Glamour or the gutter

Spending time in the city can bring a festival of new and interesting experiences. For instance, a chance to meet any number of fascinating people, access to lots of great cutting edge fashion, or riding home on the same bus as a puking drunk guy. European cities are a weird mix of fabulous and filthy aren't they?

On a more serious note, along my path to school there's a man who begs for money. With one of my loan checks MIA, I've been having a fairly critical funding problem of my own and was in no mood to be handing out money like handshakes. But today I was feeling particularly brave, and when asked if I would spare some change, I offered a bite to eat instead. I actually expected him to say no (perhaps he was wanting the money to buy something else, ehh?), but he agreed, and I sat next to him and chatted as we ate. We finished, and I was off to catch the bus home. Right, well done me. Then of course my mind began the battle with itself over a good deed done vs. the self righteousness that too often follows.
Not two minutes later, a girl about my age (who, in my opinion, was an blatant faker) approached me for bus money- to get to the hospital for her mum who'd just had a heart attack. So, that's the oldest trick in the book, and not the first time I've heard it. Since I had spent my precious little extra time with Angus on the corner, walking her to the bus to buy the ticket was not an option. So, I gave her the fare, and then kicked myself the rest of the way to the station for it.
So, which was right, and which wrong?
After much deliberation, I'm going to stick with the 'wise as serpents, gentle as doves' bit for now and leave ruling on motives for someone else. As a side note, once in a dire situation I was reduced to asking a stranger for bus fare, and she probably thought I was lying too.

Well sorry, I didn't mean to leave this blog as such a downer, but this has occupied a good deal of my thoughts today. I welcome relevant input about interacting with beggars if you've got it.