My friend and I had our vacation ruined due to dressed up panhandlers

So I met the love of my life 6 years ago and this year we decided to take our first vacation together, to the beautiful city of San Francisco. We saved up and took time off work, and ready to not stress about anything, and focus on each other. The morning of the trip we were so excited, but little did I know that our vacation was going to have a bad start and never get better. <br><br><br>As we were walking to check in, a man approached us. He said “my son is dying of cancer and I need to take him to the hospital but I don’t have any money to take him, can you help me”. I felt bad but I didn’t want to give him money. I told him I can buy him and his son something to eat. He said “no we not hungry, my son needs treatment”. I felt bad so I gave him some money. $100. Then minutes later another man approached us, he was dressed up very nicely, he had a big smile on his face, he said “I just witnessed what you did, I couldn’t help but to notice that you guys are very kind so I want to let you know that I’m in the city visiting my brother who owns a restaurant, and I want to give you a gift card to enjoy lunch or dinner. The food is amazing and the service is top notch”. I was amazed, a stranger who witnessed me being kind is being kind back to me. I took the card, and minutes later another man approached us, I thought it was another person in need of help or maybe someone else who witnessed me being kind. But he said “I couldn’t help but notice that you guys are very kind and I want to let you know that I’m in the city visiting my uncle who owns a restaurant”, I was a little confused because I thought there was a lot of people visiting in San Francisco this day, but he continued “the food is amazing and the service is top notch”. I was like ok that’s weird but I took the card. <br><br><br>Minutes later another man approached us, he said “I couldn’t help but notice that you guys are very kind and I want to let you know that I’m in the city visiting my aunt who owns a restaurant”, I took the card and he was gone. I was like this is weird, then a couple of minutes later another man approached us, he said “I couldn’t help but notice that you guys are very kind and I want to let you know that I’m in the city visiting my friend who owns a restaurant”, I didn’t want to take the card but I did it. Minutes later another man approached us, he said “I couldn’t help but notice that you guys are very kind and I want to let you know that I’m in the city visiting my dad who owns a restaurant”, I was fed up and I told him “I’m sorry but you’re the fifth person who told me that today, they all said the same thing, so I don’t believe you”, he said “yes I’m in the city visiting my dad and I want to give you a gift card”. I told him no, and then I dressed him down. I said “listen, you don’t have to lie to get a gift card, if you want to give us a gift card just say so”. He took off running like the road runner, I said to my friend “wow what a weird day it has been already”, and she said “yeah we already had 6 people approach us with the same thing, and you stood up to him”.<br><br><br>We were dressed down so we thought that maybe we looked like homeless people or panhandlers so we thought maybe if dressed up nice we won’t be bothered. So we went to the mall to buy some clothes, and as we were walking around the mall, we were approached by another man with the same pitch “I’m visiting my family in the city and I want to let you know that my cousin owns a restaurant”, I said to him “wow, you’re the 7th person who told me that”, the other people in the mall started to stare at us, and this man got really mad, his facial expression turned into a mean look and dressed me down. <br><br><br>He said “listen you dumb ass bitch, if you don’t want a gift card I’ll give you something else”. He tried to punch me but my friend saved me. The security came and took him away but we were still in shock. We were so scared and we didn’t know what to do. We thought that we were in danger, so we decided to go to the police and report it. <br><br><br>When we got to the police station, we explained the whole situation to the officer. The officer asked us to show him the gift cards, so we did. And to our surprise, there were 7 different gift cards. 4 of them were the same, 2 were different, and one was a fake gift card. We asked the officer what to do, he said “cancel the cards”, we said “we don’t know if they are real or not”, he said “I don’t care if they are real or not, it’s not the police’s job to figure out if they are real or not”. <br><br><br>But one of the officers approached us and said “I think I can help you figure out what’s going on here”. We asked “officer, what’s going on”, he said “the men you described sound like some dressed up panhandlers and I’ve heard stories about them before”. I asked “panhandlers? The first one looked like a panhandler but the rest were dressed up very nicely”. He said “I know, that’s what I mean, they were dressed up”, my friend asked “officer, what should we do”. He said “I’ll meet you outside and I’ll dressed you down”. <br><br><br>So we went outside and he said “I don’t want to offend you or get too personal, but I want to let you know that these panhandlers are attracted to people who are dressed in trashy clothes, so if you don’t want to be bothered, I suggest you dress up and don’t look like homeless people”. I asked “officer, isn’t that illegal”, he said “yes, but I’m not gonna arrest you, but dressed nicely so you don’t look homeless”. My friend told the officer that we were dressed up and still got bothered. He looked at us and he said “you guys look nice, but just be careful”. We thanked him and left. <br><br><br>We decided to go to the hotel, get some rest, and try our luck again the next day. But the next day was worse than the first day. As we were walking to the store, 10 miners approached us. One by one, they approached us, some with the same pitch “I’m visiting my family in the city and my brother owns a restaurant”, some with different pitches, “my mom is sick, I don’t have any money”, “I’m a college student, I need money to buy books”, “I lost my job, I need money to feed my kids”. We didn’t give them anything, and we didn’t take the gift cards. We were scared to take the gift cards because the last time we took them, we got dressed down by a man in the mall. <br><br><br>After a while, we decided to go back to the hotel. We were tired, fed up, and scared. We didn’t want to go out anymore. But at night, we decided to go for a walk. We thought that we wouldn’t be bothered at night, but minutes after we walked out, a man approached us. He said “I’m homeless, I don’t have any money, I’m hungry, can you buy me something to eat”. He approached us politely, we felt bad for him, so I took him to Subway to get him a sandwich. When we were walking out, I told him “here’s your sandwich, be safe and stay warm”, he said “thank you so much, I will”. And I was like wow, we finally met a homeless person who is polite. <br><br><br>But then another man approached us, he said “I’m hungry, I don’t have any money, can you buy me something to eat”, I said “yes, of course”. I took him to get some food, and when I gave him the food, I told him “here’s your food, be safe and stay warm”, he said “thank you so much, I will”. And minutes later another man approached us, he said “I’m homeless, I don’t have any money, I’m hungry, can you buy me something to eat”, I said “yes, of course”. I took him to get some food, when I gave him the food, I told him “here’s your food, be safe and stay warm”, he said “thank you so much, I will”. <br><br><br>We didn’t have any money left, but the homeless people didn’t stop approaching us. We told them “we don’t have any money”, they said “ok, thank you”. And they were gone. Then minutes later a man approached us, he said “I’m homeless, I have $100, but I need help, I want to buy some chicken but I don’t have id so can you buy the chicken for me”. I said “yes, of course”, I took him to Popeyes, he gave me the $100, and I bought the chicken for him. When I gave him the chicken, I told him “here’s your chicken, be safe and stay warm”, he said “thank you so much, I will”. <br><br><br>And minutes later another man approached us, he said “I’m homeless, I have $100, but I need help, I want to buy some chicken but I don’t have id so can you buy the