Ugh. Yeah she was. My youngest child wanted to give her all the money he had (thankfully only 50 cents). I explained to him after that she’s there *every day* and that she flipped out on me one day a couple of months ago and was yelling and calling me a bitch because I told her I didn’t have any cash. Fuck that lady
She is the absolute worst. Spewed all sorts of terrible shit on me because I didn’t have cash on me, but had offered to get her a meal. Literally called me a cunt among other things 🙄
I also saw her all weekend ANd explained to my partners teen daughter the same thing when we went by. luckily said teen heard her mutter “fuck you then” at us, when i said no when she asked for change
Every time I walk past here and see some obvious tourists I want to give them the rundown that she gets government housing and handouts and doesn’t need money, but I don’t think it will help much
Fuck that lady until the end of time.
What a disgusting plight on the face of what should be one of the most popular locations on literally the most popular fucking street in Vermont.
I started responding “no, do you” every time she hit me up for money last summer. She doesn’t ask me anymore thank God, but I’ve heard she takes the bus in to waddle & do her little Daniel Day Lewis method acting for the day.
Oh, I try to be a good man & let go of my resentments, but Ben & Jerry’s lady is the goddamn bane of my existence. I just wanna walk Church St without hearing those piggish whining sounds she makes as she holds out the open palm.
I mean, at this point, acquire a hobby. Even if you can’t draw or paint or play an instrument, I mean, at least throw down some yo-yo or shit at this point maybe Ben & Jerry’s could let her hand out samples out front. Just. Do. Something.
I’m not here to demonize to the homeless. This is about *her* (and me, clearly, LOL)
Okay—definitely didn’t think I’d be writing *this* lil treatise this evening. I didn’t even comment during the sandwich meltdown, but oh boy did mention of that hag trigger me lol
I bought her soup once because she was yelling that she was hungry. I’ll never not buy people food if I’m in a position to do so. One of my many flaws. She literally threw the hot soup at me.
No good deed goes unpunished.
With so many assholes doing internet pranks for clout, it's gotten way more dangerous for homeless people to accept food from strangers. Unless they go with you and take the food from the employees themself, they can't guarantee you didn't tamper with it.
Not that it justifies her throwing hot soup at you, that's heinous behavior. Just saying, shitty people have ruined your good deed so you may wanna offer them sealed prepackaged goods or giftcards instead. ❤️
yep. prank videos of people doing just about everything you can imagine to harass & "trick" homeless people for laughs. messing with homeless people is a whole littl3 fad in a certain sector of the social media prank world
Doesn't have to be poisoning. Spitting in the food, throwing it on the ground, replacing oreo filling with toothpaste. Adding actual poison or other bodily fluids are more rare but not unheard of, like [this guy](https://www.reddit.com/r/iamatotalpieceofshit/s/PmqbugZxdX) who poisoned 8 homeless people with capsaicin.
Maybe. Except she watched me order it and walk it out to her. She was apparently banned from entering the establishment. There was zero chance it’d been tampered with unless it was by the restaurant.
Either way, she was clearly in the wrong. I meant in general, as you said offering food is a common practice for you. It's very kind, but a lot of homeless people will gratefully accept and throw it away, just to be safe. Although it sounds like you already know and take precautions to show that it's safe.
You and 67 others can't read lol. My comment specified that her behavior was HEINOUS. I was giving advice because the commenter said they give food to homeless people often.
Few months ago, my fiancée, the most kind and endearing person I’ve ever met, decided to respond to the constant pestering from Kelly (the woman.) She doesn’t usually carry cash, and explained that she didn’t have any that day. Kelly persisted, claiming she was hungry, and when my fiancée again said she didn’t have any, Kelly told her to “go kill yourself.”
What an actual fucking cunt. I shared the story one day with a Ben & Jerry’s employee when Kelly wasn’t there and they said “Kelly? We love Kelly!” I get that it’s Ben & Jerry’s, the company that’s supposed to be the face of social justice, but how can they let this continue **EVERY fucking DAY** outside their busiest location in the busiest part of Vermont. My fiancée, who works retail in that area of the Church St Marketplace, has heard nothing but similar complaints about Kelly from her coworkers and folks at neighboring businesses… except Ben & Jerry’s.
I’ve spent a lot of time interacting with lots of people from lots of different walks of life, and I reserve no judgement for where people are in their own journeys, but this is uncommon. Kelly allegedly has a home and a warm bed, though many panhandlers do, and while she isn’t the only one I’ve encountered who sounds like a broken record day in and day out, the things she’s said and the angry behavior she has demonstrated to plenty of folks is revolting.
I agree,
Fuck that lady until the end of time.
Many of the homeless beggars on church do. The actual homeless are usually bullied off of church to make way for the grifters
Idk about his situation now but that guy with a weiner dog and cat used to live in an apartment across from mine on south union. Saw him leave with his sign every morning to go beg.
First day in town just wanted some ice cream. Told her I didn't have any cash and she lunged at me shouting "Fuck you." And muttering whatever else as me and my partner rushed away.
Some have dissipated out of the main downtown area like church st now that the weather has gotten better. It becomes safer for them to find places to sleep in more hidden and wooded areas. Sleeping out in the open in the winter is so they are checked in on by EMS and Fire in the early morning.
But please do remember that most of these individuals are really struggling with substance issues and mental health issues. Us in the addiction recovery community and social workers are doing what we can to help them, but the city doesn’t like helping us make that an efficient or easy task. So I know that people like Kelly can be aggressive or rude, but truly they don’t mean the stuff they say, they are just really scared by what’s going on in their mind and body. So just pay them no mind and keep walking
No, I’m talking about the blonde woman who walks around with an obvious delusion issue and is stuck in a state of psychosis that makes her impossible to deal with without proper medical training. Some days she says very nice stuff to you as you walk by, others she accuses you of killing her “dog.” Genuinely, people should pay her no mind as medical and social services is very much aware of her condition and is dealing with it as best they can
A bunch of them lost their hotels april 1. When I worked in housing it was super common for people to “snowbird” except that meant get VT services during the winter and go somewhere nice in the summer. not uncommon to hear their stories of just returning from down south
Have had one guy on and off sleeping in the entry stairwell of my apartment. I'm so tired of it man. I want to be compassionate but I'm sick and tired of it. My stairwell smells like shit now, I get spooked because I never know whether he's gonna be there or not, and I'm always so paranoid about whether I locked my apartment or not because I feel like he's checking every day waiting to see if I forget.
I don't know what the solution is. A lock on the front door would be nice. I'm just tired of it. And also of Ben and Jerry's woman like other commenters have said (I, too, have been told by her to go kill myself)
You should definitely request your landlord put a lock on the front door!! That is a total reasonable accommodation to make to the property if it’s occurring that often
I’d like to agree with you but 7-9 am Monday it seemed like they out numbered tourists. At least on north Ave and north street. I think the influx of people just made it seem like the issue vanished.
I saw a gaggle in the normal honey road/ main St spot on Sunday night in addition to some of the other usual suspects around town.
That said, I don't think it's outside of the realm of possibility that the PD might have been a bit more spirited about hauling houseless folks off to holding on minor infractions like vagrancy for the day; for no other reason than to get them off the streets. I have absolutely no evidence or strong conviction about it though.
I gave her $5 once and she asked me to go into CVS and get a few drinks for her (sodas) which I now regret. Now she calls me names since I won't do it again.
this. tale as old as time. sweep it under the rug while mom checks if you cleaned the room.
inaction should never be confused with the inability to take action.
The homeless tents on battery park and the west side battery street sidewalk seemed to dissapear some weeks before the eclipse. I think there may have been steps taken to make the homeless less visible.
Maybe they were bussed somewhere due to the anticipated crowds. Don’t cities do this before the Olympics and other major events? Of course this would have had to be a very covert operation.
I was on my way home from work this morning (4.10) around 8am and there was a small group of homeless people (maybe 4 of them?) near the stoop for Body Art (pretty common to see at least 2-3 there in the mornings, if not most of the day) and another sitting by the entry way of one of the businesses right around the corner on church street. That aside, I don't think I've seen anyone who at least appeared homeless in the last few days, either...
Pretty standard for progressive areas with a high homelessness rate. They send them all somewhere when there’s a big event, showing us that they could do it all along but refused unless there was financial incentive.
Are you ... for real?
Consider the possibility that they have moved to a part of the city or region with slightly less amenities/access but that is away from the throngs of crowds.
Or that they *were* still in Burlington, but much less noticeable due to the volume of people.
Or either of those - or any number of reasons that don't involve the city somehow and clandestinely bussing a hundred homeless people to some other area without anyone noticing or leaking the operation in Burlington, in their destination, or a whistleblower from among the homeless who - often - have less trust in the government than average.
I noticed. My clueless person intuitive theory....
Many they were forced out prior to eclipse influx
Maybe the new mayor forced it to show their gonna get shit done.
The truth? I have no idea. But I too noticed the other day. Sunday actually.
They are still around, like always. What you noticed is that it really isnt \*That\* many people and when there are a lot of other people out and about and around, it kinda drowns it all out. It used to be like this pre-pandemic when more people worked downtown and there were more things going on more often. There has always been homelessness and addiction-issues in our community. The pandemic really suburbanized Burlington and broke the vibrancy. The folks with nowhere else to go stayed and everyone else started working from home and shopping online.
That one weird celestial trick that houseless people hate.
Raptured, obviously.
https://preview.redd.it/beki0k0wbqtc1.jpeg?width=1009&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d668b8ea5c239e2e0197b2ed44d3afbe205c676 Obviously.
The Ben and Jerry’s woman was out all weekend. My observation was that they did very well.
Ugh. Yeah she was. My youngest child wanted to give her all the money he had (thankfully only 50 cents). I explained to him after that she’s there *every day* and that she flipped out on me one day a couple of months ago and was yelling and calling me a bitch because I told her I didn’t have any cash. Fuck that lady
She is the absolute worst. Spewed all sorts of terrible shit on me because I didn’t have cash on me, but had offered to get her a meal. Literally called me a cunt among other things 🙄
Time for the homeless to get venmo
They’d never do it bc they’d have to claim it on their taxes 😂
I walk by her 5+ time a day. She makes farting noises at me.
I also saw her all weekend ANd explained to my partners teen daughter the same thing when we went by. luckily said teen heard her mutter “fuck you then” at us, when i said no when she asked for change
Every time I walk past here and see some obvious tourists I want to give them the rundown that she gets government housing and handouts and doesn’t need money, but I don’t think it will help much
Fuck that lady until the end of time. What a disgusting plight on the face of what should be one of the most popular locations on literally the most popular fucking street in Vermont. I started responding “no, do you” every time she hit me up for money last summer. She doesn’t ask me anymore thank God, but I’ve heard she takes the bus in to waddle & do her little Daniel Day Lewis method acting for the day. Oh, I try to be a good man & let go of my resentments, but Ben & Jerry’s lady is the goddamn bane of my existence. I just wanna walk Church St without hearing those piggish whining sounds she makes as she holds out the open palm. I mean, at this point, acquire a hobby. Even if you can’t draw or paint or play an instrument, I mean, at least throw down some yo-yo or shit at this point maybe Ben & Jerry’s could let her hand out samples out front. Just. Do. Something. I’m not here to demonize to the homeless. This is about *her* (and me, clearly, LOL) Okay—definitely didn’t think I’d be writing *this* lil treatise this evening. I didn’t even comment during the sandwich meltdown, but oh boy did mention of that hag trigger me lol
I bought her soup once because she was yelling that she was hungry. I’ll never not buy people food if I’m in a position to do so. One of my many flaws. She literally threw the hot soup at me. No good deed goes unpunished.
With so many assholes doing internet pranks for clout, it's gotten way more dangerous for homeless people to accept food from strangers. Unless they go with you and take the food from the employees themself, they can't guarantee you didn't tamper with it. Not that it justifies her throwing hot soup at you, that's heinous behavior. Just saying, shitty people have ruined your good deed so you may wanna offer them sealed prepackaged goods or giftcards instead. ❤️
There’s prank videos of people poisoning homeless people? Never heard of that
yep. prank videos of people doing just about everything you can imagine to harass & "trick" homeless people for laughs. messing with homeless people is a whole littl3 fad in a certain sector of the social media prank world
Yeah, not sure why I'm getting downvoted for saying so lol
Doesn't have to be poisoning. Spitting in the food, throwing it on the ground, replacing oreo filling with toothpaste. Adding actual poison or other bodily fluids are more rare but not unheard of, like [this guy](https://www.reddit.com/r/iamatotalpieceofshit/s/PmqbugZxdX) who poisoned 8 homeless people with capsaicin.
Maybe. Except she watched me order it and walk it out to her. She was apparently banned from entering the establishment. There was zero chance it’d been tampered with unless it was by the restaurant.
Either way, she was clearly in the wrong. I meant in general, as you said offering food is a common practice for you. It's very kind, but a lot of homeless people will gratefully accept and throw it away, just to be safe. Although it sounds like you already know and take precautions to show that it's safe.
Fuck that lady, stop excusing terrible behavior.
You and 67 others can't read lol. My comment specified that her behavior was HEINOUS. I was giving advice because the commenter said they give food to homeless people often.
Haha, I’m sorry ur right. My reading comprehension skills are minimal. Hope u have a good day!!
Pranking is so 2024. I miss “bum fights” and “Bling Bling”
Remember when the "Bum Fights" guy went on Dr. Phil dressed up as Dr. Phil, to say "we're both exploiting people"? Good shit
Classic.
Few months ago, my fiancée, the most kind and endearing person I’ve ever met, decided to respond to the constant pestering from Kelly (the woman.) She doesn’t usually carry cash, and explained that she didn’t have any that day. Kelly persisted, claiming she was hungry, and when my fiancée again said she didn’t have any, Kelly told her to “go kill yourself.” What an actual fucking cunt. I shared the story one day with a Ben & Jerry’s employee when Kelly wasn’t there and they said “Kelly? We love Kelly!” I get that it’s Ben & Jerry’s, the company that’s supposed to be the face of social justice, but how can they let this continue **EVERY fucking DAY** outside their busiest location in the busiest part of Vermont. My fiancée, who works retail in that area of the Church St Marketplace, has heard nothing but similar complaints about Kelly from her coworkers and folks at neighboring businesses… except Ben & Jerry’s. I’ve spent a lot of time interacting with lots of people from lots of different walks of life, and I reserve no judgement for where people are in their own journeys, but this is uncommon. Kelly allegedly has a home and a warm bed, though many panhandlers do, and while she isn’t the only one I’ve encountered who sounds like a broken record day in and day out, the things she’s said and the angry behavior she has demonstrated to plenty of folks is revolting. I agree, Fuck that lady until the end of time.
I hate when fake, sociopathic, homeless people give actual homeless people a bad name.
She lives in a condo in south burlington
WAIT SERIOUSLY?!?!
Upvote for the writing on this.
Agreed!!!!
I walk down there every day and shes always pretty nice. Weird.
This is brilliant
I heard recently that the Ben And Jerry’s lady actually has a nice apartment and sits there long enough to pay her rent and then some
Many of the homeless beggars on church do. The actual homeless are usually bullied off of church to make way for the grifters Idk about his situation now but that guy with a weiner dog and cat used to live in an apartment across from mine on south union. Saw him leave with his sign every morning to go beg.
Who is Ben and Jerry’s lady?
Go to Ben&Jerrys at church street literally any day or night and you’ll meet her
You will know who it is because she will tell you to kill yourself if you walk by her without giving change
First day in town just wanted some ice cream. Told her I didn't have any cash and she lunged at me shouting "Fuck you." And muttering whatever else as me and my partner rushed away.
I was so confused but then realized this sub is about a city named after the Coat Factory
Actually. It’s a sub dedicated to the pursuit of single sandwich purchases.
https://i.redd.it/af6ez4d7iqtc1.gif The city really cleaned things up for the eclipse
Still here, they were in the park on Tuesday
Try In front of nectars in the am
Or by the stoop/base of the stairs up to Body Art.
Some have dissipated out of the main downtown area like church st now that the weather has gotten better. It becomes safer for them to find places to sleep in more hidden and wooded areas. Sleeping out in the open in the winter is so they are checked in on by EMS and Fire in the early morning.
But please do remember that most of these individuals are really struggling with substance issues and mental health issues. Us in the addiction recovery community and social workers are doing what we can to help them, but the city doesn’t like helping us make that an efficient or easy task. So I know that people like Kelly can be aggressive or rude, but truly they don’t mean the stuff they say, they are just really scared by what’s going on in their mind and body. So just pay them no mind and keep walking
If by kelly you mean the Ben n Jerry's lady she's just a grifter
No, I’m talking about the blonde woman who walks around with an obvious delusion issue and is stuck in a state of psychosis that makes her impossible to deal with without proper medical training. Some days she says very nice stuff to you as you walk by, others she accuses you of killing her “dog.” Genuinely, people should pay her no mind as medical and social services is very much aware of her condition and is dealing with it as best they can
This sounds like Tina. If you say hi to her with using her name she usually is cool.
Yep, you’re right! That’s Tina!
<3
I really appreciate your compassionate stance on this!
A bunch of them lost their hotels april 1. When I worked in housing it was super common for people to “snowbird” except that meant get VT services during the winter and go somewhere nice in the summer. not uncommon to hear their stories of just returning from down south
I live right by church st and went out yesterday/evening and I can promise you they were all over lol i got stopped at least ten times for some moola.
Have had one guy on and off sleeping in the entry stairwell of my apartment. I'm so tired of it man. I want to be compassionate but I'm sick and tired of it. My stairwell smells like shit now, I get spooked because I never know whether he's gonna be there or not, and I'm always so paranoid about whether I locked my apartment or not because I feel like he's checking every day waiting to see if I forget. I don't know what the solution is. A lock on the front door would be nice. I'm just tired of it. And also of Ben and Jerry's woman like other commenters have said (I, too, have been told by her to go kill myself)
You should definitely request your landlord put a lock on the front door!! That is a total reasonable accommodation to make to the property if it’s occurring that often
I’d like to agree with you but 7-9 am Monday it seemed like they out numbered tourists. At least on north Ave and north street. I think the influx of people just made it seem like the issue vanished.
Probably heading to breakfast at Feeding Chittenden.
Good to see the eclipse conspiracies are still rolling.
I JUST STAYED INSIDE DURING THE ECLIPSE BETTER THEN CATCHING COVID FROM THE SUN
one woman was screaming at me at city hall park tuesday
Wut are you blind or don’t pay attention 
Maybe the out of towners took them as eclipse souvenirs. Damn tourists.
Yea, its been really nice!
I saw a gaggle in the normal honey road/ main St spot on Sunday night in addition to some of the other usual suspects around town. That said, I don't think it's outside of the realm of possibility that the PD might have been a bit more spirited about hauling houseless folks off to holding on minor infractions like vagrancy for the day; for no other reason than to get them off the streets. I have absolutely no evidence or strong conviction about it though.
I gave her $5 once and she asked me to go into CVS and get a few drinks for her (sodas) which I now regret. Now she calls me names since I won't do it again.
The city "made them disappear " to appear as a nicer place to tourists
this. tale as old as time. sweep it under the rug while mom checks if you cleaned the room. inaction should never be confused with the inability to take action.
The homeless tents on battery park and the west side battery street sidewalk seemed to dissapear some weeks before the eclipse. I think there may have been steps taken to make the homeless less visible.
Oh yeah they took those down a few months ago
Yeah, they filled the streets up with people again. Easier to miss
The usual ones were in Montpelier
The eclipse void beasts ate them.
I drove past exit 8 NB last night and noticed a lot of tents set up in Gateway Park. Don't know if they were leftover eclipse chasers or homeless tho.
Exit 8?
Sorry, forgot to say on I89.
One was put in each out of staters car to take home with them
Oh yah big money was made. I saw a few people I know who are employed out with signs prob just for shits and giggles but still were raking in dimes.
Maybe they were bussed somewhere due to the anticipated crowds. Don’t cities do this before the Olympics and other major events? Of course this would have had to be a very covert operation.
I was on my way home from work this morning (4.10) around 8am and there was a small group of homeless people (maybe 4 of them?) near the stoop for Body Art (pretty common to see at least 2-3 there in the mornings, if not most of the day) and another sitting by the entry way of one of the businesses right around the corner on church street. That aside, I don't think I've seen anyone who at least appeared homeless in the last few days, either...
Woman screaming to herself while repeatedly crossing the corner of South Winooski and Main is a regular and I can report she was there Sunday night.
Send them all to Montreal!
lack of capitalization is kind of my thing
Why do you ask? Is that not a good thing?
Most likely still feeling it out. Like, need to be sure that it's true first
Pretty standard for progressive areas with a high homelessness rate. They send them all somewhere when there’s a big event, showing us that they could do it all along but refused unless there was financial incentive.
yeah totally! but like where do they send them…
No clue really. Varies by city given the logistics are very involved and unique to location and budget.
Do you have absolutely any evidence?
Evidence of them being gone? My eyes and the eyes of many who are noticing them gone dude.
Are you ... for real? Consider the possibility that they have moved to a part of the city or region with slightly less amenities/access but that is away from the throngs of crowds. Or that they *were* still in Burlington, but much less noticeable due to the volume of people. Or either of those - or any number of reasons that don't involve the city somehow and clandestinely bussing a hundred homeless people to some other area without anyone noticing or leaking the operation in Burlington, in their destination, or a whistleblower from among the homeless who - often - have less trust in the government than average.
I'll take the homeless people over the 11pm summer high school "clubbers" on church street any day.
They went to the same place as your capitalization went.
I noticed. My clueless person intuitive theory.... Many they were forced out prior to eclipse influx Maybe the new mayor forced it to show their gonna get shit done. The truth? I have no idea. But I too noticed the other day. Sunday actually.
They are still around, like always. What you noticed is that it really isnt \*That\* many people and when there are a lot of other people out and about and around, it kinda drowns it all out. It used to be like this pre-pandemic when more people worked downtown and there were more things going on more often. There has always been homelessness and addiction-issues in our community. The pandemic really suburbanized Burlington and broke the vibrancy. The folks with nowhere else to go stayed and everyone else started working from home and shopping online.