DOT COM PANHANDLERS ON THE RISE

With the layoffs in the tech industry, dot com panhandlers are invading San Francisco's streets.

SAN FRANCISCO. The mass layoffs of employees from dot-com companies
has
led to a new breed of annoyance on this city's streets: the high-tech
panhandler. Up and down Market Street, khaki-wearing youth fresh from
the
cubicles grub for some change, a latte, a quick Internet hookup, or
fresh
batteries for their Palm Pilot.

Among the phrases commonly heard on a random walk down Market: "Can I
optimize a page for you, sir?...Can I help you benchmark your e
business
solution?...Sir, can we partner! Hey, Got Java?" "Mamm! Need a
coder?..."

With most of the world's HTML now coded, high-tech employees are unable
to
slow down to fit into the old economy, or don't want to. And many made
hasty financial decisions when times were good, putting lots of money
into
high rents, caffiene fixes and DSL lines. Now they have been forced
out
of the virtual world, and on to the cement one in force. Some
residents
are peeved.

"It's annoying," says Tom Reid, an actuary and one of the few people
left
working here. "They are everywhere. And they really have no skills."

But there is no easy solution to the problem. Even when Reid tried to
offer a few quarters, he was unable to meet one high-tech grubsters
demand.

"I finally offered fifty cents to one guy, and he was like, 'Could you
give me that Cyber Cash? Just beam it to my Visor. Thanks, dude,'"

But panhandlers say they have performed a service to the country and
deserve respect.

"I was a Vice President of Technological Consulting for six months"
said
Fred, 22, a former high tech worker who now sits around a garbage can
fire
in the Mission area of the city. "I designed three great logos for this
company and cleaned out the company cappuccino machine every day. And
I
was Foozball camp in the office. And now they want me to just put a
tie
on and do real stuff. Sucks."