Author Topic: Overheard at Work  (Read 13253137 times)

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #100 on: December 20, 2012, 12:05:37 PM »
Kitchen remodels, like most other things in life, can cost as much as you let them.

The Taminator

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #101 on: December 20, 2012, 01:20:06 PM »
This is timely. I'm just starting the renovation process on my kitchen. I'm aiming for 10k, all-in. My kitchen is about 7x7. My step-brother is a contractor so installation will be free.

SwordGuy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #102 on: December 20, 2012, 05:18:01 PM »
My wife figured out how to shuffle around and re-purpose the existing cabinetry.  Our kitchen remodel cost $1500 and that included a new stove, countertop and floor tiles.   We did the work ourselves, of course, to get it done at that price.   She had me cut some units in half, re-orient them, etc.  I was in awe of how she figured it out.

Jack

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #103 on: December 21, 2012, 12:41:02 AM »
I could probably spend $40,000 on my kitchen, but even though I could, I never would!

In about 4 or 5 years, we want to redo our kitchen, and I'd like to have to the ceiling cabinets, but I'm struggling with the fact that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the oak cabinets in there right now, other than I don't like them.  Maybe I can find someone with a similar layout, who'd like to buy these ones from me?  If not, I'll likely just have them resurfaced/painted.

Find matching* small wall cabinets, i.e., the kind that go above a range hood, and insert them in the space between your existing wall cabinets and the ceiling. Remove your existing wall cabinets and re-hang them lower if necessary, and consider adding crown molding (for both aesthetics and avoiding having the cabinet door edge rub on the ceiling) while you're at it.

Of course, be sure to check that you'll still have enough clearance between the bottom of your wall cabinets and the countertop before you start.


 (*Or pick whatever style you want, then replace the doors on the existing cabinets to match.)

Self-employed-swami

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #104 on: December 21, 2012, 06:53:34 AM »
Thanks for the suggestion Jack. 

There is a bulkhead with a passthrough to our sunken den that I'd love to put upper cabinets onto as well, so we'll likely need to get some new ones, even if we don't change the current cabinets at all.

c

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #105 on: December 21, 2012, 04:10:21 PM »
I was talking to someone at work about my plans to renovate my apartment. He said "be careful, we went $40k over budget on our kitchen renovation last year".

His kitchen remodel probably cost more than my apartment.

TomTX

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #106 on: December 28, 2012, 07:21:58 AM »
I've got one that I think takes the cake..
<snip> They used it to put a driveway and 'entrance gate' on a very high-end fishing cabin for her husband.  This cabin wasn't even built yet - they used that $80,000 to continue a process that her father in law has been working on for almost 10 years building this cabin.   I said "oh did you decide not to start a family?" which was probably aggressive but she complained for over 5 years about debt and then she was given the golden ticket and squandered it.  Her response was "Well Nick (her husband) and his dad REALLY like fishing...".  Hmm..
Needless to say, this was 5 years ago and the cabin has not progressed after that $80,000 and she's back to complaining about debt and dreams that could have been.

that's just sad.

Agreed!

Well, at least they won't be passing this on to another generation....

DoubleDown

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #107 on: December 28, 2012, 09:07:21 AM »
Not comedy but rather heartbreak since it's my very good friend involved -- We were discussing our kids' schooling a while ago and he told me how he and his wife would be sending their three children to private Catholic high school at a cost of $100,000 each, for a total of $300,000. That is on top of the approximately $300,000 they've already spent sending them to Catholic elementary/junior high school. In total they will spend $600,000 on private lower education; college will be additional. He doesn't want to do it, but his wife insists.

Imagine spending $600,000 over the course of about 15 years just for private school. That money invested over 15 years would easily reach about $1.2 million, probably more than enough for a family of five to completely retire on comfortably. And he does lament how he'll have to continue working into the foreseeable future despite making lots of money.

For reference (as if it matters), they live in one of the nicest, highest cost of living areas in the entire country, with excellent (free) public schools. It's all Land Rovers, BMW's, Starbucks, and iPads. So it's not like it's a choice between private school and the perception of being shot and killed by drug dealers on your way to the public school in the slums. The biggest danger is buying and eating too many Girl Scout Cookies from the local cookie mom.

gdborton

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #108 on: December 28, 2012, 09:38:18 AM »
Quote
He doesn't want to do it, but his wife insists.

How does one get out of this?  We don't have anything anywhere near $600k in costs but my gf of 6 years and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of money / item (? not sure what to say here other than she keeps and accumulates everything, while I'm borderline minimalist) issues.  I'm debating making a post on this, but at what point does not budging on a monetary issue become a deal breaker?

Mannerheim

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #109 on: December 28, 2012, 10:28:48 AM »
One of the guys I work with gets poked fun at for being "too" frugal, because he does things like go to Qdoba for breakfast (!), then save the receipt and use it to get another burrito in the afternoon for 50% off. Or how he cleverly saves money on his trip to Vegas by staying in a downscale hotel "because I'm going to spend all my time in the casinos anyway". He's also getting married soon and it sounds like he's planning the usual blowout American wedding (because nothing reinforces the joy and solemnity of marriage like splashing out a fortune on making a stressful, exhausting Hollywood production out of it); I was amused to hear that his fiancee just had her "bridal shower" which is something I'd never heard of before but is apparently a common way to extract an extra gift from your guests before they buy your actual wedding present.

He's not a bad guy at all, but it's hilarious that he really sees himself as a shrewd personal finance wizard.

noob515

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #110 on: December 28, 2012, 11:25:18 AM »
Not comedy but rather heartbreak since it's my very good friend involved -- We were discussing our kids' schooling a while ago and he told me how he and his wife would be sending their three children to private Catholic high school at a cost of $100,000 each, for a total of $300,000. That is on top of the approximately $300,000 they've already spent sending them to Catholic elementary/junior high school. In total they will spend $600,000 on private lower education; college will be additional. He doesn't want to do it, but his wife insists.

Imagine spending $600,000 over the course of about 15 years just for private school. That money invested over 15 years would easily reach about $1.2 million, probably more than enough for a family of five to completely retire on comfortably. And he does lament how he'll have to continue working into the foreseeable future despite making lots of money.

For reference (as if it matters), they live in one of the nicest, highest cost of living areas in the entire country, with excellent (free) public schools. It's all Land Rovers, BMW's, Starbucks, and iPads. So it's not like it's a choice between private school and the perception of being shot and killed by drug dealers on your way to the public school in the slums. The biggest danger is buying and eating too many Girl Scout Cookies from the local cookie mom.

WOW.  I am horrified for your friend. 

I have met people who attended Catholic schools purely because they were significantly "better quality" than the local schools.  But that doesn't seem to be an issue, so what added value does your friend's wife think she is getting by sending her kids to a Catholic school?

And did your friend have a conversation at the get-go about how he is okay sending them to Catholic school at first, but not for highschool?  I have a friend who is recently married, and she has already had the discussion with her husband about how she wants to send their future kids to Catholic school for elementary and middle school, but not high school.  (Catholic school here is "only" $5k/year though).  Somewhere along the way, your friend must've had a conversation about when the expensive schooling was going to stop, right?  Can they actually afford $600k, PLUS whatever they want to save/spend on college?  Just the sheer numbers are mind boggling to me.

Also, Mannerheim, that's too funny about your "frugal" coworker and his twice daily Qdoba habit.  yeah, it's so frugal to eat out TWICE a day.

MooreBonds

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #111 on: December 30, 2012, 02:38:14 PM »
How does one get out of this?  We don't have anything anywhere near $600k in costs but my gf of 6 years and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of money / item (? not sure what to say here other than she keeps and accumulates everything, while I'm borderline minimalist) issues.  I'm debating making a post on this, but at what point does not budging on a monetary issue become a deal breaker?

I've struggled with this in past relationships, but from the surface, it sounds like your situation is more of a hoarder vs minimalist situation.....and a hoarder situation could be bad enough.

What specific budgeting items have you disagreed on? Are both of you ok if you agree to a household budget, with each person getting their splurge money to use however they want?

My deal-breakers that involved finances in the past were mainly related to not saving anything (2 relationships involved women who were earning about $65k/year as an occupational therapist in low cost of living Albuquerque, and a manager at Lily pulling in 6 figures - both with nothing saved). What percent does she save? What are her long range retirement plans? Is she ok if you save up boatloads more and retire early while she continues to work? (That last question might finally get her attention and make her start thinking)

BlueMR2

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #112 on: January 02, 2013, 10:54:02 AM »
Imagine spending $600,000 over the course of about 15 years just for private school. That money invested over 15 years would easily reach about $1.2 million, probably more than enough for a family of five to completely retire on comfortably. And he does lament how he'll have to continue working into the foreseeable future despite making lots of money.

I've got friends like that too.  He's making a good 60% MORE than I do, yet they live in a tiny little house on the wrong side of the tracks, deep underwater on the mortgage, with kids in private schools.  Sounds like they're digging a deeper hole with every passing year too.  Nothing can be done to help them yet as they don't see the problem (despite being very sad about not even having saved the minimum downpayment to move to their dream home, which might be just as well as it would quadruple his daily commute...).

DoubleDown

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #113 on: January 02, 2013, 11:35:49 AM »

WOW.  I am horrified for your friend. 

I have met people who attended Catholic schools purely because they were significantly "better quality" than the local schools.  But that doesn't seem to be an issue, so what added value does your friend's wife think she is getting by sending her kids to a Catholic school?

And did your friend have a conversation at the get-go about how he is okay sending them to Catholic school at first, but not for highschool?

Yes, it is horrifying. And clearly the school has no shortage of students signing up since they continue to operate and enroll students. I don't get it at all. I have no idea what value my friend's wife sees, other than she went to catholic schools growing up and figures it's the thing to do. They've had MANY discussions about it over the last couple of years, but there's no talking her out of it. If it was me, I'd put my foot down. But then again I've also been divorced so I'm probably not a great example ;-)

flygirl

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #114 on: January 03, 2013, 02:27:47 PM »
This is sorta the right thread for my um...exhaling. I went out to dinner (for a birthday) with a friend, his husband, and a handful of their friends. We went to a restaurant that I happen to actually love (for special occasions) but which is in the $20-30 entree range. Well, it started out with fancy drinks at the bar, and then when we were seated, it was all "oh let's get apps! let's get oysters!" which I know I can't really complain about it because it was a birthday AND a "big" birthday at that. But then my friend and his friends were all talking about all the restaurants they go to, and all the ones they want to try, and "oh have you been here?" and basically a lot of high-life-living. So the part I wanted to GRAB AND SHAKE about is this: I happen to know that this friend makes more than me, prob 5-10k, because we are in the same field and he has a higher degree than myself. His husband works 2 jobs to ALSO make more than me, and yet their conception of their finances is: "Oh, if [husband] just made a little bit more, we could really make ends meet". This is also the friend who saw me bike commuting so he bought a scooter to commute on while his husband used his junky old car, and then changed jobs and was too afraid to scooter to his new job, so they financed 2 cars. I like them a lot and they want to have kids and there's no polite way to be like "I think about your finances a lot, and you's doin it wrong".

NumberCruncher

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #115 on: January 04, 2013, 12:31:32 PM »
Not comedy but rather heartbreak since it's my very good friend involved -- We were discussing our kids' schooling a while ago and he told me how he and his wife would be sending their three children to private Catholic high school at a cost of $100,000 each, for a total of $300,000. That is on top of the approximately $300,000 they've already spent sending them to Catholic elementary/junior high school. In total they will spend $600,000 on private lower education; college will be additional. He doesn't want to do it, but his wife insists.

This sounds like my cousins...Of course, the reason you go to private high school is to get into a good college.

Total costs for attending Harvard 2012-2013: $54,496. (http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/cost.html)

Granted, most people get some form of financial aid or scholarships, but geez...
55k yearly expense*4 years college*3 kids = $660k for college

Unless they get some really good scholarships, looks like they can double that $600k for total education costs.

hoppy08520

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #116 on: January 19, 2013, 08:14:08 PM »
For instance, there are roughly 5,000 employees at my building. Walking through the parking lot, I'd wager that 80% of vehicles are less than 5 years old. Of those 80%, I'd estimate MSRP on 70% of them to be somewhere north of $30k, and there are a lot of expensive trucks and SUV's as well. I would say less than 1% of vehicles are truly "beaters" (over 10 years old, not in very good to excellent shape, etc.). When I am pi$$ed at my car for whatever reason I'll think "hey, all these people have newer BMW's, etc., why can't I?". That feeling goes away pretty quickly but for the average not-financially-savvy person, they buy in to it, and think that it's ok (which, it is, if you are financially stable, understand your long term goals, understand the trade-off's - which most people don't).
I hear you. My company parking garage is filled with BMWs. There's also a Trek FX bike (MSRP $700) locked to a railing. The Trek is mine and I paid $400 for it. I don't have a car payment, or insurance, or gas, or service on it. And I bet I enjoy my ride to work more than they do in their BMWs going 15 mph in the clogged highways. All these people with their expensive cars are nuts.

meadow lark

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #117 on: January 22, 2013, 10:48:14 AM »
That's weird.  I've never paid, although my current job requires you to pay if you bring family.  Like my family would want to go!

mpbaker22

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #118 on: January 22, 2013, 03:52:41 PM »
Anyone else hear the craziest things while at work?

Today it was, "Well the commutes gonna be a lot longer, but it was only $100 more per month for a 3 bedroom"

To respond to the original post ...
I heard this the other day, "They're trying to raise our retirement age to 70!"
Unfortunately, this person probably votes the same way I do (mostly Republican/Libertarian) then complains about all the people depending on the government for entitlements.  News Flash - you're in the same group of people!  If you didn't have your head so far up your a** you might be able to retire at 68 after saving two years of expenses!

the fixer

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #119 on: January 25, 2013, 12:25:55 PM »
My little overheard at work this morning was two coworkers comparing features of Rolexes and other expensive watches they either owned or wanted. Pre-MMM I thought about how it would be nice to have a good watch since it's one of the only jewelry pieces men get to wear. But years ago I had a $100 dive watch that I actually went diving with, and scratched up part of the bezel (against some rock; looked like I took a Dremel to it!) so I think that kept me from ever pulling the trigger on that idea.

happy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #120 on: January 26, 2013, 08:45:52 PM »
Not at work but "Overheard in the Carpark". Small child in child seat in shopping trolley (i.e. prob 3 or under), singing" Down, Down, prices are down" , making a thumbs down sign. This is the current jingle here for Coles supermarkets. Prices are down, so you can buy more. They learn young.

QBANG

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #121 on: January 26, 2013, 10:26:03 PM »
Oh I have quite a few of them...

Girl at work bought a brand new Range Rover HSE Sport, top of the line 80k SUV. Well she didn't have but for a month or so when it developed a squeak, a squeak that only she could hear mind you. She coned one coworker into running beside the car to listen for the squeak as she drove up and down the parking lot. Well a week later she shows up in a brand new BMW X5, she could not take the "noise" anymore!

So our head salesman happens to be married to girl in the above story. In the last four years has had two Vipers one he still owns, two Tahoe's (to pull the ski boat) 60k chopper motorcycle, a brand new AMG63 and a few weeks back he traded in the Tahoe for a new Range Rover!

One of the other sales guys in the office. He has two custom Harley's each cost him around 65k. He has a 50k toy hauler and a 65k Ford Super Duty truck to pull it with. The bikes are now for sale..... He wants to get into a new hobby..... Airplanes!

But this one takes the cake.....
This is my wife's bosses house.
http://www.luxuryrealestate.com/residential/1729199-dromborg-castle-2991-south-city-lake-road-fayetteville-arkansas-united-states
Her boss owns a very very high end wood work company. Long story short they have nearly killed a good company by siphoning money to pay for this house. Now it is for sale for much less then what they have in it. My wife was part of the design team, she said it cost upwards of 20M to build!


Self-employed-swami

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #122 on: January 27, 2013, 08:47:34 AM »
That is quite the house!

Miamoo

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #123 on: January 28, 2013, 11:40:40 AM »
Wow!  What a beautiful (choke) house!!!!!  It truly is beautiful but who wants to live in a museum?  (My take)

I've been reading this blog and this is off subject but here in Northern Illinois we have the Habitat for Humanity "Re-Stores" where contractors often donate their leftovers, companies donate their overstock etc.  DIY-ers get fantastic deals on good wood trim (we got 4 solid oak 4"x4"x36" high carved newel posts for $3.00/each  that hubby will use as legs for a kitchen island once we trip across something that will serve as the top for it - be it a discarded hunk of butcher block or a good piece of granite that can be framed - ReStore also has granite pieces for spit, we just haven't found the right one yet).

We also got 24 furnace filters for $2.00, a sleeve of 4 rolls of duct tape for $1.00, spray paint for .50/can and I forget what else.

The kitchen remodel comments started this.  We've also seen full layouts of some great, sturdy kitchen cabinets I'm talkin' like 14 cabinets for under $1,000. 

IF you're a DIY-er, there's no reason a decent kitchen remodel IMHO should cost more than $2,000 appliances extra.

I would LOVE to have Viking appliances but it's not in the budget.

The Bearded Bank Builder

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #124 on: January 28, 2013, 02:48:39 PM »
But this one takes the cake.....
This is my wife's bosses house.
http://www.luxuryrealestate.com/residential/1729199-dromborg-castle-2991-south-city-lake-road-fayetteville-arkansas-united-states
Her boss owns a very very high end wood work company. Long story short they have nearly killed a good company by siphoning money to pay for this house. Now it is for sale for much less then what they have in it. My wife was part of the design team, she said it cost upwards of 20M to build!

Wowza! This just further increases my respect for Warren Buffet, who is insanely rich and lives in this house, which is nice, but worth well under $1mil:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48336350/page/2

tmac

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #125 on: January 28, 2013, 02:54:45 PM »
Thanks for the link to Buffett's house. A few pages into that article, he said:

"I have every possession I want. I have a lot of friends who have a lot more possessions. But in some cases, I feel the possessions possess them, rather than the other way around.”

Totally true.

NumberCruncher

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #126 on: January 29, 2013, 06:07:54 AM »
Watched The Queen of Versailles the other week (Netflix streaming): http://gizmodo.com/5968932/the-queen-of-versailles-probably-the-best-thing-to-come-out-of-the-financial-crisis

Before the financial crisis, they were going to move from a ~60,000 sqft house to a ~90,000 sqft house because they were "bursting at the seams" in their old house. Apparently you need at least 10,000 sqft per kid or something to be comfortable.

They had enough money to pay for the 100 million dollar home outright, but took out a mortgage anyway and put that money into the business because of course it will continue to be insanely profitable forever and is a brilliant investment. Cue the great recession, and the house is sitting unfinished and unsold. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versailles_house

tmac

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #127 on: January 29, 2013, 06:12:42 AM »
I watched that with my kids last week. Yikes. What a crazy life they had.

My teenager was unimpressed that our house would fit inside their new house 45 times. He was however stunned when she said that their old house had 17 bathrooms, but the new one had 30.

jpluncford21

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #128 on: January 29, 2013, 08:18:36 AM »
We were talking about coffee makers the other day and a coworker was justifying his Keureg (sp?) purchase. During the conversation, my boss mentioned retiring early. I keep my mouth shut when it comes to these conversations, but my Keureg coworker spouted off something like, "good luck with that. Things come up. I've probably spent 30k dealing with my divorce over the last 5-6 years. I almost bit a hole in my lip trying to not say something about  the $200 coffee maker he just justified buying.

Self-employed-swami

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #129 on: January 29, 2013, 09:06:40 AM »
We were talking about coffee makers the other day and a coworker was justifying his Keureg (sp?) purchase. During the conversation, my boss mentioned retiring early. I keep my mouth shut when it comes to these conversations, but my Keureg coworker spouted off something like, "good luck with that. Things come up. I've probably spent 30k dealing with my divorce over the last 5-6 years. I almost bit a hole in my lip trying to not say something about  the $200 coffee maker he just justified buying.

I have a keurig.  It was only $65.00

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #130 on: January 29, 2013, 12:29:33 PM »
We were talking about coffee makers the other day and a coworker was justifying his Keureg (sp?) purchase. During the conversation, my boss mentioned retiring early. I keep my mouth shut when it comes to these conversations, but my Keureg coworker spouted off something like, "good luck with that. Things come up. I've probably spent 30k dealing with my divorce over the last 5-6 years. I almost bit a hole in my lip trying to not say something about  the $200 coffee maker he just justified buying.

I have a keurig.  It was only $65.00

My problem with these things has more to do with the ongoing costs (think cheap inkjet printers with expensive ink).  They are fun to operate though.

MM

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #131 on: February 06, 2013, 01:20:58 PM »
A guy at work said he spent $1500 on professional studio photos of his dog.  His DOG.  Seriously.  $1500.

ketchup

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #132 on: February 06, 2013, 02:29:07 PM »
A guy at work just bought a new big TV.  Another coworker lamented that he and his wife bought a 52" Sharp back when it was $2400 instead of something like $900 now.  OK fine, early adopters pay extra, but the cherry on top was how he ended it: "And we're probably still paying it off the credit card!"

chicagomeg

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #133 on: February 06, 2013, 03:39:58 PM »
I work in a professional office with lots of younger women. No one is married except our director, no kids. People are definitely still in the "figuring things out" stage of life. Lately, I've started unabashedly saying "I can't go out to eat, it's not in the budget" or "I love this sweater but it's equivalent to 2 months of my shopping budget" etc. Not in a sanctimonious way, just conversationally. Two things have occurred:

3 of my coworkers have started using Mint.com to track expenses. Woot, such a good first step in my opinion!
I am now the resident finance/tax guru. Since I'm going back to school for accounting & love giving advice on all things personal finance, this makes me super duper happy.

Just wanted to share this little bit of success in light of all the depressing crap on this thread.

gooki

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #134 on: February 07, 2013, 12:42:58 AM »
A guy at work said he spent $1500 on professional studio photos of his dog.  His DOG.  Seriously.  $1500.

Fucking lol.

Mlipps - that's awesome.

mpbaker22

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #135 on: February 07, 2013, 11:48:18 AM »
Another Great overheard at work -
Background - My work is moving some people to a different location ~10 miles away.  I noted that for some people, the extra 10 miles could be offset by a slightly lower paying job closer to home.  The woman I was talking to told me to not get her started on the cost of commuting, acting as if it wasn't her choice to pay the cost!

Jamesqf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #136 on: February 07, 2013, 12:04:29 PM »
A guy at work said he spent $1500 on professional studio photos of his dog.  His DOG.  Seriously.  $1500.

What's the problem there?  Assuming you are willing to pay $1500 for professional studio photos of anything, why not the dog?

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #137 on: February 07, 2013, 01:33:02 PM »
A guy at work said he spent $1500 on professional studio photos of his dog.  His DOG.  Seriously.  $1500.

What's the problem there?  Assuming you are willing to pay $1500 for professional studio photos of anything, why not the dog?

Frankly, he's going to need those headshots if he's going to get into dog modeling or film.  Maybe a bit of stage work?  Who knows.

AJ

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #138 on: February 07, 2013, 03:26:19 PM »
Two things have occurred:
...
I am now the resident finance/tax guru. Since I'm going back to school for accounting & love giving advice on all things personal finance, this makes me super duper happy.

Just wanted to share this little bit of success in light of all the depressing crap on this thread.

Now that you mention it, something similar has been happening to DH and I lately. Where we used to be the butt of all manner of penny-pincher and miser joke, over the last few months several of our friends have asked us to go over their budgets with them, or to explain CDs and mutual funds to them, and give advice on what they should do. I'm thinking it must be when we bought our fourth house that people started to realize maybe there was something to this whole "saving" thing after all :-P

cats

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #139 on: February 08, 2013, 10:09:09 AM »
Oh man, the office and the things I overhear....

There are two women in the set of cubes over from mine who are ALWAYS talking about their money woes.  One is currently working on a graduate degree in psychology and is often mentioning how huge her loans are going to be.  But...she goes out to lunch every day (though, a mark in her favor, she does bike to work, probably saving $60-$100/month in transit fare).

However, she's really pretty okay compared to her co-worker.  This woman is currently working as a temp after a long stint of unemployment.  Her husband has also not had steady employment for quite a while (he got a few weeks work doing something election related last fall).  At some point in the past she went to law school and now has law school loans that are "larger than my mortgage" (and this is the SF bay area, so I doubt her mortgage is all that small).  But she "hated practicing law" so she's instead working as a temp.  She recently got a speeding ticket and was moaning that her insurance was going to go back up "again" after she had just gotten it down to something she could "afford" when one of her older tickets (yes, there is more than one!) went off her record.  She also regularly goes shopping on her lunch break, and she and her husband go up to Reno for a little gambling.  Though the gambling came in handy recently when she got landed with a large doctor's bill and then managed to win a few hands of blackjack the next weekend to pay it off....


Then there's another guy who makes at least $20k more per year than I do, has been working at the company for 20+ years, and who is always on the phone moaning about how long he's going to have to work before he can retire, how hard it is to make ends meet, etc.  We have a defined benefit pension plan, a 401k program with a 6% match, insanely low health insurance premiums, and pretty good salaries for the area.  I just roll my eyes at that one.

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #140 on: February 08, 2013, 11:09:36 AM »
Not overheard at work, per se.  But I'm going on a cruise, and the following was posted on the message board:

Quote
Bad news!
So my tax refund is only about half of what I expected it to be (not even enough to book the trip) I should have taken out taxes while unemployed, but who honestly does that? So no cruise for me next month, I'll cancel my vacation time. I'll probably still on the Halloween cruise.

Maybe just buy an iPod nano or iPad mini. At least I have enough to buy something!

chucklesmcgee

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #141 on: February 08, 2013, 12:15:05 PM »
Not overheard at work, per se.  But I'm going on a cruise, and the following was posted on the message board:

Quote
Bad news!
So my tax refund is only about half of what I expected it to be (not even enough to book the trip) I should have taken out taxes while unemployed, but who honestly does that? So no cruise for me next month, I'll cancel my vacation time. I'll probably still on the Halloween cruise.

Maybe just buy an iPod nano or iPad mini. At least I have enough to buy something!

That's just hilariously sad. IF I HAVE MONEY I GOTZA SPENT IT

kudy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #142 on: February 08, 2013, 12:21:41 PM »
Not overheard at work, per se.  But I'm going on a cruise...

I've been on a few cruises, and enjoyed it each time, but sometimes it's hard to deal with the rampant over-indulgence and consumerism that seems to happen on the ships - what are your thoughts regarding cruising + mustachianism? Maybe a new thread would be good...

spider1204

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #143 on: February 08, 2013, 02:20:04 PM »
Quote
I've been on a few cruises, and enjoyed it each time, but sometimes it's hard to deal with the rampant over-indulgence and consumerism that seems to happen on the ships - what are your thoughts regarding cruising + mustachianism? Maybe a new thread would be good...

I've been thinking that maybe working a cruise ship might potentially be a fun semi-retirement idea, something to do while you let your investments compound a little bit.

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #144 on: February 08, 2013, 04:11:39 PM »
Quote
I've been on a few cruises, and enjoyed it each time, but sometimes it's hard to deal with the rampant over-indulgence and consumerism that seems to happen on the ships - what are your thoughts regarding cruising + mustachianism? Maybe a new thread would be good...

I've been thinking that maybe working a cruise ship might potentially be a fun semi-retirement idea, something to do while you let your investments compound a little bit.

I thought about this, but apparently working conditions are truly terrible because they operate under foreign flags.  It's decent for higher-ranking positions, though... like maybe an IT position or something like that.  But then apparently the lowly staff (some of which aren't even allowed into passenger areas) will resent you.

The best job I heard of was someone managing a jewelry store for for a third-party tenant.  They got real passenger lodging, passenger run of the ship (i.e. they could use the gym, pools, etc.), and the store closed while in port so they could actually go out and enjoy the port.

Dee

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #145 on: February 08, 2013, 05:06:57 PM »
Some time ago (maybe a couple of months?), one colleague told a number of us that he'd just been informed that our pay services had just realized that they hadn't been deducting his union dues from his pay for a lengthy period (say, six months or so). He hadn't noticed.

Fine. I wouldn't be posting if it were just that. But it wasn't. The other day, another colleague (who'd definitely heard about the first colleague's missing deductions) wanted to support someone's candidacy to the union executive. When she tried to do so, the union informed her that she couldn't because she wasn't a member in good standing -- her unions dues hadn't been paid since last March.

(N.B. under the system where we are, the employer has the obligation of taking the appropriate deduction from the employees' pay and remitting the amounts to the union.)

Today, I asked yet another colleague if she would vote for the colleague who was running for the executive, mentioning we weren't sure whether the people whose dues hadn't been paid would be able to vote. So, only at that point did she pull out some pay stubs -- still in their sealed envelopes -- to check whether her union dues were being deducted.

I couldn't believe that everyone hadn't checked their stubs within a few days of finding out of the first colleague! I couldn't believe the collection of sealed envelopes and unseen stubs. Both these colleagues needed guidance in figuring out where, on the pay stub, the box was in which union dues were indicated.

spider1204

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #146 on: February 08, 2013, 05:22:45 PM »
Quote
Quote
Quote
I've been on a few cruises, and enjoyed it each time, but sometimes it's hard to deal with the rampant over-indulgence and consumerism that seems to happen on the ships - what are your thoughts regarding cruising + mustachianism? Maybe a new thread would be good...
I've been thinking that maybe working a cruise ship might potentially be a fun semi-retirement idea, something to do while you let your investments compound a little bit.
I thought about this, but apparently working conditions are truly terrible because they operate under foreign flags.  It's decent for higher-ranking positions, though... like maybe an IT position or something like that.  But then apparently the lowly staff (some of which aren't even allowed into passenger areas) will resent you.

The best job I heard of was someone managing a jewelry store for for a third-party tenant.  They got real passenger lodging, passenger run of the ship (i.e. they could use the gym, pools, etc.), and the store closed while in port so they could actually go out and enjoy the port.

Where did you hear about this, I'd be interested in learning more, ya now that I think about it can definitely see how it would be easy to get away with shitty working conditions in that kinda environment.  Definitely would only want to do it, if I was getting full passenger access.

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #147 on: February 08, 2013, 05:37:48 PM »


Where did you hear about this, I'd be interested in learning more, ya now that I think about it can definitely see how it would be easy to get away with shitty working conditions in that kinda environment.  Definitely would only want to do it, if I was getting full passenger access.

Basically random Googling.  This page seems to lay it out nicely:

http://www.cruisemates.com/articles/feature/cruiseshipwork.cfm

No Name Guy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #148 on: February 08, 2013, 05:44:05 PM »
I moved buildings a few months ago.....but at the old building there was a fellow a couple cubes over who's (probably college age) son was an absolute train wreck.  I don't know how many times I heard this guy lecturing the kid on the phone about not spending money he didn't have.  Many a time he was transferring $10 (yes, ten fucking dollars) to the kid's account to keep it from being over drawn because the flake spent $8 when he had only $3 in the account.  What a dumb ass kid.  And the guy wasn't helping him by repeatedly bailing him out. 

Oh, and pops was also lecturing the kid all the time about turning in his papers, etc on time.  Flush the tuition down the toilet as well. 

MooreBonds

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #149 on: February 09, 2013, 11:36:14 AM »
There are two women in the set of cubes over from mine who are ALWAYS talking about their money woes.  One is currently working on a graduate degree in psychology and is often mentioning how huge her loans are going to be.  But...she goes out to lunch every day.

It just makes me scratch my head as well.

People have a simple inability to understand simple addition. It's a foreign concept to see how spending $10/day for lunch (when you can bring something from home for $2) adds up to $2,800/year. Plus the extra calories.

And when every aspect of their life is like that ("I bought ____ for just $4"), they never see how 'just' $5 here and there ends up keeping them on the verge of financial disaster.