So I am moving from Boston-Philadelphia and I sent most of my stuff down with my girlfriend last week. Today I left my apartment and took the remainder of my things to the train station to go to philly. I have 1 large suitcase (approx 30 lbs), 1 large duffel bag (approx 50 lbs), 1 small suitcase (10 lbs), and a laptop case.

I get out of the cab at the station and as I am paying the driver outside of the cab, a bum picks up my duffel bag and the cab driver says something like "hey what are you doing." At this point I turn and see the bum with my bag who is now 5 or so feet away and he says something like "just helping out, I'm a helper." I am fairly sure he was just going to walk off with the bag if no one saw him but used this opportunity to become a freelance porter.

I had to walk 150 yds or so to the train with all these bags so I did appreciate some help carrying the load. On the way to the waiting area he tells me some sob story about how someone stole his wallet and he needs to get to New York to see his son and needs 20 dollars. I just nodded along saying "oh that terrible etc etc."

He ends up being an awesome helper, he carries the 2 heaviest bags, waits for me to get my ticket and then intimidates some people into giving up a prime table for waiting. At this point he says "anything you can spare to help me get home would be great."

I am curious what an appropriate tip should be in this situation. Obviously he has earned something but should he be penalized for attempting to rob me?

lol

I don't think he was trying to steal from you, this is a pretty standard homeless guy/poor guy type thing, pick up a bag and expect a tip.

ldo he wasn't trying to get to NY :P

I'd give him $5 for helping me with my bags.

I know this is common, but the guy just sidled up behind me, took my bag and started walking away while my back was turned. I think there is greater than 50% chance he was going to just walk away with it. Should this even factor into the decision?

No harm no foul!

Why no option in the poll for giving him nothing? That is what would probably get the most responses.

I think $5 is standard, $10 if you are in a good mood.

He was def trying to steal if he was already walking away with the bag tho

I never considered giving him nothing. Making him carry all that stuff 150 yds and giving him zero could create a bad situation. He might get violent or try to run off with my things or something. Also, I think his services were worth something.

I'd say somewhere between $1-5, I probably would have shelled out for $5.

I think that hauling your **** 150 yards is a fair penalty for trying to steal your duffel bag, but that doesn't mean you're awesome enough to pull that off, so $3-4

He grabbed your property without permission and you believe he intended to steal it. Since you didn't just tell him to get his hands off your stuff in the first place (the correct answer), this answer seems fine.

$5

tell him sorry but you only carry hundreds

You should have tipped him three franklins. One for trying to steal from you, one for helping you and one for dealing with homeland security after you left.

The tip depends on how likely you think it is that the bum in question had urine or feces on his hands. Questionable hygiene + grabbing the handles of your bags = no tip imo.

At this point I just give him like 5 bucks. However, when he is trying to steal my bag I'm immediately telling him to get the **** away from my bags and if necessary will enter the fighting crouch used by the private dick who is following Lebowski.

Guaranteed if nothing was an option that would get more than 50% of the votes.

I wouldn't try to travel by train with this much stuff. If I did I wouldn't let a bum touch my stuff. If for some strange reason I broke both those rules $5 a bag just like any porter.

This is more common than you think. I travel a lot and have seen many times at airports and train stations random scruffy people trying to help people with their bags. It's always obvious that they don't work at the place. One time I saw a guy helping people off one of the shuttle things and I had to LOL because he had slippers on.

The only unusual thing in your case is that he didn't say anything before grabbing the bag. Usually they say "here let me help you with that" or something. Let's face it, if they wanted to steal traveling bags, they could go to a baggage claim and do it all day.

5 bucks, 10 if i dont have any 5s on me

Damn this would be kind of awesome if you were a bum of some sort to dress up as nicely as you can so as not to arouse too much suspicion and just pick up like golf club bags off of baggage carousels and pawn that ****.

you only have to get away with it once, and you may cop good enough threads to pull **** regularly

he should ask before picking up someone else's bag. maybe tell him that.

henry you can't be serious. 5 dollars PER BAG?

lmao. classic henry.

i'd tip him $5 and not feel too bad about him trying to steal my stuff. people gotta eat, i'm sure i'd worry about my morals a lot less if i were homeless.