I've mentioned this co-worker before in the old thread (he once estimated he and his wife spend $25K a year at Whole Foods.) I compile many stories from him so I can dole them out slowly. While not his most egregious financial error, here's a series of conversations we've had.
November 2017:
Me: "You and your wife up to anything this weekend?"
CW: "We just got a new TV on sale for Black Friday! We're just going to watch that all weekend. Do you have a smart TV?"
Me: "No, but we bought a Chromecast for $35 to sync all of our apps to our TV. So we don't have it built in, but I generally have all the functionality."
CW: "Yeah, we had a Chromecast with our old TV, but the it was blinking out every once in a while so we needed a new one. Plus, it only had 2 HDMI ports, I always had to swap the Chromecast and the PS3 when I wanted to use them."
Me: "I guess that would be annoying."
CW: "Well we ended up getting a great deal. It was only $1,800, the last time we bought a TV on Black Friday it was $2,500."
Me: (silent)
CW: "We wanted to make sure it was a 4K TV, but we didn't even realize until we opened it up at home that it was a 3D TV too. We just found these glasses in in the box!"
Me: (silent)
CW: "I don't really know what we'll watch in 4K 3D, I think the only thing that really will hold up is 'Avatar.'"
So instead of returning the item they mistakenly purchased and getting a cheaper TV, they'll keep it to watch 1 below average James Cameron movie.
December 2017:
A second coworker and I are discussing tax issues, the typical "I want a big refund" conversation ensues, and I say how I would have rather had that money in each of my paychecks throughout the year rather than all at once in tax season. Original TV-related coworker overhears and chimes in.
CW: "Yeah, but you would have just spent the money if you'd had it this whole time. You would have just bought a bigger TV!"
No. No I would not.
February 2018:
CW: "I've got to go to Building X to pick up next month's parking pass. Might be my last one."
Me: "Oh, is your contract not getting renewed?"
CW: "They're not sure if there will be enough money for it. I'm not really sure what we'll do, my wife doesn't really bring in any income."
(He's been on a contract for maybe 8 months at this point. He always knew there was no guarantee of further employment, although short extensions did come.)
CW: "But I still have to go get that last parking pass. It's just so expensive to park around here. Even after the employee discount, the parking pass still costs $300 for the month."
Me: "That much? Wow, that's pretty expensive."
CW: "If I could walk to work like you do, I'd be rich! I'd have an extra $300 a month and I'd be able to buy a new TV set. I'd get an 8K TV when they come out!"
In the same conversation where we're saying he might not have any income to his household next month, he says how he wouldn't bank his hypothetical commuting savings, he would buy yet another TV.
November 2018:
Months have gone by and he actually now has a permanent position, which is great news for him. Black Friday is coming up yet again, which is bad news for his bank account.
I'll give you one guess what he's telling me he's going to buy.
CW: "We're going to go to Target right at midnight to get a new TV. The one in our workout room doesn't have the functionality we need."
Me: "What kind of functionality?"
CW: "Well there's only one HDMI port, which has our Chromecast in it. We need another port to connect the AppleTV because the Chromecast doesn't work right with Pandora."
Me: "Really? My Chromecast works with Pandora. Maybe it's something wrong with the account?"
CW: "No, my wife doesn't like to hear the ads while she's working out. We have an Ad-Blocker installed that stops the ads from playing, but the Chromecast doesn't recognize it, so we need the TV to be able to work with both the Chromecast and the AppleTV. So we're just going to get a TV that has more HDMI ports."
So they're back to buy yet another new TV, all because the wife doesn't want to listen to ads. Or pay for the ad-free version of Pandora. Or for a ~$15 HDMI splitter. Or to just stop using the Chromecast and only use the AppleTV in the one port that exists.
Or just use HEADPHONES or a SPEAKER like every other person alive, instead of insisting your music comes through a TV.
Needless to say, I'm pretty sure I'm retiring before this guy, even though I'm almost 30 years younger.