I remember one time I was in Atlanta around Olympic Park and a homeless dude asked me for 5 bucks. He laid down a massively depressing story about how he couldn't adjust after returning from the Desert Storm, started drinking, ended up on the streets and was too ashamed of his situation to call his daughter for help. He said he knew I thought he was only going to spend the money on booze, but he had started going to AA and had given up drinking because he'd decided to get his life in order, and just needed money for food.
As far as panhandling goes, it was a committed pitch, took a full 15 minutes. I ended up giving the dude a 20, from "one vet to another." About 2 hours later I passed by the same spot and saw him sitting on a park bench with a bottle of Thunderbird. I wasn't even mad. That's how I'll feel if DSJ conned me.