Overheard at Work

[renaite]

Easter dinner is a thing?? I'm clearly missing out.

Please tell me that the Easter Bunny visits you.  This is not only a thing here in the US, it's huge.  And as much as I hate over-commercialization, I never turn my nose up at my Easter Basket.

When I was a kid, we used to have chocolate eggs hidden around the yard & we'd have to find them. Buut.. Then it was a normal day. Actually, my bootcamp instructor gave me a chocolate rabbit yesterday at the end of training, which was pretty awesome. But I've never heard of people having an Easter dinner, similar to a Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner! That's cool!

Easter dinner is definitely big here in western new york! My grandmother always makes a ham, and we have Butter Lambs. I didn't realize until recently that butter lambs are only a thing HERE. :-)

[rocksinmyhead]

My family does Easter brunch. unfortunately I live several states away from them now, I don't really go to church anymore and my boyfriend is very non-religious... but you bet I'm still making my Grandma's egg bake on Sunday!!! god damn it is so good. definitely one of my favorite foods of all time. I mean, when you combine a dozen eggs, a pint of cottage cheese, a pound of monterey jack, and a healthy portion of diced ham... how can you go wrong?!?

[Melody]

Coworker A to Coworker B: I can't believe co-worker C spent $9,000 just on his wedding photographer. Our whole wedding only cost that much!
Me [silently in my head]: WTF???? (Or as Co-worker A put it, you can have a really fancy pants wedding for $9k. I've been to 3K and 5K weddings and they were still pretty good - especially the 5k one, it didn't feel like a "budget wedding" at all.)

[Anatidae V]

Coworker A to Coworker B: I can't believe co-worker C spent $9,000 just on his wedding photographer. Our whole wedding only cost that much!
Me [silently in my head]: WTF???? (Or as Co-worker A put it, you can have a really fancy pants wedding for $9k. I've been to 3K and 5K weddings and they were still pretty good - especially the 5k one, it didn't feel like a "budget wedding" at all.)

I'm not sure, as I really hope I misheard it, but I think a coworker spent $1800 on her photographer. I really really hope that she said "18 hundred" and not the "18 thousand" that I thought I heard, which I was too nervous what the answer would be to query what she actually said.

[BlueHouse]

Easter dinner is definitely big here in western new york! My grandmother always makes a ham, and we have Butter Lambs. I didn't realize until recently that butter lambs are only a thing HERE. :-)

What is a butter lamb?  Never heard of it.  Easter Dinner is such a big thing where I'm from (Northeast US), that most schools used to get "Easter Monday" off.  To this day, my mom still exclaims "you have to work on Easter Monday?" When I say I have to leave.

[renaite]

Easter dinner is definitely big here in western new york! My grandmother always makes a ham, and we have Butter Lambs. I didn't realize until recently that butter lambs are only a thing HERE. :-)

What is a butter lamb?  Never heard of it.  Easter Dinner is such a big thing where I'm from (Northeast US), that most schools used to get "Easter Monday" off.  To this day, my mom still exclaims "you have to work on Easter Monday?" When I say I have to leave.

I know there have been explanations of how to insert an image, but I am not figuring it out right now. But these are butter lambs! http://www.buffalobutterlambs.com/ 

[BlueHouse]

I know there have been explanations of how to insert an image, but I am not figuring it out right now. But these are butter lambs! http://www.buffalobutterlambs.com/

my god, those butter lambs are huge!  Is it solid butter?  I love the idea, but that looks like a square foot of solid butter.  How many people attend Polish Easter dinner?  Or does it last all year?

[dragoncar]

My family does Easter brunch. unfortunately I live several states away from them now, I don't really go to church anymore and my boyfriend is very non-religious... but you bet I'm still making my Grandma's egg bake on Sunday!!! god damn it is so good. definitely one of my favorite foods of all time. I mean, when you combine a dozen eggs, a pint of cottage cheese, a pound of monterey jack, and a healthy portion of diced ham... how can you go wrong?!?

Want... can we get a recipe up in here?  The first few google hits did not include cottage cheese.

[rocksinmyhead]

My family does Easter brunch. unfortunately I live several states away from them now, I don't really go to church anymore and my boyfriend is very non-religious... but you bet I'm still making my Grandma's egg bake on Sunday!!! god damn it is so good. definitely one of my favorite foods of all time. I mean, when you combine a dozen eggs, a pint of cottage cheese, a pound of monterey jack, and a healthy portion of diced ham... how can you go wrong?!?

Want... can we get a recipe up in here?  The first few google hits did not include cottage cheese.

I'm out of town but when I get home I'll totally post it. the only copy I have is in my church cookbook :) forgot to add it also includes a stick of butter... it's a real artery-clogger BUT SO GOOD

[Squirrel away]

We used to have ham at Easter dinner and my family is Irish Catholic.

Coworker A to Coworker B: I can't believe co-worker C spent $9,000 just on his wedding photographer. Our whole wedding only cost that much!
Me [silently in my head]: WTF???? (Or as Co-worker A put it, you can have a really fancy pants wedding for $9k. I've been to 3K and 5K weddings and they were still pretty good - especially the 5k one, it didn't feel like a "budget wedding" at all.)

My sister-in-law spent about £30,000 on her wedding, I could probably write a whole thread about her spending!

[ender]

More of a positive story, was talking to an older coworker and somehow the conversation about our companies retirement program came up.

Basically, unless they change it, I have stellar benefits - a generous 401k match to a 401k with great options. We also have a pension which you become vested in after a few years which costs me nothing.

In this conversation, we talked about how important saving is - it gives you so much flexibility when you get to be his age. It was nice to have someone else at work at least seem positive about saving in your 20s/30s. Though... I didn't tell him just how much I am saving :)

[MsSindy]

Background: I worked for one of the big consulting firms, as did my "old boss".  I now work for my client with my "new boss" - but we all still work on the same floor together and have known each other for years.

My New Boss tells me that Old Boss has just announced that he is retiring next month at 42! ...and he can't understand how that is possible and that the Consulting Firm must pay extremely well.

Me: Well, actually you guys make about the same amount.  But think about Old Boss, he doesn't have children, he doesn't dress fancy, no fancy cars, normal size house, and other than a few wine trips out West, he doesn't do fancy vacations - he's kind of a no-nonsense guy.  His only vice is that he buys lunch in the Cafe everyday (of course, this is completely opposite to how my New Boss lives, he's bought into the upscale lifestyle).

New Boss - Hmm, what about you?  You don't have kids, don't buy lunch, and I know you do a lot of that 'gardening stuff'

Me: (grinning) Yeah, and have you seen the 12 year old car that I drive?    ....and then I walk away before I boldly announce that I only have a couple more years and then I too, will be just like Old Boss!!

So happy for Old Boss.  I understand that he and his wife are going to 'slow travel' to various vineyards both here in the US and abroad.

[CommonCents]

We used to have ham at Easter dinner and my family is Irish Catholic.

Coworker A to Coworker B: I can't believe co-worker C spent $9,000 just on his wedding photographer. Our whole wedding only cost that much!
Me [silently in my head]: WTF???? (Or as Co-worker A put it, you can have a really fancy pants wedding for $9k. I've been to 3K and 5K weddings and they were still pretty good - especially the 5k one, it didn't feel like a "budget wedding" at all.)

My sister-in-law spent about £30,000 on her wedding, I could probably write a whole thread about her spending!

$30k (not pounds) is the average wedding here in the US, up from $25k about 2 years ago.  It's seen as a sign that the economy is recovering.

The photographer costs are pretty crazy.  When we looked, we discovered that $2k was the start for a "wedding photographer."  (We opted instead to go with a friendor instead - still paying more than I'd have liked though.)  The sister of a friend of mine spent $9k on a photographer.  She's a doctor, he's a hostage negotiator.

[Setruss]

Not overheard at work, but I have a lot of stories of my housemates.

One such gem:

I wake up at 6:30 am to go to work (usually to beat people to the bathroom and kitchen). 7:00am rolls around and one of my working housemates isn't up...

I come back from a full day of work to find her dining on fine cheese, bread, meat and wine, celebrating her quitting her terrible job (that she's worked in for all of 1 week and barely finished training).

Too bad she has a $1,200 college debt payment due, plus ~$500 due to various sources... all due soon. She has $26 left in her checking and savings accounts. All of her credit cards are maxed out. And no income at all. Her poor parents...

[Angie55]

Listening to co-worker in front of me telling everyone how he got a great deal on antigravity recliner. They are normally $2,500 each but my friend cut me a deal to get TWO for $2,500. This guy lives by himself...

No wonder why I always wear my headphones. Engineers who got their way through college paid for waste their money to no end. It literally puts a pit in my stomach every time I listen to them talk about the latest crap they got.

[CommonCents]

$30k (not pounds) is the average wedding here in the US, up from $25k about 2 years ago.  It's seen as a sign that the economy is recovering.

The photographer costs are pretty crazy.  When we looked, we discovered that $2k was the start for a "wedding photographer."  (We opted instead to go with a friendor instead - still paying more than I'd have liked though.)  The sister of a friend of mine spent $9k on a photographer.  She's a doctor, he's a hostage negotiator.

Emphasis mine
I'm so glad my wedding was last minute, I think everything combined was less than $2k.
You'd think he could have negotiated a better price :D

hahaha.  Good point.  :)  There's a great story actually, about him meeting the three big male cousins that are all police officers and them trying to "interogate" him to see if he was good enough for their cousin.  Needless to say, it didn't phase him that they "subtly" sat and exposed their guns for the conversation, etc.

In this case though, the story I heard was that the bride *really* wanted this photographer.  Can't say if he negotiated them down on price at all, but he may have at least opted for hiring them in order to have a happy wife (and happy life thereafter)...

[eil]

I tried explaining Republic Wireless to someone on the train the other day and she just refused to believe it because her new ATT family plan cost $160/month and that was "the best deal ANYONE is offering right now." When I got to explaining that she could get unlimited talk and text to her kids for $10/month with Republic, she just sat there like a fish with her mouth open for a couple seconds. I thought I had broken her brain.

Hope this post isn't too old to dredge up (only a few days!), but I just had to give it my thumbs up.

Most of the time, when I tell people that my phone on Ting costs less than $14 per month, all I get is dead air. No reponse at all... Not even a patronizing hand-waving acknowledgement. It's like speaking those words causes me to cease to exist and the universe forgets I'm there for the five seconds it takes to say them.

It's not often that I volunteer my frugality techniques to people, but I wonder if I wouldn't fit in better with the rest of society if I just made up stories about how much debt I'm in and complained about how expensive necessities like SUVs and televisions are these days.

[Rural]

Easter dinner is a thing?? I'm clearly missing out.

Please tell me that the Easter Bunny visits you.  This is not only a thing here in the US, it's huge.  And as much as I hate over-commercialization, I never turn my nose up at my Easter Basket.

When I was a kid, we used to have chocolate eggs hidden around the yard & we'd have to find them. Buut.. Then it was a normal day. Actually, my bootcamp instructor gave me a chocolate rabbit yesterday at the end of training, which was pretty awesome. But I've never heard of people having an Easter dinner, similar to a Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner! That's cool!

This thread was the first I'd ever heard of a specific Easter Dinner, too, though I was aware that a lot of people eat ham. New Easter clothes are a thing here, and egg hunts.

[SweetLife]

Easter dinner is a thing?? I'm clearly missing out.

Damn, you gotta get on it, Nudelkopf.  I'm agnostic, but I'll feast just about anything: Easter, Passover, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Canadian Thanksgivingm you name it!  Wine and cheese every day!

Ha ha ha .... wine and cheese ... you have these things down pat!!! :)

[renaite]

I know there have been explanations of how to insert an image, but I am not figuring it out right now. But these are butter lambs! http://www.buffalobutterlambs.com/

my god, those butter lambs are huge!  Is it solid butter?  I love the idea, but that looks like a square foot of solid butter.  How many people attend Polish Easter dinner?  Or does it last all year?

BlueHouse, the funniest part is that my grandmother always has a butter lamb there but we're never allowed to use it - she has sticks of butter for the rolls! It just sits there and looks at us through dinner, being decorative. Those ones are giant but the ones she gets are more like maybe 1 cup of butter. They are solid butter though.

... And we're not even Polish. I think you've inspired me to ask how this thing became a "tradition" at our Easter dinner in the first place. My family is Irish!

[PMG]

I know there have been explanations of how to insert an image, but I am not figuring it out right now. But these are butter lambs! http://www.buffalobutterlambs.com/

my god, those butter lambs are huge!  Is it solid butter?  I love the idea, but that looks like a square foot of solid butter.  How many people attend Polish Easter dinner?  Or does it last all year?

BlueHouse, the funniest part is that my grandmother always has a butter lamb there but we're never allowed to use it - she has sticks of butter for the rolls! It just sits there and looks at us through dinner, being decorative. Those ones are giant but the ones she gets are more like maybe 1 cup of butter. They are solid butter though.

... And we're not even Polish. I think you've inspired me to ask how this thing became a "tradition" at our Easter dinner in the first place. My family is Irish!

I bet it's the same lamb, year after year.  She freezes it... very mustachian. ;-)

In my family Easter dinner stems from the increased mobility that cars brought and families moving farther from each other.  It's not a holiday that seems to inspire long distance travel, but semi local family (or the black sheep of the family who abandoned religion) head to the family church Easter morning, then back to Grandma's for Easter dinner.

We had a butter sculpture one year, perhaps a swan?  I don't think it was a lamb.  I think it was a mini trend (with grandma and friends at least) in the 90s.  I almost think grandma had a mold that she melted and made her own...

The youngest grandchild is 21 and we only just convinced Grandma that she didn't have to have an egg hunt...

[renaite]

I bet it's the same lamb, year after year.  She freezes it... very mustachian. ;-)

Ha!

We had a butter sculpture one year, perhaps a swan?  I don't think it was a lamb.  I think it was a mini trend (with grandma and friends at least) in the 90s.  I almost think grandma had a mold that she melted and made her own...

That's awesome too!

I didn't realize butter lambs were so compelling that they would hijack the thread a bit. :-P I feel like I should share an "overheard at work" story to make up for it but I just don't have one. I guess that's a good thing to be able to say!

[Tempe]

The day I compared loudoun virginia to my hometown with this made me shake my head. http://www.costofwedding.com Couples that live in or travel to Loudoun, VA (County) spend between $31,283 and $52,139 on average for their wedding. However, most couples spend between $10,000 - $19,999.
My hometown in MN  spend between $15,548 and $25,914 on average for their wedding. However, most couples spend less than $10,000.

I had some 2 cousins spend 10k on weddings at the same venue with plated food when they had no money or 30k in student debt, and their parents didn't fund the wedding. My stepdad spent maaaybe 1k on the wedding, most of it on alcohol and my brothers suit. Mom's wedding outfit was 100$. The cake cost 100$ or so including the pans. He overbought the marshmallows and some other stuff when he bought ingredients. The cake pans and stand were 80$ish (I made the cake, chocolate with white fondant) Though it was so inexpensive because mom put her foot down on crazy weddings stuff, and we had a potluck brought by my family. I also made some birthday cakes and pans of brownies for that day as well. It was a multi celebration.

For an actual overheard at work, my coworkers were recently lamenting the cost of cars and how the payments were so expensive, and that leasing a car could be a very good monthly deal, uh wth. What kind of cars do they finance? .o.

[PMG]

I've got a coworker...

Last week as I walked by her she started singing "Oh I am so miserable, miserable...."

Later that day she told me "ugh.  I saw that the dogwoods are blooming and I just know I'm going to be miserable for the next two weeks..."

Sure enough, she is.  Allergies aren't fun but wow, her projections of misery made me pity her.  Life is what you make it and she is not very happy.

[Vitai Slade]

So this one happened last night at work:

CW #1: ....and it cost her $40,000 to put in the pool.

Me: $40,000 for a backyard pool?! Is the neighborhood pool right down the street that you pay the HOA fees for not good enough?

CW #2: Yeah, I'd love a pool in my backyard.

Me: I'd rather the $40,000 in my bank account.

CW #1: What good is money if you don't spend it and enjoy it?

Me: It's good for making you even more money so that eventually you don't have to work anymore.

CW #1: How is that? Interest in a bank account isn't going to make you anything.

Me: The stock market.

CW #1: That's gambling.

Me: Yes, there's risk, but it's far from what most people would consider gambling.

CW #1: You're not guaranteed to make money. It's gambling.

Me: Uhh, what do you think your 401k is then?

CW #1: -Awkward silence-

[warfreak2]

CW #1: How is that? Interest in a bank account isn't going to make you anything.

It's incredible how many people will readily believe that pensions are financially impossible.

[Pave]

Our company is going through restructuring, and people keep guessing what's going to happen...

CW1: They're going to cut some projects.
Me: Aha.
CW1: But they wouldn't cut your project. You're safe.
Me: I don't want to be safe. I'd prefer the (severance) package.
CW2: Yea, you could have a long holiday and then start looking for a new job.
Me: I could start with 10 or 20 years.
CW1: Seriously, you got enough savings for 20 years?
Me: If I move to low cost area and don't increase my spending, I never need to find another job.
CW1&CW2: *silence*

[Trouble]

I caught up with an old friend this weekend, he's been in Financial Planning for about 10 years now (he and I both just turned 30).
He's earning definitely over $100k, although probably not too much over.

I love talking about money with anyone, so as a good friend I asked him "so you've been doing this gig for 10 years now, when are you going to retire?"

His response "oh well I probably won't retire until I'm about 55" (granted that is 10 years before normal here in Australia).
WTF dude? You've been helping people plan their financial lives for 10 years and you don't think you'll be able to retire for another 25 years? He also said "I like my job, and what would I do with all that spare time anyway!"

I'm not FI, not even close (am a SAHM) but man when I was working I was ploughing all my money into the mortgage with the intention of saving A LOT.

[T-Rex]

Update... The guy with $200,000 in his checking account listened to me and put money in stocks.

However he only put in $2,500 and checks it daily, gloating "I made $100 in one day".

[AlanStache]

Update... The guy with $200,000 in his checking account listened to me and put money in stocks.

This could have easily been me, can be hard to give up the 'certainty' of cash in a checking account for the 'uncertainty' of investments.  I hope he at least has no debt? 

Am working on a guy at work now and trying to get him to read up on investing.  He has relatively little invested (most all in 401k) but is aggressively paying down debt (after taking more on to buy some wicked cool toys) and is looking to buy a home in a year or so.  So not being in the market is probably not the worst thing but still something he should educate himself on.

[T-Rex]

$200K bought his $2500 in stocks from some place that charges 1% fees, and said he will put more money in stocks... only if his money does well the next couple months.

[dragoncar]

$200K bought his $2500 in stocks from some place that charges 1% fees, and said he will put more money in stocks... only if his money does well the next couple months.

Let it go man, you don't want to be "responsible" when the next 20% correction comes and he freaks out.

[dan@themadrealworld]

I had a coworker telling me how he needed his tax return to hit his bank account because he had bills to pay.  I saw him after he got his return and he was telling me how he bought a new TV and he was telling me he paid some crazy amount for an HDMI cable-like $100.

FYI- most people probably already know this but you should pretty much buy the cheapest HDMI cable you can. No difference in quality.  They work or they don't.

This guy was whining about needing his return to pay bills and then goes and blows it on a new TV and a $100 HDMI cable.

[T-Rex]

$200K bought his $2500 in stocks from some place that charges 1% fees, and said he will put more money in stocks... only if his money does well the next couple months.

Let it go man, you don't want to be "responsible" when the next 20% correction comes and he freaks out.

Yeah... A month ago he was asking about stocks. I explained the basic idea and strategy of investing and gave him a link to a Vanguard PDF about retirement and investing. I think he is just going to buy a condo for himself with the majority of the cash and start over at square one putting money in his bank account because he doesn't understand the long game.

[Ayanka]

T-Rex: investing is not for everyone, if you freak out completely when a 10% correction happens, it might not be a good idea for you. This guy might be better off in an "investment" that is not in the stock market (eg: Real Estate). Just my opinion.

[T-Rex]

T-Rex: investing is not for everyone, if you freak out completely when a 10% correction happens, it might not be a good idea for you. This guy might be better off in an "investment" that is not in the stock market (eg: Real Estate). Just my opinion.

Yeah. It's good he didn't put much in because he would probably yank it all out at the first dip. It's still mind boggling to me that he has accumulated enough money at a young age that he could retire early if he played his cards right, but has no idea how to do it.

[S0VERE1GN]

My Boss attempting to convince me to trade my fairly fuel efficient hyundai for a truck with payments because "now you're  a homeowner, you'll need it"

i kindly informed him of the cost of a trailer and hitch.

[warfreak2]

My Boss attempting to convince me to trade my fairly fuel efficient hyundai for a truck with payments

Misery loves company.

[ketchup]

Overheard someone turning down lunch out saying "It's just too expensive."

"....got to pay off all those skybox seats." 

[warfreak2]

Even Captain Picard thinks skybox seats are a huge waste of money, and he drives to work in a spaceship.

[abuzzyisawesome]

I try to avoid finance conversations at my office - put sometimes it happens. We have two older cars, completely paid for. They are about 10-15 years old, standard replacement costs at this point. Belt breaking, new brake pads, struts...that sort of thing. Every time they see my husband and I carpooling or heaven forbid I mention a repair - I get the standard response: "Why don't you both just buy a new car?"

Side note - we are a yearly contract shop - and rumors are that we may not get renewed next year. My goal has been to eliminate all debt and build a nice-sized emergency fund by  the end of our fiscal year. Everyone here is in the exact same position. When I mention this fact: "Oh, it's never certain if you have a job, you may as well buy one. I've decided I'm just going to have a car payment the rest of my life."  Um, yeah. It is never completely certain anyone will keep a job, but I sure as hell am not going to get a $400 a month car payment while I wait to see if I still have a job next year!

[CommonCents]

Even Captain Picard thinks skybox seats are a huge waste of money, and he drives to work in a spaceship.

lol :)

[the fixer]

Technically he commutes in a Turbolift... driving the spaceship is his job, not his commute.

[mgarl10024]

FYI- most people probably already know this but you should pretty much buy the cheapest HDMI cable you can. No difference in quality.  They work or they don't.

But what about the gold plated connections?!

[warfreak2]

FYI- most people probably already know this but you should pretty much buy the cheapest HDMI cable you can. No difference in quality.  They work or they don't.

But what about the gold plated connections?!

An HDMI cable carries digital data, so it either works perfectly or doesn't work at all. You don't pay extra for gold connectors on USB cables or network cables, either.

[Fonzico]

Sadly, I've got one to add.

Fellow at work, in his early 30s, up to his eyeballs in debt. I know for a fact that he is still making car payments for a car he doesn't have, on top of the ones for his current car, both to one of those predatory dealership for people with bad credit. I'm confident that's just the tip of the iceberg, as far as debt goes.

Anyhow, yesterday he requested to take out some of his vacation pay so he can put new speakers into his car. How is this a priority?! It's so sad. And not the first time he's done this either, and then been upset when he didn't have enough vacation hours to actually take a vacation. Sigh.

[sherr]

FYI- most people probably already know this but you should pretty much buy the cheapest HDMI cable you can. No difference in quality.  They work or they don't.

But what about the gold plated connections?!

An HDMI cable carries digital data, so it either works perfectly or doesn't work at all. You don't pay extra for gold connectors on USB cables or network cables, either.

As an Electrical Engineer perhaps I can elaborate.

High-quality connectors are important for analog signals - where the information is transmitted as an electrical "wave" where the amplitude (height), frequency (length), and exact shape of the wave all carry information that must be retained in order to reproduce the original signal most accurately. Bad connectors / cables can affect analog signals either by smoothing out things that should not be smoothed out or by adding noise that introduce things that were not originally there. Either way this would make the received signal not quite the same as the transmitted signal, which will lower the quality of the reproduction. Examples of information stored or transmitted analogly are vinyl records, old-style TV channels, the RCA cable format, and two-wire speaker cables.

Digital signals transmit information differently. On digital signals information is transmitted either as a high voltage, a "1", or a low voltage, a "0". There must be some form of tiny computer at each end to encode / decode the information into / from the stream of 1's and 0's. There can be almost any amount of noise introduced along the way; as long as the receiving computer is able to distinguish between a 1 or a 0 then no information is lost or added. High-quality connectors and cables are not important for digital signals; either the amount of noise is large enough that it overwrites the signal (in which case nothing will work) or it's not (in which case everything will work perfectly). Examples of digital signals are CD / DVD / Blu-ray, HDMI or DVI cables, digital TV channels, USB, Ethernet, optical sound cables, and pretty much every other form of computer cable.

This is why CDs do not wear down and their sound quality doesn't degrade over time, like records do. Either the CD perfectly (up to the format's limits) reproduces the sound or it's scratched and can't be read at all. Either the video / sound quality from a digital TV channel is perfect, or it's completely messed up as long as the branch (or whatever) is blocking the signal. There's no fuzzy sound or fuzzy picture like their use to be for analog TV channels with less-than-perfect reception.

If a $5 HDMI cable works at all then it will produce exactly the same picture quality as a $100 HDMI cable. The marketing people are merely lying and scamming you. This is why James Randi is offering $1 Million to anyone who can demonstrate the superiority of their expensive digital cables over cheap ones, and why no one has taken him up on it yet.

[ketchup]

And gold-plated connections don't conduct any better.  In fact, they conduct worse, but are more corrosion resistant, which is their only potential benefit.  But the only reason anyone buys them is because they think they look fancy.

[Wiggle]

And gold-plated connections don't conduct any better.  In fact, they conduct worse, but are more corrosion resistant, which is their only potential benefit.  But the only reason anyone buys them is because they think they look fancy.

Yep, gold is more resistant to wear and tear but it is not as good a conductor as silver and copper.

[rocksinmyhead]

sherr, thank you for that amazingly clear explanation for the layperson!