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

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

heh, i realize i was making a rather extreme analogy ;)

but really, i can't say i'd have much to argue if i was screaming at and harassing people on a regular basis (its happened to me as well, i used to work in kendall so was at that T stop often) and someone was just like 'hey, look out for this guy, you probably want to just ignore him.' i mean, the most ridiculous part is that he's yelling at people who don't want to play a part in his scam! he isn't even selling spare change papers - he's saying he is, and then he'll fork over a metro. i don't really consider that 'making ends meet' in a way i want to support.

those people who call up your grandmother and get her bank account numbers are trying to make ends meet to you know, and i don't think it's so reprehensible if i get an email warning me about it.