“Man asking for shoe money?”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Caitlin Faw

“Dear PoPville,

Have you heard any reports of a man around LeDroit Park that will knock on doors, telling the story of how he is homeless and trying to start a job as a dishwasher but keeps missing his start date because he doesn’t have the right shoes?

He has come by our house twice now. The first time was unusual, but a convincing story so we gave him enough money for the shoes. Last night (5 days since the first time) he knocked with the same story, but remembering that he had come by on Sunday already. We offered to go buy the shoes and have them here for him, but he immediately backed down saying it was “his responsibility”. We awkwardly gave him $5 and are worried he will keep targeting our house.

Has anyone experienced this and/or have advice? We thought about buying the shoes anyway to have them here for next time.”