In the United States there are approximately
554,000 homeless people, or about .17% of the total population. By comparison Russia has approximately 5,000,000
homeless people, or 3.4% of the population, and Germany has 800,000 homeless, or .5% of
the population. While Russia tops the charts on homelessness
for first world nations, the true chart topper is Egypt, with between 1 and 3 million homeless
children alone. But have you ever wondered what it would be
like to be homeless? Well, wonder no more as we dive into another
special Challenge episode of The Infographics Show and once more put our favorite guinea
pig to the test for your scientific curiosity and task him with going homeless for 72 hours! Day 0: Ok, I probably should've been more
prepared for this by now, but this challenge definitely caught me out of the blue. I've done I think maybe twenty challenges
by now, and I should definitely have seen this one coming. Homeless for three days... part of me is kind
of excited, because at least it's not a disgusting challenge, and well, it kind of feels like
an urban version of man vs nature, right? There's a reason why there's so many of those
wilderness survival shows on TV, I think deep down inside we all crave to know if we could
really make it out there. Now the urban landscape isn't exactly the
wilderness, but I know for a fact it can be pretty rough. I used to work security in Las Vegas for a
little bit over a decade ago, and I had to deal with the homeless population pretty frequently. Once we even had one homeless woman stab another
homeless woman through the eye for apparently infringing on her territory, because she was
turning tricks at the casino I worked at. So yeah, I'm pretty well aware of the potential
dangers of homelessness. When your survival comes down to working a
turf of your own, well, it's no different than in the wild when prides of lions kill
each other over the best hunting territory. Whether you're begging for loose change or
turning tricks, holding and securing the ideal turf and protecting it at all costs can literally
be the difference between life and death. Still, I'd be lying if I didn't say that I
am kind of excited to give this challenge a go. I have wilderness survival training from my
past in the military, but there's a difference between a jungle or forest and the city streets. In a way, it actually seems more dangerous
in city streets than it ever would be in the wild with a bunch of wild animals. I definitely trust wild animals more than
I trust humans. So, for this challenge I'm going to do the
real deal. I'll be leaving home with no money in my pocket,
and will be dropped off way on the other side of Los Angeles because I feel I should be
in unknown territory- but also so I won't run into anyone I know. I'm taking the clothes on my back, two other
changes of clothes in a backpack, and a bottle of water. I didn't want to take my phone with me but
the girlfriend begged and pleaded to take it just for emergencies, and I agreed- but
I'll keep it turned off unless I run into an emergency I really can't handle on my own. I won't be taking a sleeping bag or anything
like that, I'll have to scrounge for shelter and with no money in my pocket I'll be looking
for ways to make some cash or I guess... find some food. There's got to be about a billion legal liabilities
regarding this whole challenge but then again this is the same show that made me not take
a shower for a month and forced me to watch youtube videos for 24 hours straight. I'm pretty sure the Allies sent a ton of Nazis
to the gallows for similar inhumane experiments on concentration camp victims. I'll be updating at the end of my experience,
but keep track of my days for later on pen and paper since I won't be taking a laptop-
just a notebook and a few pencils. This challenge officially starts tomorrow
morning at 5 am, when I'll be getting dropped off near downtown Los Angeles to begin my
life as a homeless person. Wish me luck, and see you in 72 hours- unless
I get stabbed to death with a rusty shank. End of Day 3- This is the end of my first-
and hopefully last- bout of homelessness, and what an experience it's been. I don't want to get ahead of myself because
I feel a million thoughts rushing up, so I'll just start back at the beginning. Like I'd planned I got dropped off at 5 am
very near to downtown Los Angeles, but I didn't get breakfast and hadn't eaten since the night
prior. Seemed only fair to start this challenge off
with my first task being securing food. In case you don't remember, I didn't bring
any money with me, and I had to figure out a way to feed myself. Well, I pretty quickly got a chance to do
just that when I was walking past a 7-11 not far from where I'd gotten dropped off at. They were loading in pastries for the morning
breakfast rush, but the truck driver and the two employees were inside and had left two
racks of treats waiting to get pulled inside by the back door. Now, I consider myself a very honest person
and I've never so much as shoplifted a candy bar- I think stealing is a pretty glaring
moral shortcoming to be honest- but I reminded myself that I am temporarily living a new
life, and had to start looking at things from the perspective of someone who didn't know
where his next meal was coming from. Mostly because, you know- I didn't know where
the hell my next meal was coming from. So I pried the plastic aside and swiped two
donuts, took like three seconds and I was well on my way down the block by the time
anyone stepped out of the store. One thing they teach you during survival training
is to exploit literally any advantage or windfall that you can, and I realized that after my
donut heist I started looking at the world in entirely different ways. I wasn't just a pedestrian walking along minding
my own business anymore, I was actively watching my environment and looking for things I needed:
food, water, shelter. The more time I spent on the streets, the
more keen this instinct became, and eventually I realized that I was behaving the same way
I had years and years ago in the middle of a Northwest forest during survival training. Our regular lives are so insulated from the
actual necessities of life, the things we need to keep ourselves safe and biologically
alive, that when it's all stripped away it's kind of... a refreshing, but extremely jarring
experience. So my homeless strategy was to try and gradually
make my way over towards the eastern half of Los Angeles from downtown. I thought that starting at downtown would
be my best initial exposure to the whole homeless lifestyle, because I got dropped off literally
just a few blocks away from LA's infamous Skid Row. This is a few blocks of downtown city streets
that are completely awash with the homeless, and some serious crime, and I wanted to experience
what life there was like- but I wanted to keep on the move because it's probably not
safe to hang around too long in Skid Row without knowing all the 'street rules'. I spent most of the first day around Skid
Row, and I could already tell that trying to scrounge or even panhandle for money would
be an absolute no-go here. There's just very little local traffic that
isn't other homeless people or gang members, and anyone driving through is doing so with
windows rolled up and car doors locked, and with very good reason. I wanted to stay on the move and not get wrapped
up in any potential trouble, specially because I was drawing a lot of attention. I stupidly realized that I was drawing all
this attention because I didn't look homeless- I was too fresh, my clothes too clean. I was standing out like a sore thumb and believe
me that's not something you want to do on skid row. So I ducked into the nearest alley and rubbed
my hands on the ground and then rubbed dirt on my face, hair, and clothes. I tore my jeans and shirt up a little bit-
not much, but enough that it didn't look anymore like I was wearing frequently laundered clothes. The trick worked, and I quickly stopped getting
stares and looks, which was good because not too long after that I ran into a group of
three guys shaking down other homeless people. They stared me down at first, but I guess
I was too young and in too good a shape for them to figure I was an easy mark, and they
ignored me, moving along to two older homeless men. They kind of dug through their assembled...
well, what would normally be trash to you and me, but to them was all their belongings-
but I guess they didn't find anything valuable and quickly went on their way. I had already learned the first rule of being
on the streets- the strong shake down the weak, and the weak band together to fend off
the strong. I've watched a ton of nature documentaries
and it was amazing how similar to wild animals people really are. The first day I got really lucky and ran into
a mission that was serving out hot meals at night, which was good because I'd gone totally
bust on finding food all day. I'm not naive, and I knew that getting into
what is essentially a survival situation means doing what it takes to survive- but the problem
is that in this area there's no restaurants, supermarkets, nothing where you might be able
to scrounge for food. And with no foot traffic, panhandling was
not an option. I got offered a place to stay the night at
the mission but I declined it and figured somebody in poorer health or older could probably
use the place more than me. There was certainly not a lack of people in
really bad shape. I struck east at night, and ended up on the
outskirts of downtown. I jumped a fence into an office park and managed
to sleep for a few hours in an alcove by the loading dock to one of the buildings. Since the next day was saturday, I knew nobody
would be showing up for work. I've slept in the wilderness a ton before,
sometimes without a sleeping bag, but knowing how close I still was to skid row and everything
I'd seen during the day, it was hard to get any sleep. The next day I was practically starving, having
only eaten one bowl of soup and two donuts the day before. Also, my water was out. Finding a public restroom to refill my water
bottle was easy enough, and I made up my mind to find a supermarket to go scrounge for food
at. When I was a kid one of my first jobs was
at a supermarket, and I know for a fact that they throw away a ton of food still wrapped
up and perfectly good for eating. I found three different supermarkets but all
of the bins were practically empty, and then I realized that it was just too early in the
day- typically food gets thrown away around the afternoon. I didn't feel like waiting that long to eat,
so I decided to answer a question that I've always wondered about- just how much can you
really make from panhandling? I found a promising spot with a lot of foot
traffic and set up shop, using a can I had found in a dumpster. I made a grand total of thirty five cents
before a police car pulled up on the street in front of me and just sort of looked at
me disapprovingly. I got the message and honestly didn't feel
like adding a night in lockup to this challenge, so I left and moved on. Next I found a spot right on a freeway offramp,
because I'd seen homeless people set up at spots like this all the time. It worked like a charm, and in an hour I had
already made $3.50- not exactly a king's ransom, but I was getting closer to being able to
afford food again. Then two homeless guys started cursing and
yelling at me, because apparently I had taken their spot. Remember what I told you about being territorial? I left because I didn't want any trouble,
but I'm going to be really honest with you here- if I was actually homeless, I know I
would have stayed. I would have stood my ground and defended
that spot with violence if I had to, because I had made over ten times as much money there
in an hour than I had at my previous spot. When you don't know where your next meal is
coming from, prime real estate is a critical commodity. It also made sense why two guys worked that
spot, with one 'working' while the other rested, but also so that the two of them could better
defend it against anyone intruding. Again, it's amazing how similar we are to
wild animals. My good luck continued when I set up shop
near the drive thru to a fast food joint, and one of the employees actually called me
over to the drive-thru window when they were not busy and gave me an entire meal in a bag. Now, I've done my fair share of small kind
deeds before in my life, but I guess you never really appreciate just how much impact even
something as small as buying someone a sandwich can have, until you're on the receiving end. I was absolutely starving by then and I had
barely four dollars to my name- that meal was a godsend. In the late afternoon I made my way to the
previous supermarkets but found other scroungers already there. I guess they had figured out the schedule
a long time ago, and I didn't feel like getting into another confrontation so I skipped the
first two supermarkets and hit the third one where there was only one other guy. With three dumpsters back there we agreed
he could have the one on the far left, I'd take the one on the right. The one in the middle we'd split. I managed to find a subway sandwich tray completely
sealed in plastic that had been tossed, and after seeing that the expiration date hadn't
yet come due I honestly couldn't tell why it had been trashed in the first place. With a pretty substantial meal in hand, I
let the other guy have the middle dumpster and what was left in mine and he thanked me. As I sat eating I thought about two things-
the first being that I couldn't figure out why this perfectly wrapped up subway sub tray
had been tossed. And it wasn't the only thing, there was several
other food items in that dumpster that were completely wrapped up and in perfectly fine
shape, but all had gotten tossed. When you picture homeless people dumpster
diving for food, you probably think that they are eating gross stuff that's slimy and moldy
and covered in unmentionable grime- but the truth is that the food you bring home from
the market is exactly the same stuff that they eat. Yes, some of it is expired- but expired definitely
does not mean that most of the food is even close to starting to rot, it's an arbitrary
date that I believe the FDA helped come up with. Most of the food though isn't anywhere close
to the expiration date, but it might have some kind of unwanted visual blemish. For instance, it took me a bit but I finally
realized why my tray of sub sandwiches had been tossed- the top part of the plastic case
had a large dent in it, and then it all made sense. How many times have you been at the supermarket
and ignored the plastic tray of food because it had an unsightly dent in it? We all do it literally all the time, and with
so much selection available to us why take something so unsightly when we can get a tray
that is perfectly unblemished instead? It's kind of insane, and from now on I've
vowed to not overlook food items just because the packaging isn't perfect. The second thought I had though was of the
differences between the homeless people I kept running into. The guy behind the supermarket was kind and
polite, but the ones by the freeway offramp had definitely been aggressively protecting
their territory. I guess it's about survival, but we're not
truly all like wild animals- some of us retain our humanity and cooperate, even help others. One guy I ran into on my second night for
instance showed me where to refill my water bottle after all the places with public restrooms
had closed down. He showed me where to get safe, clean water,
when I had been planning on drinking the sprinkler water that is clearly labeled: Not for drinking. They do that so homeless people won't get
sick, but you know what- when it's been a hundred degree day and you don't have many
options available to you, you have to risk it sometimes. I managed to reach a rail yard on the second
night so I spent the night under a train car. I've read stories before of homeless people
crushed to death by moving train cars while they slept underneath them, so I made sure
that this cart was totally disconnected from anything else and was on a piece of side track
that jut out from the main line. Other than a train whizzing by in the middle
of the night and scaring the piss out of me- almost literally- my night was pretty uneventful. By my third day I had managed to reach east
los angeles, and that meant that the neighborhoods were nicer and so was the general look and
demeanor of the people. I learned from my first day and got up early
enough to find a local 7-11. Sure enough, an hour or so before sunrise
a truck showed up and started offloading pastries to sell to the morning breakfast crowd. Again, I'm no thief, but I was living temporarily
in a different world, and when you're in a survival situation there's only one rule:
survive. Maybe it was because I was a lot hungrier
than on the first day, or maybe because I finally knew how difficult finding food was,
and that I wasn't guaranteed a meal that day, but instead of snatching two donuts, I snatched
as much as I could carry without being caught, then just slipped away. I was 100% breaking the law, but I was also
in survival mode and to be honest, it was a little exhilarating. But mostly, I was just hungry. The nicer neighborhoods meant nicer people,
and I made over ten bucks in about five hours of panhandling, which gave me almost fifteen
total dollars- or the ability to buy one meal. That's kind of discouraging, especially if
you consider having to do this every day for weeks or months or even years on end. It makes sense why homeless people are so
protective of the good panhandling spots though, and it really becomes hard to judge the two
that chased me away a day before. Once more, this is about survival, and I totally
understand. My day was uneventful, and mostly just boring. I made my way steadily eastward throughout
the day, stopping at a fast food place to get a bite to eat. I ran across a library and for the first time
in decades I went inside to spend a few hours just reading their books. I got looks from people, and honestly it soon
got really annoying. It wasn't just a the library though, throughout
this experience 'normal' people have been giving me looks like I was untrustworthy,
or like I was up to no good or even a potential threat. It was really dehumanizing at one point, and
the irony that in reality I am a productive member of society that regularly pays his
taxes and has a nice apartment only made things worse. These people literally knew nothing about
me, and had no idea that I was secretly one of them- but they treated me like I was basically
a criminal. For the third night I decided I wanted to
sleep a bit easier than I've been, because by this point I was getting physically exhausted. So since I knew where I was in town, I made
my way to a very fancy cemetery in the area with big, tall iron fences and security patrols
inside the property. Civilian security is a joke, and I know from
my experience in the military that every secure facility has a weakness- so I just worked
my way around the fenceline into the tree line until I found a drainage ditch. The fence crossed the ditch but because of
flood risks, had small metal gates that swing outwards at the bottom so during heavy rains
branches and other debris could flow out and not back up at the fence and eventually bring
the whole thing down. Even though Los Angeles hadn't had a major
rain in over a year, the gates had been, of course, left open, so it was simple enough
to just crawl through them. Several thousands of dollars of cameras along
the fenceline and two full-time security patrols completely defeated because some guard had
been lazy over a year ago and never closed the drainage gates. Like I said, civilian security is a joke. I kicked the gates closed to keep anyone else
from following in and found a pretty peaceful spot to sleep undisturbed until morning. Sadly, no ghosts or zombies appeared, but
I did sleep until well into sunrise and realized that I was supposed to call the girlfriend
at 5 am on the dot to let her know where to pick me up and that I was safe. When I turned my phone on it was already well
past seven, and when she picked up the phone she was furious and also completely distraught. I guess I don't blame her, last time she saw
me was three days ago on the outskirts of Skid Row- a place so dangerous they literally
make documentaries about how you should never go there. Then she hadn't heard from me at all. When she finally picked me up an hour later
she told me she had nearly called the cops and yelled at me for not calling exactly at
5 like I'd promised. In between yelling, she cried. I guess these three days were as nerve-wracking
for her as they were for me. What did I learn from my experience on the
streets? A lot. Too much for this episode, and experienced
a lot of things that honestly don't quite fit into the more family-friendly aspect of
our show. The biggest thing I learned though is how
far small gestures of kindness really go, so when you do one of these gestures for somebody
in need, don't ever undervalue just how much that really meant. Buying someone a meal may set you back ten
bucks, not a big deal for the vast majority of us- but for someone hungry who doesn't
know where their next meal is coming from, that's hot food in their belly and the stress
of finding something to eat relieved for the next twelve hours. You can't put a price on that. The other thing I learned is that living on
the streets is dangerous, and some people are predators. But a lot of other people aren't. I saw homeless guys giving other homeless
guys their spare change, or parts of their food. Some kind soul helped me find a drinking source
that wouldn't make me sick. Lots of people on the street are looking to
take advantage of others and prey on them, but many more are willing to help others out. And underneath that dirt and grime, there's
a real person that isn't plotting how to hurt you, or steal from you, and that you shouldn't
be scared of. Sometimes, simply treating them like a normal
human being and giving a little respect is the biggest charitable act you could do. How would you survive for three days out in
the streets? Let us know in the comments! And as always if you enjoyed this video don't
forget to Like, Share, and Subscribe for more great content!
this is real i was there
Same