I don't know if this started before or after I met @plebpoet irl, but at some point, I started thinking it would be cool to face my social anxiety by interviewing random people about bitcoin, lol.

However, I know how annoying it can be when you just want to go your own way, but you already spot a guy from a distance approaching random people for charity donations or whatever (it’s always about money in the end anyway), and you start wondering how to evade the situation this time. Walk slower until they’re all busy with others? Just say you don’t have time? Walk faster and ignore them? Avoid eye contact?

And if trying to avoid them didn’t work (or if you were in a good mood) and you did end up in a conversation with them, I’m pretty sure they know exactly that they first need to ‘warm you up’ before asking for money—making us feel guilty for ‘wasting their time’ if they we don't, when in reality they wasted ours already.

Anyway, this isn’t meant to turn into a rant about annoying charity workers, so I’ll leave the explanation of why I never got around to interviewing random people at that.

But now to my new idea:

In #883040, I mentioned that I would be much more sympathetic if beggars asked for food or water instead of money because I don’t trust that they are actually poor and homeless. Then I realized it would be interesting to see how they react if you give them food or water instead of money.¹

At the same time, I’ve always wanted to hear these people’s stories. Why are they living on the street (assuming they really are)? How did they end up in this situation? Do they have plans to get out of there? If I give them something to eat and drink, I would feel much more comfortable asking them about it.

The reverse also happened once: I was waiting for my KING Fusion Oreo, and someone who looked homeless was waiting as well. We started talking, and he shared a lot of wild stories, including one about the Falklands Wars where he refused orders to occupy foreign land and, to his surprise, was not punished. After eating his cheeseburgers, he also wanted to buy a KING Fusion, so I offered to get it for him. At first, he thought I just meant that I would order it for him using his own money so he could stay put. When he realized I actually meant I would pay for it (~5€), he was very surprised and thanked me profusely. A human connection was formed ~

We talked some more and even smoked a cigarette outside. When we were done, he thought I would follow him back inside. However, that was my cue to leave, as it had already been almost an hour iirc. He was genuinely sad that I had to go and thanked me again for my time and the ice cream. He also mentioned that not many people would do what I did for him. I replied that there are more people like me out there. As I left, I knew I had gained a new perspective on life and was reminded that random encounters with people can be quite wholesome, so I should be less anxious around them starting now.

So back to my idea: I am planning to prepare some questions and then go out and find someone who seems to live on the streets, give them something to eat and drink and then ask if they have time (they live on the street, they surely have time, right??) for an interview. I could even combine this with telling them about SN and that I would share it on here. Any sats that I would receive would go to them as fiat within the next few days. It might not be much but it's going to be honest work!

What do you think about this idea?

Do you have questions for homeless people?