Forget gangs and drugs, you need to be worried about panhandling

[Ron Obvious]

10. San Francisco's the worst I've seen in the US also.

I love the city but when I was there for a convention some years back, the entire route we walked from the hotel to the Mosconi Centre was quite literally lined with pan-handlers. When eating in a fast-food place, you saw them standing outside looking in, with their noses pressed against the glass, and when someone got up from their table to go the bathroom, someone would dash in from outside and take the leftovers from their table. It felt downright predatory.

I never mind helping anyone out, but a former addict friend of mine rather exposed the panhandling trade to me, and now I'm rather reluctant.

The last time I gave money to a panhandler, it was when an elderly black man came up to me with a huge smile on his face, and said he was starting a new job next week but was temporarily caught short. He handed me a grubby business card that said something like Dr. Levi Weissbaum, MD, urologist.

I realised it was pretty unlikely that this was actually Dr. Levi Weissbaum, urologist, standing in front of me, but I gave him $5 for sheer effrontery and we both had a good laugh over it.