I've been just itchin' to make a post on this thread. \
As a small business owner, we have had our fair share of "interesting" characters as employees. But one employee we had defined what Anti-Mustachian/Consumerism is all about. Henceforth she will be named Mrs. Anti-Mustachian (MAM). Some background info on her and her family:
- They "bought" (ie. financed) a brand new gas guzzling SUV. List price is 38,000 +. They already had 2 vehicles (old beater van, couple years old mid-sized car), one of which they are still making payments on. We live in a small Canadian town where it takes less than 30 min to walk across town. (This is a story I will share at some other time, as it is so good it deserves its own separate post.)
- They make a decent wage. He works a trade (est $55/hr full time) and she worked as a part time receptionist ($15/hr).
- They bought a very inexpensive house where an extended family member supplied them with the down payment. House should have been paid off a long time ago - but they are still paying mortgage payments.
- Credit cards are always carrying a balance.
- I'm sure they have no budget but she told me her husband allows her $100/day miscellaneous Blow It money.
- They don't have any retirement savings, but are hoping the husbands pension is good enough.
- Being quite young (early 30s), she has many health issues that can be mainly contributed to: 1. Poor sleep. 2. Poor diet. 3. No exercise. 4. Smoking cigarettes.
- They have 3 kids and a large dog.
- They are "collectors" of board games and electronic gaming systems - she has hoarding tendencies.
- She would brag to us, her employers, that she would be able to wake up 5 minutes before work started and be there on time. (Yeah, my teeth would grind and steam would exit my ears when she would say this.)
- When she gets upset with her husband, part of her retaliation is to spend a large amount of money on purchases he wouldn't be happy with (shopping trips in the neighbouring city, expensive clothes, books, etc etc.) Unfortunately for her husband, she sees him as the problem for everything.
Now that you've got some background info, here it is...
It was not long ago that MAM booked a holiday to Las Vegas. She wanted to go on a holiday with her family (mom, aunt, sisters). Because saving money was not one of her strengths, she went to the closest casino (130km away) on a weekend to try to win herself some holiday money. On arriving to work Monday morning she was very excited to share that she had won enough money playing Black Jack that her flights and accommodation in Vegas could now be paid for in advance. She told me she gave that money to her mom so that she would not spend it on anything before her trip. (You know you have a problem with money when...) She went on to say that it is impossible to lose money playing Black Jack. Yep, she really believes this.
Fast forward to the Monday following her trip to Vegas...
It was quite apparent she wasn't quite so excited about life. She had just enough energy to shuffle her feet down the hall. She said to those that entered our office that "my brain just isn't working today" and laughed about it. It was apparent she was exhausted. When time permitted, I asked her how the holiday was. She stated that "she met soooo many nice people and made some really good friends." She went on to say that one night in the casino, she was in need of some more money. She had maxed out her credit cards and had no available cash. So she called her credit card company, asking for a credit limit increase. She was told by the cc company that she wasn't eligible to have her credit card limit increased because she had already increased her credit card limit within the last three days. She told me she was upset with the credit card company and she gave Customer Service an ear full.
I once again inquired about her views on the profitability on Black Jack. Contrary to that experience, she still felt it is a sure thing. "You can't lose playing that game."
Queue my forehead hitting the wall... more to come on MAM.