Watch: Man with Own Sign Joins Panhandler on Corner, Warns Motorists He's a Fraud

By Ryan Ledendecker May 29, 2019 at 7:55am

A Tennessee panhandler, who according to local residents has worked the same intersection for too long, got an unexpected surprise after a neighbor warned motorists about what’s really going on.

According to WZTV, Chad Fox has stood on the corner of Old Hickory Boulevard and Highway 100 in Bellevue, Tennessee, for years while holding a cardboard sign that reads, “Lost job, lost truck, lost home, family needs miracle.”

But Tyler Blair, a resident of Bellevue who passes Fox every day on his way to work grew so frustrated with his panhandling that he took a stand — and it involved getting up close and personal with Fox. He decided to stand next to Fox holding a sign that simply reads, “He can get a job.”

“I work very, very hard. I work very hard. Too hard to just see people hanging out asking for money for nothing,” Blair told Nashville’s WZTV.

And before you even have a drop of pity for Fox, his sign is misleading, according to Blair.

“He’s been given help, he’s been given a truck, he’s been given a place to live, he’s been offered jobs multiple, multiple times and turns them all down,” Blair said.

What Fox is allegedly doing is the lowest form of welfare. Perhaps even more absurd than his cry for assistance is the reason why the former forklift driver won’t take a new job.

“I don’t want to hop around from convenience store, to fast food, to a different job every six months,” Fox said, explaining that he’ll only accept a job if it’s something he wants to do for the rest of his life.

Do you think more phony panhandlers should be called out?

That’s quite picky, given the guy’s apparent circumstances. Many people fall on hard times, no matter what their previous circumstances are. To dig out of those situations, it often requires obtaining any kind of gainful employment one can find, until he or she is able to improve the situation.

It’s the American way. Hard work equals eventual rewards.

But that doesn’t appear to be in Fox’s immediate plans — as panhandling apparently pays better than working in a convenience store. He’s abusing the system, and hard-working folks like Blair aren’t going to stand by and just let it happen.

When asked what pushed Blair over the edge — to the point where he felt the need to stand next to Fox and warn passers-by of his scam — he told the reporter, “I think it was just more of a built-up thing where every day it builds and it builds and builds.”

Fox, as proven by his decision to panhandle rather than put in a hard day’s work, is an entitled millennial who thinks career-level employment should fall into his lap. This probably happens more often than we realize.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ve dropped a few bucks into a homeless person’s cup before, but seeing the able-bodied Fox beg for money and food at that intersection would grind my gears too.

He is exploiting the sympathy of every person who passes him on the road, so I applaud Blair for taking action to expose the truth behind Fox’s cardboard sign.

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