film per day at my previous job. I loaded the film is seconds, and it is a bit tricky and difficult to do in total darkness.

He said you are hired, and when can you start. I said I will be here on Monday. I worked there for over 25 years.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by epbrown

I'd go to the nearest library, find the closest Amazon warehouse, walk or hitchhike my way there and get to work. They're everywhere, they're always hiring, overtime is always available and you can set it up so you get paid at the end of each shift. Buy some piece of crap beater with your second week's pay and you can live in the parking lot at most sites until you find a place to live. You'll average $800/week after taxes with OT if you work nights/weekends, so over $40k/year clear.

The problem is that in the OP, I'm pretty sure that he said that you've got no ID. I suspect to work for Amazon, you're going to have to have ID.

I think in the OP, you're wearing clothes, and that's all that you've got, no money, no phone, no ID. It's going to be tough to get a job at most regular places in cities (or do much of anything other than go to a homeless shelter) without some form of ID. And I think a lot of homeless shelters even require you to have money (albeit, not much).

[masraum]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

I don't think too many of us here could sell our bodies on the street. Or could we? lol

Sure, but I suspect you're talking about


when what you could more realistically do is...

[jyl]

This scenario makes me think of “City on The Edge of Forever” from TOS. When I watched that as a little kid, the main thing that interested me was that Kirk and Spock had materialized in a gritty city as nobodies with nothing, and had to get clothes, food to eat, a place to live, money for Spock’s time recorder project.

Another movie where people materialize in a city with nothing is “Terminator”, but that’s kind of different . . .

[jyl]

Originally Posted by masraum

The problem is that in the OP, I'm pretty sure that he said that you've got no ID. I suspect to work for Amazon, you're going to have to have ID.

I think in the OP, you're wearing clothes, and that's all that you've got, no money, no phone, no ID. It's going to be tough to get a job at most regular places in cities (or do much of anything other than go to a homeless shelter) without some form of ID. And I think a lot of homeless shelters even require you to have money (albeit, not much).

Hmm, maybe you have ID . . . the idea is that you have to start from zero, not necessarily that you start in a situation where laws etc prevent you from working at all. On the fence about that parameter.

[McLovin]

We all have ID and that’s pretty basic.
Not having it, so that you are delayed in finding legal work while you jump through the hoops to get a replacement DL, feels similar to saying in the hypo you are fleeing the law, or have a criminal background. Too artificial.

[McLovin]

One thing that I don’t think has been mentioned is I’d want to get a smart phone with cellular Internet access asap.

[Zeke]

I would not be staying in the U.S. That said, it takes money to get out. It takes money to go anywhere. There is no answer because it depends on where.

3 hots and a cot would not be my destination. I don't want anything to do with cops or criminals. I wouldn't stay anywhere near where homeless congregate.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by jyl

Hmm, maybe you have ID . . . the idea is that you have to start from zero, not necessarily that you start in a situation where laws etc prevent you from working at all. On the fence about that parameter.

Right, any business that's big or is trying to stay legal is going to require the I-9 form "employee eligibility verification". That form generally requires at least one form of ID. I suspect most illegal aliens that get jobs in kitchens use fake/forged documents.

My guess is that you're only going to get a job that you can walk up to as a nobody with no idea and get paid cash if it's maybe a gopher in construction, the back of a truck at HD, or maybe washing dishes or some other menial job in a small business.

[masraum]

[911 Rod]

Is jumping off a bridge an option?