It’s not merit begging, it’s desperation. Just ignore him, I don’t think you could classify it as begging.
Begging and desperate beckons are not mutually exclusive, assuming that you aren't using some strange definition for either term. I will throw a very general definition of, "begging is the act of requesting others for charity," but if you take a look, the very structures of begging and desperation are in completely different topics: one is an act, and the other is a noun describing one's state.Could someone not beg, in desperation?
Pedantry is fun!