I realise calling a person standing on a street corner with a cardboard sign begging for money a "bum" is politically incorrect, and I would normally choose the more acceptable term "homeless", but in this case, I think the guy I see on the way to work each morning isn't homeless, but just a bum.

Why would I say that? Let me tell you. Homeless people tend to bring their stuff with them where ever they go. They can't help it. They've got no place to stash it. So why does this guy have different clothes each day, but no apparent wardrobe on wheels? Maybe he does have someplace safe, so that's not enough reason to dismiss him.

My second indicator was the bottle of water, Tim's coffee, and pack of smokes hidden from view under a toque behind the light post upon which he leaned. I guess he only was concerned with his "customers" not seeing them, which was the only direction of traffic at which he ever waved his sign. I suppose the bottle of water could have been pulled from a recycle bin and filled from a fountain, and maybe the Tim's cup was for change, but the smokes? If you've got no money and can't afford to eat, why spend your begged cash on cigarettes? Even if this was the case, I certainly don't want to support someone else's smoking habit.

Finally, I've seen half a dozen different bodies using this particular corner looking for donations. From teens, to a guy in a wheelchair (who could get up and walk around). How do they decide who's turn it is? I wondered about that as today I drove past and a new guy was holding the sign, and down the street I spotted the usual guy walking to his post. Would the new guy just relinquish the position? Perhaps they came up with a schedule. Hence my title, "Bum Time Share".

This was rampant in Toronto.. when I first moved there, I gave quite a lot of money out.. over time I became cynical as I noticed little things (such as designer watches under his shirt cuff --> sure it coulda been a rip-off, but why would he waste his money on a watch).. then that story came out about one woman whom I passed frequently that lived in the Rosedale-portion of TO (that was a WAAAY richer neighbourhood than I could afford to live in at the time).  Her husband was a surgeon or something but made 6-figures a year and she was bored and would ply he "trade" as a homeless person to a whopping $30g's a year (and this was in all the TO papers around 8-10 years ago, not from some fabled "car magazine"   In any case, before i became as cynical as I am now, I began offering to provide food (an apple I brought in to work, occasionally some McDonalds I was bringing home for dinner) and even offered a couple guys a pair of shoes or a sweater (which I would have to bring back the following day)... in almost EVERY case my offer on all things non-monetary received very poor acceptance rates.  I'm offering you food - if you're truly homeless, isn't an apple (or even a Big Mac) high on your priority list?  
Whatever.. I've become convinced that a large portion of the "homeless" population are not, they are just too lazy to hold a real job.. the same article that exposed the woman whose husband made 6-figures indicated that at one of the major intersections downtown, the average beggar could make between $7-$15 and hour.. not bad if you truly don't have to pay rent that would work out to more than I was earning back in TO!!   There are very few beggars I will acknowledge any longer, but when I do, I'm still more inclined to offer them a meal... "would you like me to run in to Subway and buy you a 6-inch sub?" - the last time I offered this, the guy TOLD me I should have offered him a footlong.. I shook my head and apologized for wasting his time and walked away (to a string of curses).