The KFC Panhandler Hustle

I have got to give it to the man in the foreground of this picture.

I was sitting in KFC last week. An old lady came around and asked me to give her a few dollars so she could get her something to eat.

My typical strategy is to tell a panhandler "No" but then to sit back and observe them. If they check out I will give them some money.

After oberving the guy in the picture I am now forced to update my practices.

The woman came over to the table where he and his wife were eating and asked them for money to get something to eat. He stood up and said "I will walk over to the counter with you and purchase you one chicken dinner for you to eat. Let's go".

The woman seemingly agreed to the deal. Then she put her back on the table and shuffled around in her bag.

She then walked the other way, out of the building. Along the way out she said "I am a grandmother and I need the money because I have a house full of kids to feed. I was going to cook a big pot of spaghetti. They would eat through that little bit of chicken. That won't do anything for me. I need the money." She then walked out of the door.

I gotta give props to this man. He smoked her out.

She clearly wanted the money to go into the liquior store that was a few stores up from the KFC.

I can think of no logical scenario in which an adult with a house full of kids that she needs to feed would REJECT a portion of food. In fact if her story was straight she would have asked him to "upsize" it to a "chicken only" purchase so she could share it amongst more people.

Clearly she wanted the money more than she wanted food.