I bought a few things from Home Depot the other week, and there were about twenty Mexican workers outside, waiting to be called in to help out with something... anything... and be compensated for it. They asked me if I needed any help with anything, and I said no thank you... but they didn't ask me for a penny. I've seen this numerous times outside a number of Home Depot-type stores... whenever they need an extra hand inside, one of the Mexican workers is summoned, and he's given some cash for his help.
But yeah... just felt I had to share that, cuz I just remembered it... I wonder if it's something about the culture (pride, maintain dignity, etc.?) that keeps them from resorting to begging (if you want to break it down by race/ethnicity, the only people I've ever seen panhandling have been black or white... a ton of Asian panhandlers in China, but I haven't seen any in the USA yet).