Hey Artist, you got a dollar?

Encountered a new kind of panhandling the other day. Well, new to me anyway.

I was waiting at the St Andrew's cathedral bus stop on my own, when a middle-aged guy approached me.

"Do you know if the 961 goes to Woodlands?"

"I've never taken that bus so I don't know, but there's a route guide for all the buses just over there."

"Ok, thanks."

He doesn't make a move towards the route guides.

Next thing I know, he started chatting up. He seems nice enough so I oblige, but after a while, I start to wonder where this is going. He's clearly not picking me up as I don't get those kind of vibes from him. I'm starting to guess that he wants to ask for some change, when the 961 pulls up and he starts absently patting at his breast pocket.

"Oh dear, I don't have enough change. Do you have a dollar?"

I notice he doesn't take any coins out of his pocket to check. I'm about to say something about this when I spot my own bus pulling up to the bus stop. I decide it's easier to just give him the dollar and zhao.

The word that popped into my head right then was "panhandling". He was tactful, though not subtle. He spoke decent English too, and was comfortable chatting up a stranger. Something tells me he does this a lot. I'll just assume he needs that dollar more than I do.

[The title of this post is a quote from Rent, where a bag lady tries to get a dollar out of the film maker she just verbally thrashed.]