Street Cred - Homeless-name name dropping

[MetalBryan]

I made the title in the hope it would be respected and not criticized but this is an awkward subject for me so all input is embraced.

Right now, and for the past 8 months, I have been housed and working at a non-profit helping folks get free bicycles. On several occasions, folks come in and at some point in the conversation, they name drop what I assume is their homeless handle. Most describe it as a tool for me to use to learn their good standing. Specifically, they have wanted to use it in place of our standard accountability letter and in one instance, the name drop was a veiled threat.

If you do this, why do you do this? I don't know you, so how can I respect this name? That's really it.... I just want to figure out a way to respect folks who think this is important. I am well within my rights to tell these folks to fuck off, but I don't want to take away what little agency they have. I assume a lot of this is part of the con to get free shit, but is there a way to sift through the BS?

I am trying to help folks down on their luck, but it's a judgement call on my part to separate the folks trying to make their lives better vs the folks that want to pawn a bike for $20. Thank you.

 

[bote]

I'm a little confused. It sounds like you are interviewing people to see whether they deserve a free bike? And then these people are trying to prove to you that they are homeless or in the streets by telling you a name they go by that is not their legal name? If this is correct, I feel like this setup is bound to create tension. If people feel like they are under suspicion, they will often react defensively or lash out. It's good you want to help people, maybe you can find a less head-on way to assess them, for example asking them to do an hour of helping out in exchange for the bike. Sorry if I've misunderstood your question.

 

[Joey Garbanzo]

If pawning a bike for $20 also makes their lives better who are you to judge? Hand out the damn bikes.

I feel like you're taking offense to the streetname thing for no reason. Some people may be wanted, may be running from abuse, dealing with mental health issues, etc... there are a lot of reasons someone may not want to give out their legal or "government name".

You're handing out bicycles, not mortgages. I honestly don't see why this is even an issue to you.

 

[pcflvly]

In a world where a homebum can't get credit anywhere, the only thing they have is dignity and this is usually measured in brotherhood. The life is so hard though that being a good brother is kind of rare and when someone is good, they are known for it. It's to their credit and worth mentioning. A badge of honor. This is actually so valuable that people take advantage of it and that's where you'll hear a lot of this name dropping.

As far as the nonprofit goes, don't buy bikes. Make that a policy to discourage bike theft. However, I'm thinking of a program where a person could bring an old bike, fix it up with help from staff, then sell it on consignment but that doesn't sound like it fits your agency's mission.

 

[Matt Derrick]

so, what im gathering here is someone comes in, mentions their street name and waits for you to be like "oh shit ive heard of you, you're like a super famous street kid" and then they're like "yep, im famous, gimme a bike". that's the impression i got from the OP, they're complaining about entitlement based on their social standing.

i think everyone else here is interpreting this incorrectly, OP can correct me if im wrong, but i believe the above is the scenario here.

If pawning a bike for $20 also makes their lives better who are you to judge? Hand out the damn bikes.

again, i disagree here. it's not like OP has a bunch of free bikes that took little or no effort or cost to attain. im assuming they put work into those bikes, so making sure the person isn't going to get wasted and throw it in the river is a valid thing to worry about.

i've worked for bike programs before, and we never just hand out bikes. that's how they end up in the bottom of a ravine. we'd give people the tools to build their own bike and then the retention rate for that bike is about 100x longer.

 

[MetalBryan]

I appreciate the feedback so far. Thank you.

I guess I should have clarified - I do not have infinite bicycles.
If I give out a bike, sometimes someone else doesn't get one or has to wait.

This has been bothering me lately because our supply has become limited and I turned a couple people away recently. Without elaborating, I made the right call but I also want to make sure I'm not losing my empathy being housed up so long. I do this because I want to help folks who are where I used to be.

I could have been clearer about the name thing... for example, somebody comes into the shop for a bike and doesn't have a letter of good standing. Where it can come from is a pretty long list... I'll even take one not on our approved list like churches, food banks, case workers, even a parole officer, However, to try and get around that requirement some folks say things like "My name is Johnny Beans you can ask about me". I don't have any way of knowing if this is something they expect me to follow through on or what. It's happened several times and I posed the question here to see if this was a common way of "getting a reference". I don't know how to check up on this or even if I should take it seriously.

Thanks again.

 

[Joey Garbanzo]

Thanks for the clarification, this makes it a lot clearer as to the situation. Yes if the idea of the bike handout is that they need a letter vouching for them and they show up without kinda changes things. There isn't much of a way for you to find out except to start asking everyone else about good ol "Johnny Beans" as they come in but with no way to let Mr. Beans know it seems kinda pointless. Maybe redirecting them to a place to get a letter and wishing them all the best might be in order. Good luck.

 

[Jimmy Beans]

Johnny Beans that's my brother, I'll vouch for him.

 

[bote]

I don't know how to check up on this or even if I should take it seriously.

Thanks again.

It sounds hard to check up on yeah, I would just stick with the letter of reference if thats the protocol. But as far as taking a person seriously, a name is just a name, no reason to take Johnny Beans any less seriously than Johnny Benson. You can ask around about one juat as easily as the other, no?

 

[pcflvly]

I'm a full time bicyclist and lived in Silver City last year. There's a great bike co-op there which also has a repair for ownership type of program. Although they don't have a referral system like your program, I would literally send travelers there to drop my name in exchange for services. If I sent them, the director knew that they were of a suitable temperament for having a bike. I would let him know who I was sending too so they could expect to be known.

 

[DreadForest]

I've seen something similar, except that I volunteered at a safe injection site where the rule was the clients had to let us test a teensy amount of their dope to make sure it wouldn't kill them. Once people knew we weren't going to bust them, they'd say things like "this is the same stuff I got yesterday," or "this is Bloody's stuff, you don't need to test it." We still needed to test, even if it was the same dealer's product. How were we supposed to know who stepped on it before he picked it up? People treat it like a brand name and it's just weird.

 

[AyeAaron]

A lot of people on the street are just dumb / immature, I don't mean that as an insult necessarily, more that being dumb can lead to homelessness for obvious reasons...

Anyways, personally I wouldn't look for references, too many will be too embarassed to seek help then. Better I think, to just go off if they show up inebriated / give you some reason to believe they won't appreciate said help.

Its not my money though

 

[AyeAaron]

If pawning a bike for $20 also makes their lives better who are you to judge? Hand out the damn bikes.

I feel like you're taking offense to the streetname thing for no reason. Some people may be wanted, may be running from abuse, dealing with mental health issues, etc... there are a lot of reasons someone may not want to give out their legal or "government name".

You're handing out bicycles, not mortgages. I honestly don't see why this is even an issue to you.

I agree that an alias should be fine for most things, though I don't see an issue with discerning who you want to use limited resources on, OP is more generous than most already.

 

[MetalBryan]

In a world where a homebum can't get credit anywhere, the only thing they have is dignity and this is usually measured in brotherhood. The life is so hard though that being a good brother is kind of rare and when someone is good, they are known for it. It's to their credit and worth mentioning. A badge of honor. This is actually so valuable that people take advantage of it and that's where you'll hear a lot of this name dropping.

This gets right to my question, and it is worded so that it acknowledges the community. The times I've been homeless, my life was devoted to gtfo of that situation and stfu about it aka no community. I gave it a couple days to think of how to write a follow up question to this, but I can't think of anything more specific than where or how do I verify this information?

After verifying that info...

If Johnny Beans (who has provided a reference and is now in good standing) is really a good brother and is known for that, I want to help them improve their life by providing a bicycle. I understand that there are circumstances where folks would take advantage of JB's good name. Do I ask JB to come into the shop every time they want to vouch for someone? To me, that seems like a lot of work to ask of someone in JB's position.

 

[Joey Garbanzo]

Yada...yada...yada "My name is Johnny Beans you can ask about me"...yada...

"You tink youze tuff or sump-tin?!?! I've got a bean pole witch your name all ovah it der TinCanBryan...dat's whatcha get for tryin to be tuff...see who's the friggin tuff guy wit a bean pole in his ass...wait till da Don ears about dis..
Not givin a friggin bike to Johnny Beans...whose dis wize-guy tink he is, you believe dis shit Jimmy?!?!"

Johnny Beans that's my brother, I'll vouch for him.

😝😝😝 I'm kidding of course @MetalBryan

 

[Andrea Van Scoyoc]

so, what im gathering here is someone comes in, mentions their street name and waits for you to be like "oh shit ive heard of you, you're like a super famous street kid" and then they're like "yep, im famous, gimme a bike". that's the impression i got from the OP, they're complaining about entitlement based on their social standing.

i think everyone else here is interpreting this incorrectly, OP can correct me if im wrong, but i believe the above is the scenario here.



again, i disagree here. it's not like OP has a bunch of free bikes that took little or no effort or cost to attain. im assuming they put work into those bikes, so making sure the person isn't going to get wasted and throw it in the river is a valid thing to worry about.

i've worked for bike programs before, and we never just hand out bikes. that's how they end up in the bottom of a ravine. we'd give people the tools to build their own bike and then the retention rate for that bike is about 100x longer.

I'm with Matt.

I don't see the need to jump on this poor guy for asking a simple question.

I don't care what kind of life you've had, you're not entitled to anything.

If that's what people expect, they're out of luck.

If their name is an honorable one and that's all they have, I feel for them. I hope they get help.

I run an Outreach for the needy and the entitled attitudes I run into a lot of times is disgusting.

 

[AyeAaron]

Yeah the sense of entitlement some people have is pretty surreal, working at the welfare office pissed me off for a minute

 

[MetalBryan]

I was talking to a friend yesterday about this and they said that in Japan there is very little crime and it's almost exclusively umbrella and bicycle theft. I guess drunks across the globe love taking bikes for joyrides and dumping them into bodies of water, as @Matt Derrick foretold.

A friendly employee of the city fished this out of a creek this week and donated it to us. We're stripping it for parts because in addition to water damage it's pretty fucked up. Something metal impacted against this bike - a heavy tool or a car.

This isn't the first rusty, broken bike I've received but it's the nicest to date. Today I go into the shop to try to save the derailleurs. The pair retail for about $70 new so if I can make them shiny or at least respectable they will have another shot at life.

For those interested in this post as it relates to street credibility more than bicycles, Tony Hawk's cousin came into the shop this week asking for a free bicycle. He comes in every so often always to ask for free stuff. A couple months ago we told him not to come back to the shop after throwing a tantrum. I call him Tony Hawk's cousin because a couple years ago he told one of our volunteers that's who he was.

This is why Johnny Beans can't just have a free bike without a reference, unfortunately.