New meaning to an age old saying

Washington DC is full of "less fortunates." They sleep on street vents, live in park bushes, and sit at corners. I tend to have more respect for those who play an instrument, or like my favorite, the guy who sets up a little shop every morning of salvaged 1994 People magazines, a ceramic Mary figurine, and old paperback novels. At least he's trying to earn his money.

Several times I've seen these beggars turn their noses up to something that was handed to them. And they rarely say, "Thank you." I don't get that. Yesterday I was walking through Georgetown, and I saw a woman hand her leftover take-out to a homeless woman. The homeless woman didn't look up. She didn't say thank you. She slowly opened the box and looked at it and then closed it back up again (all the while the woman who gave it to her was still standing there, waiting for the cross signal). Then she yelled across a busy street to another bum who was sitting outside of Banana Republic, "HEY! Do you like sandwhiches?!"

The other bum didn't hear her, but it got me wondering if these beggars have a system set up where they indeed can be choosers.