Sense of shame? You mean embarrassment? Like, you can't understand how a person panhandling would not signal their embarrassment to you for your benefit in exchange for whatever pittance they're panhandling for?
Of all the thoughts a panhandling person might inspire in the mind of a nine-to-fiver blowing past him on his way to nine, that the panhandler would lack a perceivable sense of shame is something. I should see that as a sensible something, given you are a sensible person. I mean, you dress sensibly, your haircut's sensible, the look on your face is fixed as one that tells the world, Hey, don't look everybody but if you do I'm not worried because I'm a sensible guy. Just look at my shoes. They're the least ostentatiously cheap I can afford on my entry level nine-to-five, and I can assure you my income will increase over the course of my life along a perfectly average trajectory for my demographic, and at every stage my shoes will never stand out any more than they do now but cost the corresponding amount more. Also, if you ask me what I think, you'll receive a reasonable reply. I'm sensible.
Is it the act of panhandling itself that would sensibly share a countenance of disgrace, or is it more like the circumstances that led to that point should be accompanied by a guilty conscience manifest all the way through to its conclusion?
Look at the bright side. Even if he wasn't conducting his job with the right attitude, he was up and at it earlier than you and has uglier shoes to show for it. I know you as an Irish Catholic expect the Act of Contrition, but maybe that's his karma. And, now, apparently yours.
