Author Topic: Overheard at Work  (Read 13252723 times)

Melody

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #950 on: October 24, 2013, 04:54:04 PM »
I can easily imagine $4k for someone's first year transitioning between broke uni student to smart dress code professional. I've got friends who work in big law who got a $2k wardrobe allowance on signing up - recognition of this expense.
2 suits, 2 smart pairs of shoes, some hosiery, 5 shirts/blouses, a work dress, a basic cocktail dress (required for functions), a nice leather bag (non designer) and that could easily be $2k just there without buying any casual clothes.
For anyone reading not from Perth... Clothes here are expensive... More expensive than Melbourne/Sydney and significantly (approx double?) the price of in the US. 

However if it was more of the $400 shoes and $80 polo type spending, I'm sure there are plenty of people on these forums who can send a loving face-punch your way ;-)

You actually found 40 to 60 items of clothing in Perth that you actually like at one time? Wow. Evidently my pickyness helps my stash. I'm very lucky if I go shopping and find one item I actually like. Which is really frustrating when key items wear out. I'm trying to make some of my own clothes, but so far I've only got as far as buying fabric :(


LOL @ Anatidaev and Englyn. This winter has been dreadful for me as I've loved the fashion ! I'm so thankful we are heading into Pastel land, so I will likely have greater success with this:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/no-clothes-shopping-in-2014/

Also you might find this "http://www.burdastyle.com/pattern_store/patterns?difficulty=&pattern_size=&free=1" useful for getting free patterns/instructions for sewing online. Pick something easy like a skirt, make it up using an old bedsheet or other scrap first (so you don't wreck the good fabric until you know what you are doing) and give it a whirl :)

Anatidae V

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #951 on: October 24, 2013, 10:02:06 PM »
Yeah it took me a while to get over the price shock between target and actual clothing stores. I can't imagine spending more than $200 for an item or pair of shoes, but I might for high quality lasts-forever leather shoes/boots.

galliver

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #952 on: October 25, 2013, 11:06:31 AM »
Yeah it took me a while to get over the price shock between target and actual clothing stores. I can't imagine spending more than $200 for an item or pair of shoes, but I might for high quality lasts-forever leather shoes/boots.

Got boots for $20 my first year of grad school...they were dead by spring. Saved up and with great reluctance purchased leather boots for $175. Worth. Every. Penny. Wearing them now. If they wore out, I would fix them. Because they're great.

Now shopping for professional/conference shoes to last me at least until tenure (I'm in my 4th year of grad school).

markstache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #953 on: October 25, 2013, 12:41:26 PM »
I think it has been quoted before on this board, but always a good one:

Quote
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”


― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms: The Play

clarkm04

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #954 on: October 25, 2013, 01:08:55 PM »
Conversation I had today with a coworker who lives 10 miles from work in one direction and 50 miles from his and his wife's hometown in a different direction.  For reference, our job is in the largest city in our state.  He lives in a large suburb and their hometown has maybe 12 k people.

Him: "Thinking of going hunting back home, but the wife doesn't want to go home."
Me: "Why?"
Him: "She's been back twice this week already and doesn't want to go back a third time."
Me: "Why did she go home twice this week already?"
Him: "Her Bible study group and to get some pills from our pharmacy."

Me to myself...What the fuck is your wife doing racking up 200 miles to go to a pharmacy and Bible study?  There's a Walgreen's .5 miles from where they live and there's plenty of churches close by too.  I was left pretty dumbfounded by the wastefulness.

huadpe

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #955 on: October 25, 2013, 04:33:18 PM »
Conversation I had today with a coworker who lives 10 miles from work in one direction and 50 miles from his and his wife's hometown in a different direction.  For reference, our job is in the largest city in our state.  He lives in a large suburb and their hometown has maybe 12 k people.

Him: "Thinking of going hunting back home, but the wife doesn't want to go home."
Me: "Why?"
Him: "She's been back twice this week already and doesn't want to go back a third time."
Me: "Why did she go home twice this week already?"
Him: "Her Bible study group and to get some pills from our pharmacy."

Me to myself...What the fuck is your wife doing racking up 200 miles to go to a pharmacy and Bible study?  There's a Walgreen's .5 miles from where they live and there's plenty of churches close by too.  I was left pretty dumbfounded by the wastefulness.

Eh, I could see the bible study thing, if they're friends or something you want to keep in touch with.  It's not unreasonable to travel (in the most economical way possible) to see your friends.  Pharmacy is nutty though.

Anatidae V

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #956 on: October 25, 2013, 05:07:56 PM »
I think it has been quoted before on this board, but always a good one:

Quote
“But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”


― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms: The Play
I have read all his books and try to base my shopping on that exact reference :)

cats

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #957 on: October 27, 2013, 03:28:56 PM »
I think it has been quoted before on this board, but always a good one:

Quote
“But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”


― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms: The Play
I have read all his books and try to base my shopping on that exact reference :)

We really base our shopping (clothes and otherwise) on this principle too--buy the good stuff that will last, and damn the expense.  It really does (at least for us), cut down on both your acquisition of things AND, in the long run, your spending.  You start thinking long and hard about whether or not you want that item in your life for the next 10, 15, or 20 years.  For us, this means that you put in a lot of research before buying *anything*.  Then once you buy the stuff, you take care of it.  I have a $200 pair of leather boots (that were originally $400, yikes...buying the best doesn't necessarily mean dropping money for full-price!).  I knew I wanted the boots to last a while, so I spent a long time looking because I wanted something not too trendy that I'd still be happy with in 5 or 10 years.  Now I treat them regularly with leather conditioner and re-waterproof them as needed as well.  You can bet I never did that with my crappy synthetic $60 pair of boots! 

Richard3

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #958 on: October 27, 2013, 07:52:39 PM »
Quote
“But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”

― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms

Heh, I actually just finished a blog posting inspired by this exact quote. http://getrichard.com/vimes-boots/


Cinder

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #959 on: October 28, 2013, 09:29:36 AM »
Conversation I had today with a coworker who lives 10 miles from work in one direction and 50 miles from his and his wife's hometown in a different direction.  For reference, our job is in the largest city in our state.  He lives in a large suburb and their hometown has maybe 12 k people.

Him: "Thinking of going hunting back home, but the wife doesn't want to go home."
Me: "Why?"
Him: "She's been back twice this week already and doesn't want to go back a third time."
Me: "Why did she go home twice this week already?"
Him: "Her Bible study group and to get some pills from our pharmacy."

Me to myself...What the fuck is your wife doing racking up 200 miles to go to a pharmacy and Bible study?  There's a Walgreen's .5 miles from where they live and there's plenty of churches close by too.  I was left pretty dumbfounded by the wastefulness.

Eh, I could see the bible study thing, if they're friends or something you want to keep in touch with.  It's not unreasonable to travel (in the most economical way possible) to see your friends.  Pharmacy is nutty though.

When my wife went back about 100 miles away to do her student teaching, she participated in a bible study at our church..... via skype, while I was there with my laptop.  The pastor thought it was a great idea, and no one had any issues with it. 

huadpe

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #960 on: October 28, 2013, 12:09:28 PM »
Conversation I had today with a coworker who lives 10 miles from work in one direction and 50 miles from his and his wife's hometown in a different direction.  For reference, our job is in the largest city in our state.  He lives in a large suburb and their hometown has maybe 12 k people.

Him: "Thinking of going hunting back home, but the wife doesn't want to go home."
Me: "Why?"
Him: "She's been back twice this week already and doesn't want to go back a third time."
Me: "Why did she go home twice this week already?"
Him: "Her Bible study group and to get some pills from our pharmacy."

Me to myself...What the fuck is your wife doing racking up 200 miles to go to a pharmacy and Bible study?  There's a Walgreen's .5 miles from where they live and there's plenty of churches close by too.  I was left pretty dumbfounded by the wastefulness.

Eh, I could see the bible study thing, if they're friends or something you want to keep in touch with.  It's not unreasonable to travel (in the most economical way possible) to see your friends.  Pharmacy is nutty though.

When my wife went back about 100 miles away to do her student teaching, she participated in a bible study at our church..... via skype, while I was there with my laptop.  The pastor thought it was a great idea, and no one had any issues with it.

That's a cool hack to solve the distance problem there, but I think it's still not per se unreasonable to travel 50 miles, IF the bible study people are close friends.  Especially if it's also something like bible study then dinner together where there's socialization or something you'd miss out on via skype.  The pharmacy thing though makes me think it's not that.

Khao

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #961 on: October 28, 2013, 12:30:07 PM »
Quote
“But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”

― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms

Heh, I actually just finished a blog posting inspired by this exact quote. http://getrichard.com/vimes-boots/

There's a whole reddit community based around that principle : http://reddit.com/r/BuyItForLife

Richard3

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #962 on: October 28, 2013, 04:41:32 PM »
But that would distract from valuable /r/picturesofcatseatingspaghetti/ time!

I'm not sure if it's a real real subreddit or not but really hope it is.

syslogv4

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #963 on: October 28, 2013, 05:01:36 PM »
Hello everyone

I had to add these few:

At my current job, a lady went out and bought a 2010 Nissan sedan. She put no money down (she openly admits to being broke all the time) and financed the whole thing. Being curious, I looked up the KBB retail on the car, and she paid around $1,000 over retail.

It gets better.

Fast forward two weeks and at her church, there was a family that needed a car to keep a job, so they wouldn't lose their house etc. She felt compelled to GIVE them her car. She just gave them the item that she was in debt for.

It gets better....

At the same church, the pastor's wife felt so "moved" by it, that she then gave my coworker HER car... a 2007 Mercedes with 170k on it. My coworker then felt obligated to give her a thank you present, so she financed a $500 watch for the pastor's wife.

It gets better.......

Now, the pastor's wife will not transfer the title or tag over to my coworker, but my coworker is still responsible for all maintenance and upkeep. (She has already spent over $1,000 in repairs in the 3 months she has had the car). She is still paying the loan for the Nissan and the new family will not get insurance on it themselves. She is required by the lender to maintain full coverage on it.

Okay, so now that is out of the way, here is a slightly less bad one.

At a previous job, a coworker was into drag racing (he fixed / built cars on the side), and he wanted to buy a drag car. He calls the bank, gets his mom to cosign on a $5,000 personal loan @ 19% interest to buy this drag car. (He was making around $10 per hour at the time) So he gets the car, buys a motor and transmission to put in it, runs it for one season, then decides he wanted a different one. He couldn't sell it for what he had in it, so it is just sitting in his shop now, still not paid off. I recently talked with him (hadn't seen him in over a year) and he was bragging about the GREAT DEAL that he got on a 2007 Silverado 2500, only $24,000 that he had to finance. (Making $11 per hour)

Do you ever want to just grab someone and shake them until they see the light?

I gladly help out people in need, but will not put my self at risk of finanical ruin over it. Typically, I help people with home projects (yard stuff, fences, driveways, hvac, etc)


okashira

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #964 on: October 28, 2013, 05:33:23 PM »
WOW!!

Hello everyone

I had to add these few:

At my current job, a lady went out and bought a 2010 Nissan sedan. She put no money down (she openly admits to being broke all the time) and financed the whole thing. Being curious, I looked up the KBB retail on the car, and she paid around $1,000 over retail.

It gets better.

Fast forward two weeks and at her church, there was a family that needed a car to keep a job, so they wouldn't lose their house etc. She felt compelled to GIVE them her car. She just gave them the item that she was in debt for.

It gets better....

At the same church, the pastor's wife felt so "moved" by it, that she then gave my coworker HER car... a 2007 Mercedes with 170k on it. My coworker then felt obligated to give her a thank you present, so she financed a $500 watch for the pastor's wife.

It gets better.......

Now, the pastor's wife will not transfer the title or tag over to my coworker, but my coworker is still responsible for all maintenance and upkeep. (She has already spent over $1,000 in repairs in the 3 months she has had the car). She is still paying the loan for the Nissan and the new family will not get insurance on it themselves. She is required by the lender to maintain full coverage on it.

Okay, so now that is out of the way, here is a slightly less bad one.

At a previous job, a coworker was into drag racing (he fixed / built cars on the side), and he wanted to buy a drag car. He calls the bank, gets his mom to cosign on a $5,000 personal loan @ 19% interest to buy this drag car. (He was making around $10 per hour at the time) So he gets the car, buys a motor and transmission to put in it, runs it for one season, then decides he wanted a different one. He couldn't sell it for what he had in it, so it is just sitting in his shop now, still not paid off. I recently talked with him (hadn't seen him in over a year) and he was bragging about the GREAT DEAL that he got on a 2007 Silverado 2500, only $24,000 that he had to finance. (Making $11 per hour)

Do you ever want to just grab someone and shake them until they see the light?

I gladly help out people in need, but will not put my self at risk of finanical ruin over it. Typically, I help people with home projects (yard stuff, fences, driveways, hvac, etc)

LOL.

I say the 2nd story is actually much worse then the first. First lady is just super nice, and probably getting taken advantage of :-(

Gremlin

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #965 on: October 28, 2013, 09:16:02 PM »
WOW!!

Hello everyone

I had to add these few:

At my current job, a lady went out and bought a 2010 Nissan sedan. She put no money down (she openly admits to being broke all the time) and financed the whole thing. Being curious, I looked up the KBB retail on the car, and she paid around $1,000 over retail.

It gets better.

Fast forward two weeks and at her church, there was a family that needed a car to keep a job, so they wouldn't lose their house etc. She felt compelled to GIVE them her car. She just gave them the item that she was in debt for.

It gets better....

At the same church, the pastor's wife felt so "moved" by it, that she then gave my coworker HER car... a 2007 Mercedes with 170k on it. My coworker then felt obligated to give her a thank you present, so she financed a $500 watch for the pastor's wife.

It gets better.......

Now, the pastor's wife will not transfer the title or tag over to my coworker, but my coworker is still responsible for all maintenance and upkeep. (She has already spent over $1,000 in repairs in the 3 months she has had the car). She is still paying the loan for the Nissan and the new family will not get insurance on it themselves. She is required by the lender to maintain full coverage on it.

Okay, so now that is out of the way, here is a slightly less bad one.

At a previous job, a coworker was into drag racing (he fixed / built cars on the side), and he wanted to buy a drag car. He calls the bank, gets his mom to cosign on a $5,000 personal loan @ 19% interest to buy this drag car. (He was making around $10 per hour at the time) So he gets the car, buys a motor and transmission to put in it, runs it for one season, then decides he wanted a different one. He couldn't sell it for what he had in it, so it is just sitting in his shop now, still not paid off. I recently talked with him (hadn't seen him in over a year) and he was bragging about the GREAT DEAL that he got on a 2007 Silverado 2500, only $24,000 that he had to finance. (Making $11 per hour)

Do you ever want to just grab someone and shake them until they see the light?

I gladly help out people in need, but will not put my self at risk of finanical ruin over it. Typically, I help people with home projects (yard stuff, fences, driveways, hvac, etc)

LOL.

I say the 2nd story is actually much worse then the first. First lady is just super nice, and probably getting taken advantage of :-(

...but they both look like ending in the same place.  Sometimes intentions don't matter as much as outcomes.

MsSindy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #966 on: October 30, 2013, 11:02:21 AM »

At my current job, a lady went out and bought a 2010 Nissan sedan. She put no money down (she openly admits to being broke all the time) and financed the whole thing. Being curious, I looked up the KBB retail on the car, and she paid around $1,000 over retail.

It gets better.

Fast forward two weeks and at her church, there was a family that needed a car to keep a job, so they wouldn't lose their house etc. She felt compelled to GIVE them her car. She just gave them the item that she was in debt for.

It gets better....

At the same church, the pastor's wife felt so "moved" by it, that she then gave my coworker HER car... a 2007 Mercedes with 170k on it. My coworker then felt obligated to give her a thank you present, so she financed a $500 watch for the pastor's wife.

It gets better.......

Now, the pastor's wife will not transfer the title or tag over to my coworker, but my coworker is still responsible for all maintenance and upkeep. (She has already spent over $1,000 in repairs in the 3 months she has had the car). She is still paying the loan for the Nissan and the new family will not get insurance on it themselves. She is required by the lender to maintain full coverage on it.

Okay, so now that is out of the way, here is a slightly less bad one.


LOL.

I say the 2nd story is actually much worse then the first. First lady is just super nice, and probably getting taken advantage of :-(

No, super nice would have been to offer to drive them places that they needed to go, or even rent them a car for a month - what she did was just, well, plain stupid.  She has now placed her own well-being (and family) in jeopardy.

Jamesqf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #967 on: October 30, 2013, 12:31:57 PM »
No, super nice would have been to offer to drive them places that they needed to go, or even rent them a car for a month - what she did was just, well, plain stupid.  She has now placed her own well-being (and family) in jeopardy.

Or if she really wanted to be generous, buy them an economical "clunker" to get them through their bad patch.

lifejoy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #968 on: October 30, 2013, 12:54:45 PM »
Her: I heard that Canadians spend more on summer clothes than winter clothes, because they associate summer clothes with positive feelings.

Me: That's interesting!

Her: So I've decided to balance it out better, by making sure I spend a lot of money on winter clothes. :)

Me: ???!!! (Why not just spend less money on summer clothes??!)

So interesting.

some1

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #969 on: November 01, 2013, 04:56:37 AM »
One of the cleaning ladies at our research institute was talking to her colleague in the common room, saying she just can't understand all those scientist drinking the tap water in our common room. She didn't have a "fancy PhD", she said, but at least she could afford to buy her own drinking water! Well, I thought, if you have to work hard for a petty cleaning woman's salary, bragging about spending your money on water (!) is maybe not the way to show you are smarter than those "fancy PhD" scientist ...

randymarsh

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #970 on: November 01, 2013, 06:41:26 AM »
^

That is depressing.

Cinder

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #971 on: November 01, 2013, 11:55:43 AM »
... she just can't understand all those scientist drinking the tap water in our common room. She didn't have a "fancy PhD", she said, but at least she could afford to buy her own drinking water!

I commonly have heard that same sentiment from people around my work.  Our current site exec drives an old car instead of a shiny new Mercedes or BMW or something.  There are people who are higher level engineers or managers here and people scoff at bringing in lunch from home, etc..  ' He probably makes twice what I do and he can't afford to get lunch?'

*shakes head*

Kipp

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #972 on: November 01, 2013, 12:27:15 PM »
My boss was saying that her son-in-law wants to retire at age 40, I wonder if he follows this website?

oldtoyota

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #973 on: November 01, 2013, 12:55:33 PM »
Our employer did a 8% of gross pay required contribution to the 401k and then you could elect another $17,500 and so could put away double what a normal person could tax-free.


How is that legal? Could you tell me more? I wonder if I could ever persuade my employer to do something similar.

oldtoyota

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #974 on: November 01, 2013, 12:57:44 PM »
From Perth, I can only imagine she's going to Bali. I hope someone over there has at least had the business sense to convince her to be their regular client. On a side note - what size is she? :)

Bali, Vietnam, Singapore, sometimes Europe.

An eight or nine in shoes? I assume that people like her are responsible for the never-worn clothes and shoes in op shops. She dresses pretty funky for her age, so there could be some great bargains out there from her cast-offs.

I'm considered a freak at work because when the other girls asked how many dresses I own, I said "way more than anyone needs, maybe even twenty or thirty". Apparently this is not very many?

Wow. That seems like a lot. For each season, I have around 33 items that I wear a la Project 333. I don't get particular about counting jewelry so that is not part of the 33. The bottom line is that I have maybe 5-7 dresses for any given season. Between WFH and wearing jeans once per week, I can keep my office/personal life wardrobe pretty small.


smalllife

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #975 on: November 01, 2013, 01:05:04 PM »
Our employer did a 8% of gross pay required contribution to the 401k and then you could elect another $17,500 and so could put away double what a normal person could tax-free.


How is that legal? Could you tell me more? I wonder if I could ever persuade my employer to do something similar.

If it is an employer contribution, that is not included in the $17,500 maximum.  If I'm reading this as the employer was required to contribute 8% and not the employee, the employer basically "matches" even if the employee does not contribute (not a match on contribution, but on income).  Perfectly legal. 

oldtoyota

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #976 on: November 01, 2013, 01:09:29 PM »
Someone I know got an inheritance. The someone has told me many times she's saved nothing for retirement. So, with the inheritance, she buys a house to rent out. Wouldn't it make more sense to have some money saved up for retirement first? Also, there are the many trips overseas and the renovations to her house...

oldtoyota

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #977 on: November 01, 2013, 01:50:56 PM »
Our employer did a 8% of gross pay required contribution to the 401k and then you could elect another $17,500 and so could put away double what a normal person could tax-free.


How is that legal? Could you tell me more? I wonder if I could ever persuade my employer to do something similar.

If it is an employer contribution, that is not included in the $17,500 maximum.  If I'm reading this as the employer was required to contribute 8% and not the employee, the employer basically "matches" even if the employee does not contribute (not a match on contribution, but on income).  Perfectly legal.

Oh. I read it a different way and that the poster's coworker was complaining that 8% would be taken from their pay check. If that is the case, then the employee is contributing the money...maybe since it's forced, the law looks at it differently.


Nudelkopf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #978 on: November 01, 2013, 04:31:41 PM »
One of the cleaning ladies at our research institute was talking to her colleague in the common room, saying she just can't understand all those scientist drinking the tap water in our common room. She didn't have a "fancy PhD", she said, but at least she could afford to buy her own drinking water! Well, I thought, if you have to work hard for a petty cleaning woman's salary, bragging about spending your money on water (!) is maybe not the way to show you are smarter than those "fancy PhD" scientist ...
I have 3 housemates, and every single one of them buys bottled water. We have two entire fridges filled with bottled water. Like, what!

marty998

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #979 on: November 01, 2013, 05:13:37 PM »
Well, at least it is water and not sugary soft drinks. However, yes, the idiocy is breathtaking.

A colleague of mine just financed a new car. Sigh.

Nudelkopf

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #980 on: November 01, 2013, 08:52:48 PM »
Guy from uni on Facebook: Brand new car, he's 21, single, just graduated uni, and doesn't have a full-time job. He even hashtagged daddy's money! Oh man.

ender

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #981 on: November 01, 2013, 10:48:16 PM »
Guy from uni on Facebook: Brand new car, he's 21, single, just graduated uni, and doesn't have a full-time job. He even hashtagged daddy's money! Oh man.

This makes me want to cry.

Not sure whats worse, the kid or the dad.

Onomatopoeia

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #982 on: November 03, 2013, 04:27:58 PM »
A middle aged lady at my last job recently bought a 2 bedroom condo in a pretty dilapidated "city" (it's up and coming! she says) for $800k, she used proceeds from selling her mom's house towards that price and routinely complained about spending most of her take home pay on the minimum mortgage payment.

A few months later, she gets into a car accident and decides it would be better to get a new car than to fix the old one. She's grumbled every day about this expense she didn't foresee when she bought the condo. I love my little cheap car so I talked it up to her, saying maybe get something small and economical. This is the crazy part... she said that she "COULDN'T get a car like that because her car is her only outward status symbol that people see. Not everyone gets to come to the condo and see how nice it is." This is a near direct quote. It was hard to keep my jaw from dropping.

Zamboni

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #983 on: November 03, 2013, 07:38:49 PM »
Quote
she said that she "COULDN'T get a car like that because her car is her only outward status symbol that people see. Not everyone gets to come to the condo and see how nice it is."

Wow, that's pretty shallow and insecure.  Trying to think what I have ever purchased for the expressed purpose of having a status symbol to show people . . . drawing a blank. 

infogoon

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #984 on: November 04, 2013, 08:53:01 AM »
"I bought a new car. I was going to get a truck, but I'm saving for a house so I didn't want to spend that much money."

"Didn't you just get your car?"

"Nah, it was a 2011. Had almost fifty thousand miles on it. The new one actually has a lower payment!"

Big Guy Money

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #985 on: November 04, 2013, 01:30:10 PM »
I felt inspired to register and post.  I have a co-worker just over the wall that is very transparent about their spending.  She's pushing 40, probably has a household income pushing at least $80-90k, but is pretty consistently bailed out by her parents.  Last Christmas something came up and her husband's friends banded together for them to buy Christmas presents for their daughters.  A week or two later they took a vacation.

Anyhow - today:

Me: "So are you looking at vehicles?"

Her: "Naw, not yet - we just paid off the loan on the car today"

Me: "When you do, do you know what you're looking for?"

Her: "Not really, all I know is I want heated seats, keyless entry, remote start, sunroof...  And 6 cylinder - I am NOT a 4 cylinder type of person..  Just not enough power"

Me: ....

Later in the day she's setting her husband up for an interview.  The 'thing that makes it a no-brainer' is the $6k starting bonus..  Oh yeah, he'd be making $2 less a year and start losing money after 14-16 months.

She always informs us of where they ordered take-out from the night before, mentions eating at a steakhouse with everybody getting choice steaks, etc... 

I'm trying - mentioning about getting good gas mileage, paying cash for vehicles, etc.

I have some from both my father and my mother-in-law also, but another day.

rockstache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #986 on: November 05, 2013, 10:36:52 AM »
On commuting: I have coworkers who commute 2 hours to work. One of them has to get childcare and is in a job that another person does 100% from home. Insane. And yet our management would fight her tooth and nail if she asked to work from home as well. The other person can do it because she has some illness. Baffling and sad how inefficient this is.

I feel her pain. I could do my job 100% from home with no difference, but my boss won't hear of even a single day working from home. So I commute. And I stash!

acroy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #987 on: November 05, 2013, 11:25:10 AM »
"I don't contribute to the company 401k because the cheapskates only match 50%"
Not often you hear people complain about free money!!

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #988 on: November 05, 2013, 01:40:27 PM »
"I don't contribute to the company 401k because the cheapskates only match 50%"
Not often you hear people complain about free money!!

Oh, my. That's gotta be the dumbest one yet.

itchyeyes

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #989 on: November 05, 2013, 02:05:59 PM »
Finally registered for the forums just so I could post this.  Today during one of our periodic corporate updates at work, the CEO of the company said the following to a group of about 80 employees:

"We like it when [employees] have babies, get big mortgages, buy expensive cars... Once you got that we gotcha!"
« Last Edit: November 05, 2013, 02:09:19 PM by itchyeyes »

aclarridge

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #990 on: November 05, 2013, 02:40:06 PM »
Finally registered for the forums just so I could post this.  Today during one of our periodic corporate updates at work, the CEO of the company said the following to a group of about 80 employees:

"We like it when [employees] have babies, get big mortgages, buy expensive cars... Once you got that we gotcha!"

That's unbelievable! I hope this made some of those ~80 employees stop and think.

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #991 on: November 05, 2013, 02:45:28 PM »
Finally registered for the forums just so I could post this.  Today during one of our periodic corporate updates at work, the CEO of the company said the following to a group of about 80 employees:

"We like it when [employees] have babies, get big mortgages, buy expensive cars... Once you got that we gotcha!"

That's unbelievable! I hope this made some of those ~80 employees stop and think.

I told my region manager that my wife was pregnant with our first child shortly after I was hired. "Ha! We gotcha now!" was his reply. Ironically, we spend less money now (with 2 kids) than we did then.

impaire

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #992 on: November 05, 2013, 03:24:07 PM »
"Glasses are so much cheaper here... In my home country, I could never afford branded frames, because just paying for the lenses would wipe out my bank account. But here, the lenses are, like, one fourth of the price! So who cares if I choose the most expensive frames in the store?"

This from someone on a graduate student budget...

Jane

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #993 on: November 06, 2013, 07:48:51 AM »
My company is going through a lot of layoffs and cost cutting lately, and one of the newest initiatives is to stop providing coffee, tea, and paper products in the kitchens. They are still going to keep and service the coffee machines if people want to bring their own in.

My boss, two team members, and I were talking about it and they were flabbergasted. "How dare they! Productivity will be so down because people will have to keep walking to the cafeteria to buy coffee! Do they really expect me to bring in my own coffee!?!"

And there are also rumors of the subsidized cafeteria being shut down, which brought more exclamations of all the lost productivity because "Everyone will have to waste time going out to lunch every day! You'd have to stock your desk with a whole kitchen's worth of supplies to bring your lunch! Who has time to make their lunch before work every day!?!"

paddedhat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #994 on: November 06, 2013, 08:19:42 AM »
Finally registered for the forums just so I could post this.  Today during one of our periodic corporate updates at work, the CEO of the company said the following to a group of about 80 employees:

"We like it when [employees] have babies, get big mortgages, buy expensive cars... Once you got that we gotcha!"

 The drones have deteriorated to the point that you can gather eighty of them, tell them that they are losers busily digging themselves into deeper serfdom, and laugh in their faces, without repercussions? I once had a brilliant, yet completely morally bankrupt boss who did a lot of business on this theory. He would take the customer's hand, gain their trust, then slowly become invaluable to them, as he screwed them ever chance he got. He called it "molding idiots until they become sickly dependent". Same outcome, different set of carrots.

galliver

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #995 on: November 06, 2013, 11:01:42 AM »
My company is going through a lot of layoffs and cost cutting lately, and one of the newest initiatives is to stop providing coffee, tea, and paper products in the kitchens. They are still going to keep and service the coffee machines if people want to bring their own in.

My boss, two team members, and I were talking about it and they were flabbergasted. "How dare they! Productivity will be so down because people will have to keep walking to the cafeteria to buy coffee! Do they really expect me to bring in my own coffee!?!"

And there are also rumors of the subsidized cafeteria being shut down, which brought more exclamations of all the lost productivity because "Everyone will have to waste time going out to lunch every day! You'd have to stock your desk with a whole kitchen's worth of supplies to bring your lunch! Who has time to make their lunch before work every day!?!"

One word: cashbox.

My department (at a university) provides delicious coffee for $0.25/cup on an honor system. Seems to work out. Requires one/several people to manage the system.

itchyeyes

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #996 on: November 06, 2013, 03:18:40 PM »
Finally registered for the forums just so I could post this.  Today during one of our periodic corporate updates at work, the CEO of the company said the following to a group of about 80 employees:

"We like it when [employees] have babies, get big mortgages, buy expensive cars... Once you got that we gotcha!"

 The drones have deteriorated to the point that you can gather eighty of them, tell them that they are losers busily digging themselves into deeper serfdom, and laugh in their faces, without repercussions? I once had a brilliant, yet completely morally bankrupt boss who did a lot of business on this theory. He would take the customer's hand, gain their trust, then slowly become invaluable to them, as he screwed them ever chance he got. He called it "molding idiots until they become sickly dependent". Same outcome, different set of carrots.
It was said in a lighthearted joking sort of way.  And in the context it was told in I didn't take it as offensive.  Still, I couldn't help but make the connection between what he said and a lot of what I've been reading here and on ERE lately, and thought it was worth sharing.

OrangeCanadian

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #997 on: November 06, 2013, 08:02:21 PM »
Compared to some of the stories on here, this one is pretty tame, but it was still shocking to me when I heard it. 

Overheard a co-worker talking about how her internet was recently cut-off because her credit card was maxed out due to identity theft. 
Me: Oh that's brutal! How much was stolen?
Her: Only about $450, since I only have a $5000 credit limit.

The fact that she normally carries a several thousand dollar balance on her 21% interest credit card blew my mind!  The following week, she was complaining that she needed to put a new catalytic converter in her truck.  The next day, she had a brand new $1000 bicycle.  All on credit, while carrying 2 mortgages after her house didn't sell after she moved.

cdub

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #998 on: November 06, 2013, 11:33:17 PM »
I felt inspired to register and post.  I have a co-worker just over the wall that is very transparent about their spending.  She's pushing 40, probably has a household income pushing at least $80-90k, but is pretty consistently bailed out by her parents.

Makes $90k and is bailed out by her parents? I'm sorry... that's just... sad.

ichangedmyname

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #999 on: November 07, 2013, 11:15:56 AM »
My first time to share here. Just last night at work.

Girl at work talking to a guy: It pains me that I have $275 that I cannot spend!
Guy: Why?
Girl: Because my NEW credit card hasn't gotten here yet!



erm... that's not your money yet. That's your credit limit.

Then she proceeds to tell him how her other 3 can't be used 'cause they're maxed out.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!