Panhandlers at Casino's
Probably but mastered procrastination often saves them for quite a while. I don't understand why someone would realize they can't win then off themselves, but I'm not hopeless and powerless.Quote: TomspurI mean, in some part of my git I feel a little sorry for him as an addiction of any sort can be hell to deal with, especially if you are alone with no support systems. Then I read further and I realize that this dude is potentially not a very nice person anyway. I don't know if the highs and lows have made him this way or if he is just this way because.......
It is one thing struggling with what life throws at you, it is quite another just being a bad person to everyone around you because you project what is happening to you on others.....
As Face has stated, this dude hasn't hit rock bottom yet but I'm afraid when he does, then only thing he will hear is the splat......
This will not end well.
Quote: onenickelmiracleProbably but mastered procrastination often saves them for quite a while. I don't understand why someone would realize they can't win then off themselves, but I'm not hopeless and powerless.
The mind of a person in desperation can never be analyzed or understood unless you stand in his shoes at the exact time of his decision making.
He will keep on playing and I'm afraid when he invariably loses everything back he will go back to begging or scamming. I think he now know no difference between that and a regular existence. For him, what he is doing right now is as normal as having a cup of coffee right after waking up.
I've known of people (not directly, but friend of a friend or friend of a relative) who led completely normal lives. Not addicts by any means, fully functional, church-goers and volunteer in free time, etc. who live a completely normal life. Then one day something happens and they get a surgery and get prescribed Vicodin or some other pain killer. Without realizing it, and not too long later, they've become addicted to pain killers.
Nobody asks or wants to be an addict. Nobody tries to become an addict. Their brains play tricks on them...and it's really hard to beat something when your brain is messing with you.
Quote: RSAddictions are a weird thing. Oftentimes those with addictions, at least to drugs, alcohol, gambling, and whatever else is similar, are viewed as (and are) criminals. It makes it a lot harder for the general population to feel sympathy for them. Then on the other hand, there are addictions to things like food or video-games, where for the most part, the addict isn't hurting other people (not a criminal) and lives a more normal life than a bum on the street trying to get his next fix. Those people don't get much sympathy because we tend to view those addictions as "silly" (addiction to shopping!). It is quite unfortunate.
I've known of people (not directly, but friend of a friend or friend of a relative) who led completely normal lives. Not addicts by any means, fully functional, church-goers and volunteer in free time, etc. who live a completely normal life. Then one day something happens and they get a surgery and get prescribed Vicodin or some other pain killer. Without realizing it, and not too long later, they've become addicted to pain killers.
Nobody asks or wants to be an addict. Nobody tries to become an addict. Their brains play tricks on them...and it's really hard to beat something when your brain is messing with you.
I went to the ER with a headache, and ended up with a bottle of vicodin. I ended up needing it to sleep and took it during the day while at work. When I ran out I went to another doctor to get some more, and was told that the ER doc shouldn't have given me narcotics for a simple headache. It was a bitch to get off the stuff and be able to sleep again.
Quote: DrawingDeadAnonymity and rootlessness sure changes things. I think often not by changing the town drunk or the town thief so much, but by creating opportunities for folks who earnestly want to weave elaborate fantasies that the "real root" cause of the drunk isn't actually the drunk and the cause of the theft wasn't really the thief.
The real story is not about the man on easy street that degenerated. The real story is about the man who was born a degenerate, born on the bottom, born to run, a hopeless, homeless vagabond. A person who was kicked in the teeth from the time he was born. A man who spent 40 years in the wilderness. But in the end he finds his calling. I used to be the guy in this song. But now I'm just an old successful gambler. So what? Big deal. I'd rather be the guy in the song. You wouldn't believe how much I loved it when I was that kind of man. I might have been born and lived on the bottom, but what the world didn't know about me was the they never even had one chance to break my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdtPkqb6zo8
Quote: MrV"You bet, I've got plenty. Thanks for asking."
+1 Gotta remember that one!
Quote: DeMango+1 Gotta remember that one!
I always go with "Plenty of Change, but none spare"
Quote: MrVBack in my day, we didn't have panhandlers
Maybe you mean 'in casinos'? If so, it was because no one back then was going to put up with them inside such a joint. Now everybody has to be handled with kid gloves.
Quote: Face30something mom with a sob story... And she still never came back to pay me.
I would never expect someone like that to repay me. Generally, I think the average woman is more likely to repay you than the average man. But not someone like this.
Quote: FaceI see a lot of things in that thread. "Rock bottom", unfortunately, isn't one of them. I just don't see that realization, or the desire.
It has often occurred to me that people beat many addictions because they realize they are going to die, and they decide they don't want to die. Others don't care and do die. In the case of gambling, it's hard to see how it comes to that. This makes me wonder if the degenerate gambler, truly addicted, might have a much harder time realizing they are headed for rock bottom.
...it's not a line: I follow that and don't have any problems.
Quote: TheBigPaybak"I'm sorry, I have a personal rule to never give any money in casinos" - after which they usually say they understand and go away...
...it's not a line: I follow that and don't have any problems.
I might try that line. The problem is, that there's this older lady that's in her mid 40's that's a 6th grade teacher that I like having around because most of the people that I see at the casino I go to are degenerates so if she's getting killed and I'm way up I will put bets down for her to try to keep her in the game, haha.
I had just thrown $500 down on the table asking for chips when he approached me and gave me this sob story begging for $15, so he knew I was good for it. My friend said that I should have told him that I'm down $500 and I need this money to get back to even.
When a seemingly able bodied person who can trot up and down the Strip or the Boardwalk all day long asking for a handout approaches me, the answer is a firm no. I make no excuses or offer no explanation, just the firm no. I don't wait for the spiel. I say no the minute they open their mouth. Harsh? Maybe. Effective? Most definitely. They seldom persist and I believe it has to do with how you carry yourself.
Everytime I see somebody on the roadside holding up their cardboard sign begging for money, well, it makes me wonder just what the hell is wrong with this country?
It would seem we, too, are becoming yet another third world country in serious decline.
I wonder if they have beggars like this in Europe?
There ought to be a law.
Quote: guitarmandp...there's this older lady that's in her mid 40's...
So how old is guitarmandp?
This country has always had its poor...most of them worked though.
I know one man got out of prison, needed money... robbed a convenience store at gun point. A few months later he was more or less "on his feet" and went back to the store with the money. He didn't say he was sorry. He wasn't. He regretted having been unable to do any research and having therefore robbed an oriental owned store. He knows the risks of a gun battle are much greater there. He regretted that. He didn't regret having stolen money when he needed it. He regretted having needed it so bad.
In a casino? Well, I guess on Sundays they use a sign outside a church but on other days of the week, they just go to a casino to annoy people. Casino security should chase these leeches away.
Quote: andyg99I dealt with a panhandler at a $5 blackjack table a few years back... he busted his $20 in about 10 minutes and then flat out said to give him 4 reds and he'll double it for me... I looked at him with that "are you kidding me?" look and then he started to try to get chips from the gal next to him and it looked like she was about to give in... at this point I called over the pit boss and the guy was asked to leave the table.... of course as he was being led away he needed to let me and the gal know "you cost yourself hundreds... I would have made you hundreds!"
That seems to be a bit of a short sell.....why not "thousands" :)
Quote: TomspurThat seems to be a bit of a short sell.....why not "thousands" :)
must have been the alcohol or meth talking.... plus I think his "I'll Make You Thousands" deal would have involved me giving him green chips...
Quote: BuzzardThanks for sharing Teddy. I have know a lot of Mikes in my lifetime. Does not matter how skillful or good at any game they play, poker, pool, golf, or business. They will find a way to self destruct. Let's not leave the ladies out either. Knew a really good wife and mother who go addicted to VP, hiding bills, turn off notices, etc. Lost the car, the house , all but her loyal husband. Last I heard they were sharing a 3 bedroom apartment with her daughter, son-in-law, and 2 grandkids.
Worked with a guy named Ivan. I covered for him on Wednesdays so he could go to GA meetings, which he did attend. For a while. Found out he starting playing poker those nights and that was that. Lost his wife, blew kids college fund, probably dead now. Hell of a nice guy to be honest. Just a victim of his addiction.
Larry S ain't here, but anybody else thinks these people got what they deserve, screw you. Everybody in life needs a fix. Just because your is not destructive, just shut up !
Powerful.
Bah! Driving through parking area and catching people before they leave. I told the guy near me who she also asked that I'd seen her before. He made the same comment about her car I had.
