Signers

They are everywhere; at entrances and exits of shopping centers and on street corners and road dividers plying their ruse upon a decent public promising to “work for food” when no one in his or her right mind would want to hire them.

Courtesy: andybraner.typepad.com

(PASO ROBLES, Calif.) - Every Rest Stop seems to have them, men and women holding hand- printed scrap-cardboard signs begging silently for “anything” [preferably cash] for gas, or you name it. Usually, they sit on a bench near restrooms facing the parking spaces.

I’ve seen them for years, so they must be making money. At one, a group was meeting over lunch, sans their signs, as if they were ordinary folk doing what people do at rest stops, but I had the feeling they were talking business, signer-rotation, or how best to improve the take by doing nothing.

None who I’ve seen looked desperate, just lazy and unkempt, except the few who may have been territorial supervisors. Maybe they have a union!

Women most frequently hold the signs asking for gas-money or “anything will help.” At one spot the wife, apparently, was at the entrance to the men’s restroom while her husband sat leaning against the wall playing cards with their [?] three young boys, oblivious to the world, all seemingly fit, The ruse most frequently used is that they ran out of gas and are stranded, as luck would have it, in the area of the Rest Stop. Gas stations are not close by, giving the impression it is the least of their desire.

At another Stop, a young man leaned on his car holding a one-gallon gas can implying a need he could not fill because “I lost my wallet,” which was written on cardboard with a marking pen conveniently at hand. It was Sunday, and I saw two Christian [?] women stop and hand him what I guess was money that was tucked away in the car as they drove on, and he took up his station again as before.

How long he had been there is anyone’s guess, but he seemed in no hurry to buy gas or to leave his post.

My wife defends these beggars against my condemnation of them, as usually is the case when I recognize what she does not.

I’ve seen beggars and sharpies over a long span of life, and I know how they operate. If there are some innocents among them, they must suffer from my disgust with any who, unfortunately, may find themselves in real need.

People truly in need I help, and I think I know the difference between an amateur and the pro: “signers” are pros.

They are everywhere; at entrances and exits of shopping centers and on street corners and road dividers plying their ruse upon a decent public promising to “work for food” when no one in his or her right mind would want to hire them. Some are given hundreds of dollars a day.

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Kenneth G. Ramey was a 79-year old "writer without a Website" who is generating excellent, provocative articles on the subject of religion and world affairs. We are pleased that Ken's "lone wolf" presence as a writer in the world has been replaced by a spot on our team of writers at Salem-News.com. Raised in Minnesota and California during the dark years of the Great American Depression, Ken is well suited to talk about the powerful forces in the world that give all of us hope and tragedy and everything in between. You can write to Ken at: darken1@sbcglobal.net