Are you inclined to help the less fortunate in these hard economic times?

Have you ever met a "professional borrower"? The kind of person who desperately needs a loan right now, to pay for bus fare to look for a job / jaw surgery / new clothes for a deposition because she got knocked down by a city bus and her lawyer is going to get a lot of money and that's how she'll pay you back / to move into a different basement / pain medication / rent / painting equipment and supplies for the new job / electric bills / to move into a house with her daughter and her family, it's cheaper than the basement / to bail out her son / rent / uniforms and shoes for the new job / to cover the money embezzled by her daughter's gambling-addicted boyfriend who didn't pay the rent and took down the landlord's notices before anybody saw them / blood pressure medication / rent / antibiotics for pneumonia ... good news the settlement is agreed on, good news the check has been approved, good news the check is being issued, it's in the lawyer's office waiting to be picked up, but the secretary can't mail it she has to make an appointment and the lawyer is out of town, oops it got mailed to the East Coast by mistake, she has to make another appointment to sign papers so the old check can be cancelled, good news a new check has been issued, good news the check is in the lawyer's office waiting to be picked up, oops they're appealing it ... then seven months of silence?

If you've ever met such a person -- or been such a person -- I'd like to hear your story (or stories). Please email me at schmidt.rod@gmail.com