There is an artistry to panhandling, a rhetoric if you will. Rhetoric is after all the art of using available means of communication to persuade a subject to do what you want them to do, or believe what you want them to believe. I am a rhetorician by inclination and training; furthermore, I practice a sort of post-modern/Sophist rhetoric which (to grossly oversimplify things) sees the language itself, indeed all forms of communication, as simply a tool such as a hammer. Tools are morally neutral, it is only the intent or consequence of the use that has a moral component. Therefore, it is incumbent upon a decent person to have rules about how and when they use tools. For instance, using a hammer to build a house by nailing together timbers it is a “good” and proper usage of the tool, while using that same hammer to crack someone's skull like a walnut is an “evil” or improper usage.
Language is a much more dangerous tool than a hammer, or even a thermo-nuclear missile, yet is often used without regard for the consequences. In most peoples lives this is unlikely to cause problems, but when you are dependent upon the charity of strangers to eat each day it becomes rather important. Our lives have become an ethnographic experiment in chronicling and examining human kindness in post-modern America, and surprisingly enough, I am finding my faith in my fellow Americans growing rather than shrinking.
So, we work by certain rules. First, always be polite and unassuming, wish them a nice day, or god bless, or some other equally courteous and friendly goodbye even if they say no. Try to remain polite and friendly even if they are rude or ignore you. That last is easier said than done, particularly when drunk—yet another good reason to stay sober this time—but you would be surprised at how often someone who has said “NO” or just ignored your existence comes driving up a few minutes later (sometimes as much as an hour later) and gives you either money or food.
Part of the courtesy is tone and body language: not just what you say, but how you say it, the way you stand, and, even more important, maintaining a safe distance—especially when approaching women alone—say ten feet, or approach from the side of their car opposite where they are standing so as not to alarm them or have them feel threatened.
The second rule is, always ask for a specific amount, for a specific purpose. At least in my experience, this results in a higher number of positive responses, and I never ask for more than a dollar. I have found that people will generally give you what they want to give, regardless of what you ask for, and I have received everything from six cents up to twenty dollars by asking for forty-two cents. I have tried other numbers, but for me forty-two seems to work best. Each beggar eventually finds their own style, but forty-two works for quite a few people. I came up with it, but it had been adopted but several others before I left Santa Barbara. I think because there is a story associated with the number, and some humor, but I do not know for sure. I just know that if someone stops and engages with you you need to have a story, be friendly, open, honest, and humble and they will give you something.
The third rule is don't get greedy. Take what you need, share what you have, and when you have enough for the day—Stop! Sometimes we come up with enough for two or three days in a few hours, then we take a couple days off to read, write, talk, hike, work on campsite, etc.
The fourth rule is keep moving. Don't burn out a spot, if businesses ask you to leave, do so immediately. You can always come back later, and you don't want to deal with the police. Often we just walk and ask people we come across. That is what we were doing on the last day of January.
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