Author Topic: Overheard at Work  (Read 13253060 times)

northernlights

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10300 on: September 04, 2015, 01:52:28 PM »
I was telling a notoriously spendypants coworker about a gorgeous lake house that's for sale and how I wished I'd didn't feel the need to be responsible with money so I could buy it. She said I should cut my retirement contributions to afford it.

I will say that living near a lake (not lakeside but has a good view of it) is pretty sweet and though I don't know how much I would be willing to pay for proximity to a lake, it is something I plan to look for if I ever need to buy another house or move.

It is definitely a longterm goal of ours, but not at the expense of retirement savings. My husband and I both work in walking distance to Lake Michigan so we get to see plenty of it during the workday.

This coworker is saving $65/paycheck to retirement. I'm saving $465. I look forward to walking out of here 10 years earlier than her.

KittyCat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10301 on: September 04, 2015, 04:24:49 PM »
It is definitely a longterm goal of ours, but not at the expense of retirement savings. My husband and I both work in walking distance to Lake Michigan so we get to see plenty of it during the workday.

This coworker is saving $65/paycheck to retirement. I'm saving $465. I look forward to walking out of here 10 years earlier than her.
On the plus side, at least she is putting a positive sum towards her retirement, which is a lot more than can be said about some of the people mentioned in the stories here unfortunately.

Seppia

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10302 on: September 04, 2015, 07:56:09 PM »
With $65 per paycheck they have a long way to go though, that's not even $1600 per year.

I regularly hear horrific stories, a good friend of mine has a colleague that is contributing zero to his 401k, leaving a fat 7% match from the company on the table, because "I can't afford it".
Drives a gigantic German suv bought new two years ago.

Silverado

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10303 on: September 05, 2015, 06:27:12 AM »
MOD NOTE: Please try and keep to the Original topic of "Overheard at Work" If you feel the need to delve deeply into another topic, create a separate thread. Thanks.


Thank you for this. So many great threads are hijacked by other topics that have nothing to do with what the thread is about.

Like your reply, and my reply. This is like a reply-to-all reply.

RyanAtTanagra

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10304 on: September 05, 2015, 09:24:28 AM »
Threads get boring, stagnate, and die pretty quick if you force them to stay on topic.  Try doing that in real life.  'Sorry we were talking about X, please stay on topic.  If you would like to start a new conversation go over there.'

That said this 214 page thread has benefited from being reigned in from time to time when the derail starts going nowhere.

shelivesthedream

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10305 on: September 06, 2015, 02:40:10 AM »
I overheard someone buying a Playstation (or similar, I can't tell). They didn't get another controller because it was £14.99 and that was too much money. Then they decided to pay by monthly payment. I didn't catch the whole of it, but the options were either £X a month for three years or £2.29 a month for X years. With interest, they could be paying for this games console for a DECADE!

MgoSam

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10306 on: September 06, 2015, 05:48:22 AM »
I was telling a notoriously spendypants coworker about a gorgeous lake house that's for sale and how I wished I'd didn't feel the need to be responsible with money so I could buy it. She said I should cut my retirement contributions to afford it.

I will say that living near a lake (not lakeside but has a good view of it) is pretty sweet and though I don't know how much I would be willing to pay for proximity to a lake, it is something I plan to look for if I ever need to buy another house or move.

When we lived near a lake, it regularly came for a visit in our basement. It was quite unpleasant.

Yikes, that would be terrible. Unless of course you lived at this place http://www.fallingwater.org/

I'm a decently far enough away to avoid any lake water.

zephyr911

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10307 on: September 06, 2015, 09:52:07 AM »
With $65 per paycheck they have a long way to go though, that's not even $1600 per year.

I regularly hear horrific stories, a good friend of mine has a colleague that is contributing zero to his 401k, leaving a fat 7% match from the company on the table, because "I can't afford it".
Drives a gigantic German suv bought new two years ago.
One more component to add to The True Cost of Commuting, amirite? :D

When we lived near a lake, it regularly came for a visit in our basement. It was quite unpleasant.
You can't really blame the lake for the builder's poor site planning.

I overheard someone buying a Playstation (or similar, I can't tell). They didn't get another controller because it was £14.99 and that was too much money. Then they decided to pay by monthly payment. I didn't catch the whole of it, but the options were either £X a month for three years or £2.29 a month for X years. With interest, they could be paying for this games console for a DECADE!
What the everloving fuck??
« Last Edit: September 06, 2015, 09:55:30 AM by zephyr911 »

Seppia

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10308 on: September 06, 2015, 12:42:38 PM »

With $65 per paycheck they have a long way to go though, that's not even $1600 per year.

I regularly hear horrific stories, a good friend of mine has a colleague that is contributing zero to his 401k, leaving a fat 7% match from the company on the table, because "I can't afford it".
Drives a gigantic German suv bought new two years ago.
One more component to add to The True Cost of Commuting, amirite? :D

It's incredible, really.
The fact that someone with a $100k salary cannot figure out a way to do without a little above $200 net per paycheck to get $583 in a 401k in exchange blows my mind.

I say this all the time, the main issue with people today is that nobody seems to be able to do math.

ender

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10309 on: September 06, 2015, 09:05:33 PM »
I say this all the time, the main issue with people today is that nobody seems to be able to do math.

This reminds me of a short video I can't find now. The basic premise is a fairly parody based video talking about how to save and buy things, and constantly "but what if you don't have the money?" then "don't buy it!"

ender

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10310 on: September 06, 2015, 09:08:33 PM »
I say this all the time, the main issue with people today is that nobody seems to be able to do math.

This reminds me of a short video I can't find now. The basic premise is a fairly parody based video talking about how to save and buy things, and constantly "but what if you don't have the money?" then "don't buy it!"

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/dont-buy-stuff/n12020

YES!

Suncoast

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10311 on: September 07, 2015, 09:32:54 AM »
I say this all the time, the main issue with people today is that nobody seems to be able to do math.

This reminds me of a short video I can't find now. The basic premise is a fairly parody based video talking about how to save and buy things, and constantly "but what if you don't have the money?" then "don't buy it!"

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/dont-buy-stuff/n12020

That is great.

jinga nation

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10312 on: September 08, 2015, 09:02:50 AM »

With $65 per paycheck they have a long way to go though, that's not even $1600 per year.

I regularly hear horrific stories, a good friend of mine has a colleague that is contributing zero to his 401k, leaving a fat 7% match from the company on the table, because "I can't afford it".
Drives a gigantic German suv bought new two years ago.
One more component to add to The True Cost of Commuting, amirite? :D

It's incredible, really.
The fact that someone with a $100k salary cannot figure out a way to do without a little above $200 net per paycheck to get $583 in a 401k in exchange blows my mind.

I say this all the time, the main issue with people today is that nobody seems to be able to do math.

The materialism culture says that you should buy a depreciating asset for $500/month instead of putting that money in an index fund.
How dare you drive a 7+ years old vehicle and not have a monthly payment? 
We're doomed as a species. Even the Chinese and Indian savers are becoming spendypants.
leave the logic at the door. it isn't required for this planet anymore.

Maybe they are fake Zen Buddhists and living in the present moment.
But actions have consequences.

lifeinhd

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10313 on: September 08, 2015, 11:02:43 AM »
Coworker just walked in and announced that she bought a new car. Her old Ford Expedition was starting to have problems (to the tune of $600) she obviously the best option was to buy a new Ford Explorer! She said "it's really nice switching to a smaller car," and she's excited about the excellent 18/25 MPG!

Wait, which one gets 18/25? I'm seeing 17/24 mpg for the FWD model, a little worse for the AWD model...

I guess my Subaru Legacy GT, a turbocharged AWD beast that goes 0-60 mph in under 6 seconds, gets excellent fuel economy too...

The 2016s with the Ecoboost get 19/28. I believe she got a 2015, but yeah, looking now I have no idea where she got those numbers.

KittyCat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10314 on: September 08, 2015, 11:13:54 AM »
I overheard someone buying a Playstation (or similar, I can't tell). They didn't get another controller because it was £14.99 and that was too much money. Then they decided to pay by monthly payment. I didn't catch the whole of it, but the options were either £X a month for three years or £2.29 a month for X years. With interest, they could be paying for this games console for a DECADE!
YIKES! Monthly payments on a gaming system!

lifeinhd

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10315 on: September 08, 2015, 11:58:55 AM »
A car 'accident' isn't an accident.  That's quite a misnomer.  It's always brought about by a mistake made by one or both of the drivers involved.  They are all caused intentionally.

So the accident caused by my dad's brakes going out right as he was approaching a red light (due to a shop's poor work) was totally intentional on his part?

HairyUpperLip

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10316 on: September 08, 2015, 12:44:59 PM »
A car 'accident' isn't an accident.  That's quite a misnomer.  It's always brought about by a mistake made by one or both of the drivers involved.  They are all caused intentionally.

So the accident caused by my dad's brakes going out right as he was approaching a red light (due to a shop's poor work) was totally intentional on his part?

I don't think it's your dad's fault. I think it's your fault. You should have changed the brakes for your dad. :p

jk man, but seriously please don't derail the thread again tho. :)

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10317 on: September 08, 2015, 01:53:46 PM »
I was telling a notoriously spendypants coworker about a gorgeous lake house that's for sale and how I wished I'd didn't feel the need to be responsible with money so I could buy it. She said I should cut my retirement contributions to afford it.

I will say that living near a lake (not lakeside but has a good view of it) is pretty sweet and though I don't know how much I would be willing to pay for proximity to a lake, it is something I plan to look for if I ever need to buy another house or move.

When we lived near a lake, it regularly came for a visit in our basement. It was quite unpleasant.

Yikes, that would be terrible. Unless of course you lived at this place http://www.fallingwater.org/

I'm a decently far enough away to avoid any lake water.

Yeah houses don't have to have basements. 

I'm a red panda

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10318 on: September 08, 2015, 02:00:53 PM »

Yeah houses don't have to have basements.

Though if you are in an area where basements are ubiquitous, you'll see very little sympathy when you die in a tornado because you skipped out.



ender

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10319 on: September 08, 2015, 03:49:19 PM »

Yeah houses don't have to have basements.

Though if you are in an area where basements are ubiquitous, you'll see very little sympathy when you die in a tornado because you skipped out.

Course, if you're dead, you won't care whether you get sympathy or not ;)

I'm a red panda

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10320 on: September 08, 2015, 03:58:08 PM »

Course, if you're dead, you won't care whether you get sympathy or not ;)

Haven't been dead yet, so I have no idea how much I will or won't care. Different afterlife theories give me different views of what might happen.

dragoncar

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10321 on: September 08, 2015, 08:17:25 PM »

Yeah houses don't have to have basements.

Though if you are in an area where basements are ubiquitous, you'll see very little sympathy when you die in a tornado because you skipped out.

Sounds like a storm shelter would be more appropriate
« Last Edit: September 08, 2015, 08:19:40 PM by dragoncar »

Dollar Slice

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10322 on: September 08, 2015, 08:30:46 PM »
OK, not my work but someone else's work and retirement-related... and trying to help get the thread back on track ;-)

I was asking after someone I know who was very ill in the hospital recently... 71 years old. Told he's doing much better "he's back at work and everything, even though they said he could work at home if he needs to."

Me: "He's at work!? But I thought he finally retired!"

"Yeah, they asked him to come back at 75% of his original pay, so now he's working again..."

druth

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10323 on: September 10, 2015, 09:38:10 AM »
"Yeah, they asked him to come back at 75% of his original pay, so now he's working again..."

I have heard of coming back for more pay... Why would you come back for less?  Hopefully he is only working one or two days a week???

MgoSam

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10324 on: September 10, 2015, 09:42:48 AM »
"Yeah, they asked him to come back at 75% of his original pay, so now he's working again..."

I have heard of coming back for more pay... Why would you come back for less?  Hopefully he is only working one or two days a week???

Yeah, is he working the same or less or something? Or is there a chance that he is bored or misses working and thus might want to come back? I have heard of someone coming back for less wage because they don't really need the money and the office doesn't necessarily need them as much as they did before they retired.

Dollar Slice

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10325 on: September 10, 2015, 10:08:27 AM »
Apparently the place where he worked said they really needed him, and that was all the money they could scrape up to pay him. I'm sure the reason he agreed to it is because he feels like no one can replace him and he's doing important work (at a non-profit org).

The part that really gets me is that he is in his 70s, "retired" and was just in the hospital for a week for something very serious, and he STILL can't manage to take some time off! And it's not like he has an easy office job, either. He travels to some of the worst places in the world just about every month, it seems like.

CabinetGuy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10326 on: September 10, 2015, 12:39:19 PM »
Was talking to a coworker of sorts the other day.  She is getting excited about visiting her sister in Seattle who is a travelling nurse.  She goes on to tell me that her sister has little to no living expenses, and that she actually gets paid a stipend above and beyond her salary for these expenses.

I was like holy shit!  This girls got it figured out!  She's probably saving  at least a couple grand a month.  Coworker goes on to tell me that their father is a financial advisor...so I'm like damn, she's set!  Then she drops this "yeah, my dad has her to put 500.00 a month away for savings, and if there's any money left at the end of the month, she can add to it...

At least she's saving...

Avidconsumer

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10327 on: September 10, 2015, 02:11:23 PM »
I was front ended one time by someone at a traffic light who decided to reverse because they were in the wrong lane. Am I at fault? Possibly as they were in a hummer with about 2% vision of the car behind. That was a new danger to me, so I guess I'm learning. I honestly believe that the majority of drivers shouldn't be allowed to drive.

One of the things I do when driving is never change lane if another car two lanes over can enter at the same point.

JLee

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10328 on: September 10, 2015, 02:22:50 PM »
I was front ended one time by someone at a traffic light who decided to reverse because they were in the wrong lane. Am I at fault? Possibly as they were in a hummer with about 2% vision of the car behind. That was a new danger to me, so I guess I'm learning. I honestly believe that the majority of drivers shouldn't be allowed to drive.

One of the things I do when driving is never change lane if another car two lanes over can enter at the same point.

Generally any driver backing up is going to be the one at fault.

HairyUpperLip

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10329 on: September 10, 2015, 02:26:43 PM »
Was talking to a coworker of sorts the other day.  She is getting excited about visiting her sister in Seattle who is a travelling nurse.  She goes on to tell me that her sister has little to no living expenses, and that she actually gets paid a stipend above and beyond her salary for these expenses.

I was like holy shit!  This girls got it figured out!  She's probably saving  at least a couple grand a month.  Coworker goes on to tell me that their father is a financial advisor...so I'm like damn, she's set!  Then she drops this "yeah, my dad has her to put 500.00 a month away for savings, and if there's any money left at the end of the month, she can add to it...

At least she's saving...

wow, he must fucking suck at his job.

dsmexpat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10330 on: September 10, 2015, 03:29:41 PM »
The old head of our department is an incompetent who has near bankrupted us. We have an energetic new head of department who was brought in to try and keep us afloat but unfortunately due to public sector issues the old head couldn't be fired and was therefore promoted to supreme overseer of the department with responsibility for doing nothing. He emails me asking me to buy a staff member who I've never heard of a new MacBook. I mention that we have a surplus of computers lying around and that perhaps she could have my work MacBook if she really needs one as I don't really use it. This would save us $1400 and I know money in tight in the department, part of my job description is to try not to spend it. He takes offence to this and he and the new head get into an argument about it.

It turns out that the woman I was meant to buy a MacBook for isn't in our department and therefore can't use my MacBook because mine is a departmental MacBook (But apparently can use our money? It's unclear.)
It also turns out that she already has her own MacBook, but the keyboard is dirty. She mentioned she would like a new one.
Also the account that I was to buy it from has money sitting around idle in it and the old head doesn't like that because he's afraid that if we don't buy something on the account soon someone will think that we don't want or need the money that we're not using or spending. Therefore to show the world how much we need that money he plans to spend some of it on things that we definitely don't need.

I am now buying her the MacBook.

You taxpayers can take solace in the fact that at least we're aware of our crimes here.

KittyCat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10331 on: September 10, 2015, 03:42:41 PM »
The old head of our department is an incompetent who has near bankrupted us. We have an energetic new head of department who was brought in to try and keep us afloat but unfortunately due to public sector issues the old head couldn't be fired and was therefore promoted to supreme overseer of the department with responsibility for doing nothing. He emails me asking me to buy a staff member who I've never heard of a new MacBook. I mention that we have a surplus of computers lying around and that perhaps she could have my work MacBook if she really needs one as I don't really use it. This would save us $1400 and I know money in tight in the department, part of my job description is to try not to spend it. He takes offence to this and he and the new head get into an argument about it.

It turns out that the woman I was meant to buy a MacBook for isn't in our department and therefore can't use my MacBook because mine is a departmental MacBook (But apparently can use our money? It's unclear.)
It also turns out that she already has her own MacBook, but the keyboard is dirty. She mentioned she would like a new one.
Also the account that I was to buy it from has money sitting around idle in it and the old head doesn't like that because he's afraid that if we don't buy something on the account soon someone will think that we don't want or need the money that we're not using or spending. Therefore to show the world how much we need that money he plans to spend some of it on things that we definitely don't need.

I am now buying her the MacBook.

You taxpayers can take solace in the fact that at least we're aware of our crimes here.
Yeesh, ouch! Well, at least you gave it a good effort! Some of you are aware of the crimes ;)

FatCat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10332 on: September 10, 2015, 03:55:03 PM »
Also the account that I was to buy it from has money sitting around idle in it and the old head doesn't like that because he's afraid that if we don't buy something on the account soon someone will think that we don't want or need the money that we're not using or spending. Therefore to show the world how much we need that money he plans to spend some of it on things that we definitely don't need.

Is this a real concern? If idle money sits too long does someone cut back the department funding?

I know at some companies if you don't spend all the money they give your department then you get less funding the next year. Mostly because plenty of other departments will claim to not have enough funding so some of your department's funds will be allocated to them instead. You reach equilibrium once everyone claims to be underfunded.

KittyCat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10333 on: September 10, 2015, 04:07:36 PM »
Is this a real concern? If idle money sits too long does someone cut back the department funding?

I know at some companies if you don't spend all the money they give your department then you get less funding the next year. Mostly because plenty of other departments will claim to not have enough funding so some of your department's funds will be allocated to them instead. You reach equilibrium once everyone claims to be underfunded.
That happened to the department I worked at the last place I worked. I was working on a project that needed more capital than usual, but due to not using the entire budget in 2013, the company split (another reason; the company didn't split because of underused budget) , and the reorganization, the department's budget over the course of following two years were not enough for the project I was working on.

dsmexpat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10334 on: September 10, 2015, 04:09:01 PM »
Nope. We get our money from the State government and from grants. Once it's ours it's ours and we fight with everyone else for limited money all the time regardless of how much we have. He probably just already told her he'd hook her up with one and doesn't want to look bad.

Seppia

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10335 on: September 10, 2015, 04:20:51 PM »
Maybe he's getting some benefit from it
That's so sad

terrier56

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10336 on: September 10, 2015, 05:11:24 PM »
cw: I just impulse bought a drone last night(a little over $1k). Whats your biggest impulse buy?
me: Ummm ill have to get back to you.

how is impulse buying different from regualar buying? I'm pretty sure i just regular buy my things...

BarkyardBQ

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10337 on: September 10, 2015, 05:13:02 PM »
cw: I just impulse bought a drone last night(a little over $1k). Whats your biggest impulse buy?
me: Ummm ill have to get back to you.

how is impulse buying different from regualar buying? I'm pretty sure i just regular buy my things...

No research, no comparison, no saving, no consideration of cash flow. Basically dumb.

KittyCat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10338 on: September 10, 2015, 05:22:35 PM »
cw: I just impulse bought a drone last night(a little over $1k). Whats your biggest impulse buy?
me: Ummm ill have to get back to you.

how is impulse buying different from regualar buying? I'm pretty sure i just regular buy my things...
To add to the definition, basically, you see it and then buy it then and there.

FatCat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10339 on: September 10, 2015, 05:48:12 PM »
cw: I just impulse bought a drone last night(a little over $1k). Whats your biggest impulse buy?
me: Ummm ill have to get back to you.

how is impulse buying different from regualar buying? I'm pretty sure i just regular buy my things...

Buying an item you did neither particularly wanted nor needed (and might not even ever use) just because you just saw it one day and thought, "Oh that's cool!" and buy it right at that moment without even giving it a second thought.

My impulse buys are usually $1 items....

Psychstache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10340 on: September 10, 2015, 07:07:25 PM »
Also the account that I was to buy it from has money sitting around idle in it and the old head doesn't like that because he's afraid that if we don't buy something on the account soon someone will think that we don't want or need the money that we're not using or spending. Therefore to show the world how much we need that money he plans to spend some of it on things that we definitely don't need.

Is this a real concern? If idle money sits too long does someone cut back the department funding?

I know at some companies if you don't spend all the money they give your department then you get less funding the next year. Mostly because plenty of other departments will claim to not have enough funding so some of your department's funds will be allocated to them instead. You reach equilibrium once everyone claims to be underfunded.

This is how it works in a school district. Use it or lose it and see your budget get slashed next year. Dumb system and encourages buying random crap in April.

MoonShadow

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10341 on: September 10, 2015, 07:34:35 PM »
Also the account that I was to buy it from has money sitting around idle in it and the old head doesn't like that because he's afraid that if we don't buy something on the account soon someone will think that we don't want or need the money that we're not using or spending. Therefore to show the world how much we need that money he plans to spend some of it on things that we definitely don't need.

Is this a real concern? If idle money sits too long does someone cut back the department funding?

I know at some companies if you don't spend all the money they give your department then you get less funding the next year. Mostly because plenty of other departments will claim to not have enough funding so some of your department's funds will be allocated to them instead. You reach equilibrium once everyone claims to be underfunded.

This is how it works in a school district. Use it or lose it and see your budget get slashed next year.

And this is how it works in the military.  I've got some stories about how our budget was consumed near the end of a quarter that would make the average 'fiscal conservative' taxpayer think very hard about defense being exempt from budget cuts.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10342 on: September 10, 2015, 07:39:24 PM »
And no planning for the next year.  We saved some of our budget for May/June purchases, since if we waited until after the summer break we would not have lab supplies in time.  We had to guard it or our Dean would "give" it to other departments that had not planned ahead.

WGH

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10343 on: September 10, 2015, 08:52:21 PM »
Years ago: Over a couple months, we had gotten many notices that our company was going to automatically enroll all employees in the 403b with a 3% deductions, unless you opted out. I had read over them, understood, and discarded the notices.  I sort of forgot about when it would happen because it won't change things for me.

One payday, a coworker is freaking out.  Her paycheck is less than normal and she doesn't know why. She's on hold with HR. I recall all these emails and letters and mention it. She can't believe they would do something like that to her. She won't be able to pay her bills. She said she "had to live on credit cards in grad school" like it was something everyone does.

She had expensive hobbies, pets, and would get excited when her parents visited because they'd take her grocery shopping and she could buy lunch meat and oreos.

I work in economic development and we have a loan program that provides some principal forgiveness for meeting certain covenants like job creation. We also try to stick in stuff like mandatory annual training on the company retirement program. My suggestion was to require a similar opt out plan. As we all know studies show that people are lazy and won't opt in with HR but once in they are in they are to lazy to opt out either. But no one is forcing you you can always get out.

Anyways two different companies told us that they would walk away from a loan if required to do this. I was flabbergasted and asked why. Both times it's because their employees would literally strike or cause a similar commotion.

Just think if people had the option to opt out of SS how many would do it?

Quote
Social Security made up 50 percent or more of the retirement income of 66 percent of Americans age 65 and older in 2009, up from 64 percent in 2008. And more than a third of retirees (35 percent) receive 90 percent or more of their income as a monthly payment from the Social Security Administration.

http://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/articles/2011/08/30/retirees-increasingly-depending-on-social-security

Scary

jordanread

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10344 on: September 10, 2015, 09:10:11 PM »
Just think if people had the option to opt out of SS how many would do it?

Quote
Social Security made up 50 percent or more of the retirement income of 66 percent of Americans age 65 and older in 2009, up from 64 percent in 2008. And more than a third of retirees (35 percent) receive 90 percent or more of their income as a monthly payment from the Social Security Administration.

http://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/articles/2011/08/30/retirees-increasingly-depending-on-social-security

Scary

I'd opt out for sure. I count taxes as money spent, so my savings rate would increase even more!!!

nobodyspecial

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10345 on: September 10, 2015, 09:37:25 PM »
I'd opt out for sure. I count taxes as money spent, so my savings rate would increase even more!!!
Obviosuly everybody who isn't retired or unemployed should opt out of social security

theknitcycle

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10346 on: September 10, 2015, 10:00:56 PM »
One of my coworkers -- I can scarcely get through a day without there being something that you guys would enjoy.

Since my last post here, she has gotten engaged, so that's fun.  She talked for a few weeks about getting married in a local park, something simple and inexpensive.  Chafed at the idea that if she wanted to have a specific area of the park reserved on a specific day, she'd have to pay the parks department a reservation fee of around $250.  Then she toured a venue two hours away one weekend, and came back talking about how it was not a good deal at all.  $2,500 for the day and it's a long drive and they don't even handle the food, it's just a big field.  Compared to that, it seemed like such a better deal to hold the wedding and reception at this local restaurant/hotel, where it would only cost $4,000 including an appetizer bar (but not including the alcohol, of which there will surely be highly marked-up rivers).  So she booked that one.

The dress, kind of the same thing.  Lots of talk about how she wanted something simple and inexpensive. Then  she went dress shopping at bridal stores -- the kind that don't stock a single simple or inexpensive item.  She tried on a dress that she thought was ugly on her and it cost $2,000, so compared to that, the one that she liked better was a BARGAIN at $1,400 and she just had to buy it on the spot.

And then there was this week:

Monday, she was whining that she had gone overboard on both Friday and Saturday, spending well over $200 in bars over the course of the weekend, and now she was so broke she had only $270 left (after bills) to get through the rest of the month.  We have a similar conversation every month, but usually not until at least the 12th.  This was the 7th.

Tuesday, she whined that she was "forced" to go out to happy hour the night before because a friend needed to talk, and they stayed out late enough that it came dinner time and then she "had" to eat dinner there at the bar as well, and she's trying to cut back on that sort of thing but it's so HARD.

Wednesday, not much money talk but she did go out to buy one of her usual $10 lunches and make horrified faces at my homemade burrito.

Thursday (today), she took delivery of a food processor that she ordered online so that she could try out a trendy new recipe, but not this weekend because she's going camping with her fiance, and her big plan tonight was a shopping trip to stock up on all the yummy processed foods they might want to eat as camping treats. 

I'm sitting there mentally counting down from $270... waiting for the "well, I'm in the hole for the month now" conversation that we usually have around the 20th to start...

MoonShadow

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10347 on: September 10, 2015, 10:32:54 PM »

Just think if people had the option to opt out of SS how many would do it?


I would in a heartbeat.  I have a condition that puts my expected life span at around 60, so the only return that I can expect is survivorship for my wife, and I know that I could replicate that benefit rather easy.

tanzee

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10348 on: September 11, 2015, 05:46:55 AM »
I once had a co-worker who I liked and respected. But he had this massive, brand-new, extended cab pickup.  We would drive to job sites in it and he would blast the AC with the windows down on 85 degree days (not that hot, as far as I'm concerned).  Then he would complain about the price of filling his tank and his car payment.  Definitely had to bite my tongue on that one.  He was a really good guy, but we definitely had different values systems.  Luckily, I was able to have a conversation with him once where I explained the dangers of buying individual stocks, versus buying index funds.  He seemed really receptive, which I was pretty excited about. 

midweststache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #10349 on: September 11, 2015, 05:54:41 AM »
I'd opt out for sure. I count taxes as money spent, so my savings rate would increase even more!!!
Obviosuly everybody who isn't retired or unemployed should opt out of social security

I think jordanread's idea was that if he could opt out of paying Social Security taxes right now (as a working person) by giving up his Social Security benefits int he future (retirement), he would. I think many people on this forum would agree, since they are likely not part of the group WGH posted about whole will need to rely on Social Security during retirement.