A compromise in panhandling

Instead of giving a man a fish, why not fish for him?

Last Thursday, I was walking from Chipotle back to the Tribune with my colleagues, and we passed a rather ragged-looking man wearing cheap headphones and playing the sax. I can only assume he was hoping for donations, the playing was pretty bad. It sounded like he was just moving his fingers up and down the sax while blowing. Even a 9-year-old can play a C major scale.

So I got to thinking: would I be able to earn more money than him while playing for the same amount of time? I could do it over my lunch hour near the Tribune Building. I don't think I'm a world-class musician by any means (mostly due to my lack of practice), but I consider myself to be a pretty decent instrumentalist. So surely people would be more likely to give me money. However, I don't really look like I need the money. I generally show up to work with a decent shirt and decent pants, which would certainly make people not as willing to give me money.

Apparently the Washington Post ran an experiment of a similar nature a couple weeks ago. They took a world-famous violinist and put him in the middle of the D.C. subway system, where he played his world-famous violin to the tune of some of the most famous songs in history. The end result is that he hardly made any money, and only a handful of people even stopped to listen.

It makes sense, as most people just try hard not to look at the performer as they walk by. But it goes against what I've heard people say. Perhaps I'm just asking the wrong questions, but most people have indicated that they'd be more inclined to give money to somebody performing something worthwhile rather than somebody doing very little. Maybe both sides are correct, as I didn't really ask how likely they were to give money in the first place.

I've heard some pretty diverse opinions. One friend mentioned that many people play on the streets for pleasure, not because they're hard up for money. I have to admit I've seen a couple skinny white kids playing their guitar on the street for money, and I kinda scoffed at the notion of giving somebody money who didn't really look like they needed it (as an aside, I didn't think they were that good...I've given money to people who entertain me).

Certainly, the best way to get people to give you money is to play things that capture their attention. It's like a parade, you only get to hear the band for a few seconds, because they're walking away while you're standing still. I think if I got a 3-piece cover band together, and played some popular stuff, I could get the homeless a fair bit of fish.