I'm very close to two of my colleagues, so I told them about my new car. One replied: "Wow, you must be rich!" and the other "You make no sense. You won't buy a 10$ top or a 1$ coffee, but you'll buy a new car."
The first gal doesn't realise that being debt free really increases your buying power. I asked my dealership what the price of the car would be if I paid cash vs. financing it and was told it was the same thing. Whether I paid cash today or gave them 60 equal payments at 0%, I would not save one penny. Why not finance and keep my cash in my investments where it's making money? Since I have no debt, getting approval for financing wasn't an issue. I'm not rich, but I have financial flexibility.
The other gal doesn't get that little purchases add up, that by not buying the top or the coffee I'm keeping my monthly spending at a low enough limit to live within my means and afford luxury items like cars.
But that wasn't my favourite bit of financial cluelessness for the day.
I treated myself to lunch on Friday as I normally do and decided to splurge since there was a lot of really nice fresh fruit being offered. My total was 7.10$. I gave the teller 20.10$. She gave me back 17.00$ I told her she'd made a mistake and was about to hand her back the money when she said, and I quote: "I don't make mistakes, the cash [register] tells me what to give back." Then, seeing that I was about to protest, "I'm too busy to deal with this, go see the manager if we owe you anything."
Yeah....
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4 comments:
I just have to LOL!
In regards to the cashier, I take it?
I think people just have different spending priorities. My husband would rather blow small amounts of money all over the place (take-out food, coffees, taxis. . all sorts of unnecessary stuff) and then not have money saved up for a downpayment for a house or whatever. I'd rather be really frugal everyday and save large amounts for big purchases. Then there are the people that are truly clueless and would just rather spend and finance everything to maintain a lifestyle they can't really afford. . .like most people I guess (the people with credit card debts and huge mortgages.)
It's hard to strike a balance sometimes I guess. . I try my best to keep my husband happy and meet big financial goals. It's very hard to do!
Also, I always give the $$ back if cashiers give me too much but if I were in your shoes, after that rudeness, I woulda kept it! I'm guessing you did?
For these two gals, it's really a matter of cluelessness and not different priorities. There are other people in my life who are constantly broke because of little purchases and poor financial management, but they own up to this. I never hear them whine about how unlucky they are because they know they're the architects of their own financial future, not outside forces.
As for the restaurant, I'll admit to keep the money. I tallied up the number of times I've been overcharged there in the past four years and not fought it and figured that the amounts were just about equal. :-S
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