Another photo of the fake Spare Change guy

[mzrowan.livejournal.com]

I took a photo of the fake Spare Change guy at Kendall last night. (For those of you who haven't heard about this before, here's the Boston.com article about it.) I noticed that the photo anomie666 posted here in March isn't available anymore, so I figured I'd post mine.

Needless to say, he wasn't happy I took his photo. He came up and yelled at me, calling me a "skinhead" and saying, "You couldn't even sell yourself, because you're bald!". For the record, while my hair is very short, I am neither bald nor a skinhead, in any sense of the word. ;-) I was a little worried he was going to try to take my phone, but he didn't make any moves to touch me or my stuff.

Please pass this photo along to anyone you know who rides the Red line in Cambridge/Somerville. What do folks think: Is it worth it to email it to the local newspapers or the MBTA? It seems like the Spare Change people are well informed about who he is, so I don't think they really need a photo.

Comments

[ron_newman]

We don't know that he's homeless, and most homeless people don't engage in scams like this.

[adaptively.livejournal.com]

The Globe article refers to him as "an apparent homeless man;" I think, short of actually speaking to him like a human being, that's the closest affirmation we'll get.

The same attitude hits Big Mike (who isn't homeless, but gets the same "ha ha, look at that asshole" treatment) and the guy who used to yell "SPARE CHANGE" in the Common - he's a running joke. It's pretty crappy, either way.