It's lunchtime on the Ave and the pizza smells great--but I'm here on business. I've got $10 worth of quarters rattling in my pocket but they aren't for me. I'm on a mission to see how bad the spare-changing gauntlet really is. People say you can't go down the Ave (or Broadway, for that matter) without getting hassled for change. And if you gave in to all the requests, you'd go broke, right?

Wrong.

I spent nearly an hour ambling along the Ave during the lunch rush, and handed out a grand total of three quarters. Two of them were to the same guy. I passed several groups of street kids, and they didn't bother me at all--even though I made eye contact, hoping they'd ask me for change. Dropping my first quarter into the palm of a guy in front of Tower Records, about five minutes into this mission, seemed like a good sign. But I made it almost two more blocks before someone asked again.

Just past the defunct McDonald's, a guy with a ripped paper bag full of groceries asked if I had any change. I dropped a quarter in his hand. I kept going, up to 55th, then crossed the street and headed back down the other side. I made it all the way back to Campus Parkway without handing out another quarter--but a coupon for pizza and a menu for a new Thai restaurant were handed to me. Tempting, I thought, weighing the $9.50 in coins still in my pocket. Back at the Campus Parkway bus stop, the man I'd given a quarter to up at Tower Records was hitting everyone up for a quarter, and I gave him a second one. The bus came a minute later, and I boarded, only 75 cents lighter.