9 October 2010

Has anyone noticed the Flock of Sea Gulls in Civic?

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Has any one noticed the flock of sea gulls in civic? These scavenging Gulls come in the form of full time change scabbing. With the full bevy of pitches under their wings…

    — Can I Borrow some change for the bus?
    — Kind sir/madam can you spare some change so that I can get some lunch?
    — Would you spare some change so that I can get to the Doctors?

It has gone so far that a lady with a pram with a blanket draped over the pram concealing the baby inside and out of the elements. She then aproached me and told me That she had some money in her account $20 or $25 from memory (as if telling me that she had some money incresed her chances of me giving) and that she and the baby were going to in a hostel and how she needed some money to get there and to feed her child. As I started to some what feel her and the situation that she and her child were in a big gust of wind picked up and the blanket went flying. What do you know there was no baby. Another great sales pitch was revealed to me.

After I have been hit up day after day for change by the same people I can not help relate to people as a pesky scavenging bird . As I believe that the majority of the Gulls/people are more than likley on some kind of Government Benifit and have blown all there money for the fortnight in a day or to on what? is anyones guess?.

I am not cold hearted for refusing to give the 15 cents that I have in my pocket. As I am a keen contributor to the Red Cross and the Smith Family giving what I can when I can.

I know that there are deep and underlying issues and problems that these people have and this post is doing nothing to bring up any of the problems at hand that are driving people to these extremes.

But for the love of a God please stop asking me for money it was a no yesterday and a no today guess what the answer will be tomorrow?

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colourful sydney racing identity3:19 pm 15 Oct 10

djk said :

A flock of seagulls?

Did you run?

I did. I ran so far away, but couldn’t get away.

Dammit I only came to this thread to do a Flock of Seagulls joke…

Me too. Well and truly beaten to the punch.

Oh, by the way OP – get over it.

Eyeball In A Quart Jar Of Snot said :

They’ve always been in the ‘city’.

This is hardly new.

At no point did I say that this was a new practice to hit the streets of canberra City

Clearly stated and to the Point “HAS ANYONE NOTICED”…

Thanks, The cat did it

Woody Mann-Caruso4:06 pm 11 Oct 10

The Harrison Ford technique works well on the hand cream people:

“Can I ask you a qu…”
“F*ck off.”

A few months ago my septuagenarian father tripped on a bit of uneven pavement near the merry go round in Garema place Civic and took a tumble. A couple of indigenous women who are always there asking for change were the first to help him up. He gave them $20 for their trouble. They deserved what they got, most others don’t.

Oh and people, until you’ve lived in Europe for some time, you have no idea of how bad beggers can be.

The cat did it2:12 pm 11 Oct 10

As i understand it, several factories extracting and processing the Dead Sea mud into mineral makeup are operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It’s not internationally recognised Israeli territory, so they’ve got no legal right to do so. Just like the Jewish fundamentalists who are evicting Palestinians from their own land, while the Israeli government looks the other way.

georgesgenitals1:57 pm 11 Oct 10

UrbanAdventure.org said :

Bosworth said :

What is the relationship between mineral makeup sellers and israel/palestine?

They claim the mineral crap comes from the Dead sea. So basically it is just salt.

But it’s entertaining salt, and isn’t that the real truth? The answer is no.

Amanda Hugankis1:19 pm 11 Oct 10

Pitchka said :

Bosworth said :

What is the relationship between mineral makeup sellers and israel/palestine?

The Palestine leader uses products from Mineral Makeup, he swears his skin has never felt smoother.

Baaaaaahahahahahahahaha.

UrbanAdventure.org1:17 pm 11 Oct 10

Bosworth said :

What is the relationship between mineral makeup sellers and israel/palestine?

They claim the mineral crap comes from the Dead sea. So basically it is just salt.

I’ve tried to shut up those Gold people and they dont listen. I simply reply by saying.. Umm look at me, do I even have any jewellery on ?

As for the mineral people – here is my experience from a week ago. I’m was rather pissed off at the time, but walked away laughing.

Them: Can I ask you a question?
Me: I’m allergic to it please leave me alone
Them: How can you be allergic its all natural ?
Me: I’m allergic to zinc oxide
Them: What is zinc oxide ?
Me: Are you kidding me, its probably the main ingredient in your products, its also the main ingredient in sunscreen
Them: But how do you know your allergic to OUR products
Me: Because one of you grabbed me by the hand one day to “try” your product and my hand doubled in size within seconds
Them: Oh ok i’m sorry i’ll leave you alone

5 minutes later when i walked past again

Them: Can I ask you a question ?
Me: Are you retarded i walked past not even 5 minutes ago, leave me alone and stop harrassing me.

Bosworth said :

What is the relationship between mineral makeup sellers and israel/palestine?

The Palestine leader uses products from Mineral Makeup, he swears his skin has never felt smoother.

What is the relationship between mineral makeup sellers and israel/palestine?

georgesgenitals10:25 am 11 Oct 10

Moving back to Barton for work has been great. I’d forgotten just how nice it is not to have to put up with these people and their bullshit stories everytime you walk somewhere in Civic.

My favourties were the ones who’d accost you on the way out of the office, and on the way back, but with 2 different stories. Smooth. In the end I got sick of the one woman who seemed to tell me a different story every time, and I told her to stick with a story, because her credibility was at stake.

The cat did it9:46 am 11 Oct 10

#11= ‘mossad mineral makeup’ – very nice.

Friend of mine shuts them up by telling them (loudly) she would only consider buying their products when Israel stopped colonising the West Bank and ethnically cleansing Palestinians.

Captain RAAF9:30 am 11 Oct 10

I walk through ‘Civicastan’ on the odd occasion, in uniform (jeez I look dead ard’) and the seagulls never bother me, or any of my peers.

Do we not look like charitable souls?

If you are continually being pestered by them I recommend you take a good hard look at yourself because you must look like a soft target. The moment thier precious bottom lip starts to move as they launch into thier speil you should pre-empt them with a loud and clear “F*ck off!”

They’ll leave you alone after a while.

When you see them coming up to you – before they can ask anything ask them :

“Can I borrow a cigarette mate?”

And then start going on about how you only want one and you have no money and they leave you alone.

A flock of seagulls?

Did you run?

I did. I ran so far away, but couldn’t get away.

Dammit I only came to this thread to do a Flock of Seagulls joke…

UrbanAdventure.org7:17 pm 10 Oct 10

Well I’ve brought food and offered it to beggers before, and the genuine ones gretfully take it. But yeah, I’ve had a guy with a mobile phone in his hand ask me for money to use the phone. Not too bright. Still, a few dollars generally won’t be missed.

Those mineral salt make up people annoy me too. I had one ask me:
Can I ask you a question?
I replied “You just did.”
So they asked “Can I ask you another question?”
I replied “You just did.”
Ahh, they got smart. “Can I ask you some more questions?”
So I replied “No, three’s the limit.” Then walked off.

Why would I want to buy some over priced product anyway? I mean I’m not trying to be mean to them, but honestly if their product was well priced and proven to work they would not have to do the hard sell on it.

On the other hand I do feel for the people who sell at those stalls. I once saw a young woman, probably a tourist, selling clothing in one of those stalls. She must have been in her early 20s. She looked really unhappy. I imagine that she must have sold very little that day, and would probably be paid only on comission. Poor woman.

indigoid said :

What’s with the gold buyers everywhere anyway? Was there some law recently removed or adjusted that had been preventing their operation?

Gold is expensive at the moment, makes it a cost effective business to run.

screaming banshee said :

Jethro said :

Or we could show a bit of compassion for the less fortunate.

Offer to buy them lunch next time they ask you for money for food and see what they say.

Why would I do that? They want alcohol or drugs. So would I if I were them.

This is such a put down of sea gulls, have you never read Jonathan Livingston Seagull, written by Richard Bach. If you had, you would realize that not all sea gulls are low life scavenging scum.

I liked the one who rushed up to me and told me she’d had a fight with her boyfriend and needed 10 bucks to put petrol in her car to get away. I told her I’d walk her to the petrol station in Braddon and buy her a jerrycan but she told me that wasn’t good enough. She needed another 10 bucks on top of that to get a taxi to Lyneham because that’s where she’d left her car. Then I noticed the gold chain around her neck and told her it looked like one I used to own before my house was robbed and she ran away. Odd.

The mineral make-up stand people
“Can I ask you a question?”
“‘You just did.”

Amanda Hugankis12:07 am 10 Oct 10

Next time it happens – reach out a hand and touch their face, they’ll slowly disappear from your view. If this doesn’t work, don’t try again, otherwise you could end up floating in a beam of light with this person. Sounds like you have enough on your plate without being stuck in a beam of light, levitating in the interchange … you might miss your bus.

To the one who claimed he had been at the Civic Pool and had his wallet and keys stolen and needed $20 to go and pick up his daughter from school at Yass:

1. dont ask when you have a set of car keys in your hand
2. dont ask when its school holidays
3. why are you asking in Marcus Clarke St (given where the pool is)
4. why havent you asked the cops to help you out, such as calling their counterparts in Yass

Well, it amused me that he was so incompetent.

screaming banshee6:22 pm 09 Oct 10

Jethro said :

Or we could show a bit of compassion for the less fortunate.

Offer to buy them lunch next time they ask you for money for food and see what they say.

Ahhh the mossad mineral makeup sellers. I stumped one the other day. I told her that by offering me the product she was insinuating I had bad skin and that that was an insult. Certainly stopped her.

What’s with the gold buyers everywhere anyway? Was there some law recently removed or adjusted that had been preventing their operation?

Don’t let them venture north of lake Burley Griffin. Simple as that.

You should mention the people from gold buyers and the mineral makeup stands in the canberra centre. Man those people are annoying.

A flock of seagulls?

Did you run?

I did. I ran so far away, but couldn’t get away.

the more you live, the more you love – mebbe the op should adopt this as a motto

Hey AGELESS, you must be either quite young or quite new to Canberra to only have realised this issue now… As Eyeball In A Quart Jar Of Snot has pointed out, this has been going on in some shape or form forever in Canberra.

Your best response is none at all. Just ignore them, don’t make eye contact and keep walking past. They’ll eventually recognise you as someone not worth wasting their time on (assuming they’re not off their face on something and they can actually remember anything at all).

I propose we use the old British system of putting these people on hulks (preferably ones plagued by typhoid and dysentery). A possible location for the hulks is the West Basin of Lake B.G, since I rarely go near there. They could then be transported somewhere like Nauru, which is in desperate need of some more unfortunate souls to lock up.

Or we could show a bit of compassion for the less fortunate.

Either way.

I saw them when I was walking along the avenue, but I never thought I’d meet a girl like you.

Meet a girl like you

Undoubtedly these people will read this post and amend their ways accordingly; Chalk One Up for the Good Guys.

Eyeball In A Quart Jar Of Snot10:51 am 09 Oct 10

They’ve always been in the ‘city’.

This is hardly new.

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