NEEDCOM: FOCUS GROUP: It's Just Like a Job

STEVE:

Now, a panhandler's a different thing. A panhandler's out on the street—if you're inside a bank, you're a doorman. You don't ask people for money—people give you money, 'cause you keep the place nice and clean. You see, when I came in, I kept it nice and clean. When I come in this door, it's just like a job. When you look for a job and you have no money, you have to survive. You're not gonna rob from nobody or steal from nobody—you come in here and make a job for yourself.

..........

NEEDCOM:

New York City law defines what I just saw you doing as panhandling. Do you use that term?

PRIM:

That's what their law calls it. Um, well, I just say, like it's being a panhandler. But ... it's a job, I say. I say it's a job, because I make more than some people make ... I don't think a cop makes twenty-five dollars an hour, does he?

NEEDCOM:

Some people say they don't give to panhandlers because some panhandlers make a lot of money—like $30,000 a year.

PRIM:

Some of them do. I would say some of them do. A lot of them don't. It depends on how much time you spend doing it. It's like a job—if you work overtime, you're going to make more than your salary.