Where's a camera when you need one?

Moments before I passed a panhandler on M Street this evening, three other young people passed him coming toward me. He held out his cup and asked for change. I rarely give money to panhandlers, but I almost always make sure to at least acknowledge their existence by looking them in the eye and offering some variation on "sorry, man," which is what I did tonight. But before I was solicited, I saw him request donations from the party approaching me. One of them was wearing a t-shirt that read, in metallic silver lettering, "Is your cup half empty or half full?" None of them said a word.