$50 An Hour Professional Panhandler.

Lets hope no one decides to take their anger out on "megan" after they see this "important" story. Sounds like the reporter has a personal beef with this girl. Hope nothing happened to her as a result of this much needed "investigative" report. Local newsies...they are all chumps.

Megan seriously should try to get a job at a theatre. She's a natural.

A short-order cook I used to work with needed extra money for Christmas. He and his girlfriend dressed like homeless people and then went out panhandling. They made something like 300 dollars.

People who give are just creating a market for more pandhandling. Ignore them and they WILL go away.

Back in the early '80s, I was involved in something similar to this. I was still living at home and going to high school. One day, I met a guy downtown and we started chatting. Soon enough, after we'd met up for coffee a few times, he took me around during the day panhandling. Told me to play dumb and let him do the talking. He spun a great tale about being robbed and needing a bus ticket to Calgary for "me and my old lady". He was a very charming man, some days we hauled in over a hundred bucks! Spent most of it at Gasworks (a seedy bar here in Toronto) and on food.

Moral of the story: Don't believe everything you hear.

Best part of the story: The man turned out to be David Milgaard on the run from the penitentiary for a murder he didn't commit. The cops shot him in the butt on Queen Street a couple of months later (not in the official records!) and took him back to jail. He was released more than 10 years later after serving more than 20 years in prison. I would love to see the looks on the faces of the people that gave us money when they realized who he was!