It's surprising how fast you can develop the "callous", as someone called it. I don't live downtown but when I did I just shrugged them off and/or avoided eye contact.
Now that I don't, I find myself pre-emptively pooling some change in a pocket so I can just get it over with/not feel uncomfortable ignoring another person talking to me. It's not the thing to do if you actually want to help, but it's just a loonie here and there.
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