Stingiest thing you've seen stingy people do

mayotom

CiaranMT wrote: »

You seem to be missing the point of the thread... Or the point of the original post you replied to, at least.

Oh Ciaran, Chill a little and look up Sarcasm....

Martyn1989

I think all the posts that start with "my friend who has a great job and no children is stingey because....." make the poster seem a bit mean, just because someone has a good job and no kids/mortgage dosnt mean they should be expected to contribute to anything more or less then anyone else. Judge them because their stingey, not because they have more money then you.

A chef in a hotel in the UK I worked in tried to make me charge customers £2 for extra gravy.

fasttalkerchat

Martyn1989 wrote: »

A chef in a hotel in the UK I worked in tried to make me charge customers £2 for extra gravy.

That actually happened to us! My auntie refused to pay. The service was great so she left the amont for the food minus the price of the gravy and then left a fiver at the bar as a tip.

Frank Black

When I was in Australia they had 'rounding' (I'm sure they still do), where they would round prices up or down to the nearest 5c as this was the smallest coin they had.

Whenever I was putting petrol in the car, I would always put in $20.02, knowing they would have to round it down.


I'm not proud.

Martyn1989

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

That actually happened to us! My auntie refused to pay. The service was great so she left the amont for the food minus the price of the gravy and then left a fiver at the bar as a tip.

It wasnt general practice in this place the chef was just trying to push everyone around. All I could say is 'if you want to charge them you can go tell them' which pissed him off but the GM had a word with him. The same guy would flip if food ever came back, didn't seem to understand it was his fault it was crap.

fasttalkerchat

black francis wrote: »

When I was in Australia they had 'rounding' (I'm sure they still do), where they would round prices up or down to the nearest 5c as this was the smallest coin they had.

Whenever I was putting petrol in the car, I would always put in $20.02, knowing they would have to round it down.


I'm not proud.

No shame in that. I used to do the same thing here! Caught myself on since 2p of diesel in a drip now :(:(

coffee_cake

2p would barely get you the smell of petrol now

wilkie2006

In nightclubs, one of my friends used to keep a look out for a discarded, empty cigarette packet and then he'd walk around scabbing smokes off people until it was full. Usually he'd keep the box but sometimes he'd try to sell it to someone on the way home for half price.

I have a lot of tales about this guy. Probably one of the stingiest people I've ever met...

fasttalkerchat

bluewolf wrote: »

2p would barely get you the smell of petrol now

Price of petrol ended the troubles. Petrol bombs go for a tenner these days. True story.

sunnysoutheast

Can't find the original post but the one about the office fruit struck a chord with me, when I first started work as a graduate there was a guy from the intake the year before who was possibly the stingiest person I ever personally met.

He single-handedly caused the office fruit to be cancelled as he used to take the majority of it the moment it was delivered. He would literally be sweating if it was even a minute late or if anyone else took a banana before he could grab them all. He caused a warning notice to be issued as he used to take all the teabags and milk home when he left and there would be none left for the early arrivals the next day. When we had a deadline to meet myself and the other team leads would buy choccy, crisps, cokes etc. for our teams and he would help himself, taking the lot if nobody was looking, and he wasn't even on our f***ing project! I raised a complaint to HR only to get the "oh you're one of many" reply.

It got worse, however, when he decided to invite himself on our night out (we used to go out on the first Wednesday of every month) - tenner in the whip, four rounds and the balance put towards a curry. He just sat there, not having put any money in, in the hope that someone would buy him a pity beer out of the kitty. Everyone was wise to him so it never happened. Then came to the curry house and announced that he wasn't eating, again he'd just sit there, hoping for a share of the food other people were paying for. We ate every bit of it so he went hungry. Luckily he didn't come out again.

He regularly used to try to "borrow a couple of quid" off new joiners before we got a chance to warn them. His general excuse for scabbing off people was that he was "saving for a house". Nothing wrong with that, until we established that this meant "saving for another rental property", he already had several which he'd converted into bedsits and thought we didn't know about.

The piece de resistance though was his wedding. He let it be known that we'd be invited, and we all thought he'd turned over a new leaf. When the invites came, prominently-displayed was a notice that the couple were, of course, "saving for a house" and that the "suggested gift amount" was £25 for a single and £50 for a couple. Breathtaking. We all politely declined. We later heard that, at the wedding, the top table had lashings of very high-quality wine while the cheap tables had one bottle of plonk between them.

There are so many other things I could say about this guy, but in the end his stinginess was his undoing. He was caught fiddling his subsistence expenses (photocopied receipts) and an investigation into login and cardkey records revealed that he had not been in the office at the time(s) he had claimed overtime. He was sacked and had to pay back thousands to avoid fraud charges. He was also investigated and prosecuted by the council after one of his properties caught fire and it emerged it was illegally converted. Several years ago I heard that he had been sentenced to prison for drug dealing.

SSE

sunflower27

SSE -

Woweeeeeeeeeee, that was a brilliant read - thanks for posting that.

The waiting for a drink out of the kitty and then the food as well.... it has to be an illness. Why would anyone sit for an hour or so waiting for someone to get them a drink when they had the money in their wallet.

Surprised at the drug dealer ending I have to say. Didn't see that one coming (although that may not be true??)

One of my favourites on here!!!

sunnysoutheast

sunflower27 wrote: »

SSE -

Woweeeeeeeeeee, that was a brilliant read - thanks for posting that.

The waiting for a drink out of the kitty and then the food as well.... it has to be an illness. Why would anyone sit for an hour or so waiting for someone to get them a drink when they had the money in their wallet.

Surprised at the drug dealer ending I have to say. Didn't see that one coming (although that may not be true??)

One of my favourites on here!!!

Sadly I can assure you it's all true. Some of his tenants started dealing and, rather than evict them, he took the chance for some seemingly easy money and joined them. A few of them got caught. I'm still in touch with a few of the people who had to put up with his behaviour and I heard this a while back. I can remember the night out with him as if it was yesterday. With another team he had gone to a restaurant with a large group, ordered food, ate it and then left before the bill.

I agree it must be some sort of mental illness, but what I used to find infuriating is that his behaviour poisoned the whole working environment as he tried to use people, very often people who were earning a fraction of his income. Another good example is that one of our project assistants (a very sweet but naive girl straight out of school) used to go on a coffee run to the cafe on the ground floor at 3PM on Monday and Friday and we'd all place our orders. The coffee was a discounted 49p but it was customary to give her a quid each so she could get hers free and have a little bit of extra money as she was earning buttons and had done fantastic work for the team. When we found out that you-know-who had been claiming to have "no money" and getting free coffees I went ballistic with him. He wasn't even on our project so should have had nothing to do with us.

He had a two-year-old BMW but never drove it to work. He tried to arrange a lift with someone who lived nearby but his reputation preceded him, he was asked for a £1 per day contribution, payable in advance, but after about three days started turning up with "no money". When told that he'd have to get some from the machine before getting the bus to work he suddenly found the £1. He was the only 5-a-side player on a "pay per play" deal as he wouldn't pay the yearly subs of a pound or so a week in case he was ill and unable to play. He moved into a shared house and was physically thrown out by the other tenants due to theft of food.

SSE

sunflower27

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

I agree it must be some sort of mental illness, but what I used to find infuriating is that his behaviour poisoned the whole working environment as he tried to use people, very often people who were earning a fraction of his income. Another good example is that one of our project assistants (a very sweet but naive girl straight out of school) used to go on a coffee run to the cafe on the ground floor at 3PM on Monday and Friday and we'd all place our orders.

The coffee was a discounted 49p but it was customary to give her a quid each so she could get hers free and have a little bit of extra money as she was earning buttons and had done fantastic work for the team. When we found out that you-know-who had been claiming to have "no money" and getting free coffees I went ballistic with him. He wasn't even on our project so should have had nothing to do with us.


SSE

This is what I mean by an illness. Imagine begrudging a young person on a sh*t wage a free cup of coffee. To put that much thought in to it...

It sounds so ingrained that he will probably never change.

Honestly, just when I think I can't be shocked any more in this thread, someone posts another corker...

jca

Thats terrible stuff. I'd say prison is a hoot for him.

bohsboy

Fagans in Drumcondra at the height of the boom, 2 glasses of water and lime 1.85 each.

I suppose thats more greed than stingy?

Victor

I get the impression such behaviour is considered sociopathy and is a personality disorder not an illness. Some people have happy personalities, some people are quite, some people are stingy.

Steven81

The wife is pregnant at the minute and my mother made us a home made apple pie, now she would be the complete opposite to stingy before this but put it in the press before a friend arrived so she wouldnt have to give her any, think i got 2 slices while she ate the rest, she said it was the nicest thing she had eaten in ages

snubbleste

Steven81 wrote: »

The wife is pregnant at the minute and my mother made us a home made apple pie, now she would be the complete opposite to stingy before this but put it in the press before a friend arrived so she wouldnt have to give her any, think i got 2 slices while she ate the rest, she said it was the nicest thing she had eaten in ages

That's not stingy. She made a pie for ye and gave it to ye instead of someone else.

admiralofthefleet

bohsboy wrote: »

Fagans in Drumcondra at the height of the boom, 2 glasses of water and lime 1.85 each.

I suppose thats more greed than stingy?

girl i know was charged €3.20 for tap water and lime in the q bar a few years back, she has started drinking since

Steven81

snubbleste wrote: »

That's not stingy. She made a pie for ye and gave it to ye instead of someone else.

My wife hid the pie as stated above not my mother

annacanna

Steven81 wrote: »

My wife hid the pie as stated above not my mother

shes pregnant FFS! let her hide and eat as many pies as she wants

ProudDUB

Katgurl wrote: »

Anyway one evening we had gone to a poxy all-you-can-eat place and when waitress came round to check about rice / noodle options proceeded to tell our scabby mate she would not be having 'tastes' while we all frequented the buffet repeatedly. Needless to say this was met with utter outrage "how much out of pocket is it actually going to cost them?"

Ah the 'all you can eat' moochers. You gotta love them. Not ! :mad:

I used to be in the restaurant biz. I could write a book about this $hit. I swear, this thread is better than therapy !

I used to run a restaurant in Atlanta that specialized in Southern soul food. We ran a special once - all you can eat BBQ for $30. You got a 1/2 BBQ chicken, a slab of BBQ ribs and a dozen BBQ wings. When you finished your first serving, your server would bring you some more. It wasn't self serve.

The usual all you can eat/buffet rules applied....No Sharing & it was Dine-In only. Anyone who was busted sharing was subjected to a $15 surcharge. (Which I thought was very fair, I would have charged $30 a head if it was up to me.) There were flyers on all the tables advertising the special, and setting out the "rules". All you can eat buffets are very common in the US, so its not like people are unfamiliar with the rules.

Given the high overheads involved, waiters were under strict orders to explain the rules to diners, and to point them towards the flyer on the table. But they were crap at doing that and enforcing it as they didn't want to jeopardize their tips. Obviously, common sense prevailed most of the time. As long as all the diners were ordering their own main courses, we didn't mind if the BBQ special diner gave them a taste of his food or vice versa.

Given all that, you wouldn't believe the things people did to screw us over. They'd arrive with Tupperware containers and rolls of tin foil that the food would get tossed into it as soon as the servers back was turned. Another serving now if you please. Regulars turned up who would normally pig out when they came, but all of a sudden, Herself would order a small green salad while Himself gets the BBQ special. She would be mysteriously dabbing her mouth whenever anyone walked by & gave the Stare of Death to anyone who dared look twice at her.

The owner did his nut in continually. He'd patrol the restaurant like a BBQ nazi and there'd be rows in the kitchen between him and the servers for not doing their jobs properly. There were rows between the managers and the customers when they'd be busted double dipping, and were pissed at being hit with the surcharge. There were rows between the cooks who didn't have a steady supply of clean plates coz the dishwashers were being sent out front to keep an eye on the table that were being suspected of sharing.

We took out print and radio ads publicizing it, and the owner made a huge financial commitment to our meat suppliers to bulk buy what he thought he needed. But in the end we had to stop doing it. It was just too much hassle.

It was an amazing deal to begin with, and our customers were thrilled with it. BBQ is a religion in the South. It was such a shame that the greedy, stingy few had to ruin it for everyone else.

Gingernuts31

georgiecasey wrote: »

I always wait for my 1 cent change and put in straight back into the wallet, just habit really. Is that not the norm?!

Depends on the person. I find most people will tell me or put it into the box themselves.

Gingernuts31

I Heart Internet wrote: »

To be fair, garages tend to be one of the few places where if you fill €20.02 or €50.03 they'll just ask you for the even figure (of course, makes sense). But most shops won't. I tend to use my debit card a lot so no change is involved - i fully expect them to take the full amount, even the extra 1 cent.

BUT - where I do pay cash, in whatever shop, I'll always wait for my change and always pocket it - whether it be 4.99 in coins or 1 cent. Is that stingy? Maybe.

If I want to give to charity, I will (and do) but I do want my change.

Yes if someone goes over by a few cents on the fuel I won't ask them for it specifically but of course if they are getting other bits I can't void out the cents so I have to take it. But if paying by card I can't do anything except take the full amount be it 1 or 10 cents cause it automatically goes through the till.

I understand there are people who want to wait for their 1 cent change and pocket it as it is their change. Then as you said people want their change and they will give it to charity.

There is 1 man and I dread seening him coming in as he always goes over on the fuel by no less than 5 cents each time. The last time he was in he went over by 12 cents :mad:. I asked him for it as I don't want my till being down because if 10 people go over by 12 cents and I don't ask my till is down by 1.20 and it looks bad on me. He said he only had the 20 he had put in and was I really going to want the 12 cents. I said yes because if I didn't ask for the cents my till would be down. He went out to the car and found it.

If you can't put in fuel properly go in and ask the person in garage to put it in for you. There is no excuse for going over by anymore than 2 or 3 cents.

listenup

superblu wrote: »

I used to work with this really scabby owld b0llox. We convinced him 1 of the days to join us for lunch at an all you can eat Thai buffet place instead of eating in the subsidised canteen which in itself was a minor miracle. What unflolded was like something from that programme "man vs food". The guy just kept eating and eating making sure he got his tenners worth. These plates of chicken satay, beef and black bean sauce, prawn crackers and whatever other slop they had in their troughs just kept disappearing. God help his poor wife. He must have been dropping the most horrendous farts for a long time afterwards. He practically had to crawl back to the office on his hands and knees and proceeded to fall asleep at his desk for the afternoon.

I can just imagine the gluttonous fool telling all his mates about how much he eat for his tenner well I hope he got jihad diarrhea

wilkie2006

Steven81 wrote: »

The wife is pregnant at the minute and my mother made us a home made apple pie, now she would be the complete opposite to stingy before this but put it in the press before a friend arrived so she wouldnt have to give her any, think i got 2 slices while she ate the rest, she said it was the nicest thing she had eaten in ages

snubbleste wrote: »

That's not stingy. She made a pie for ye and gave it to ye instead of someone else.

Steven81 wrote: »

My wife hid the pie as stated above not my mother

In fairness, your OP is not very clear.

nibtrix

Steven81 wrote: »

My wife hid the pie as stated above not my mother

I totally did not get that, I thought the mother was hiding the pie...

psychward

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

girl i know was charged €3.20 for tap water and lime in the q bar a few years back, she has started drinking since

and then the same shameless stingy cartel behind it all displayed their brass necks by going on the Late Late Show and telling us they needed a minimum price for alcohol .. for our own health and good like... Fu(k them.

bijapos

I was at a party yesterday, met up with a stingy cow who is friends with friends and whom I regrettably meet fairly often, but she is someone who I tend to avoid like the plague because of her renowned stinginess.

Yesterday was a prime example, she shows up at the Bar-B-Q with a half pound pack of cheap sausages, nobody ate them so she took them home. she also arrived with a cheap bottle of wine that had been previously opened, then proceeded to drink and eat all around her, got sick and came back for more.

Late in the evening she gave me a bollocking about not offering her a lift to the funeral of a mates father who passed away 3 weeks ago. His removals were on the Friday and the burial on the Saturday, a few people drove down from Dublin on Friday and she took a lift with them, return Dublin to Galway, she never offered a penny for petrol. So I said I was working and could only make the burial on Saturday and and I asked her:

"What's the difference between going on Friday or Saturday, sure you got to express your sympathies, and you got there and back anyway".

Her reply:

"Yeah, but we just went there and back, we got no food as it was evening time, you got a dinner after the burial on Saturday, we actually had to buy our own food on the way back!"

"No, we didn't stay for food, had a pint in the pub with Martin and left, we got lunch in Athlone on the way back."

"Jesus, you some eejit that you didn't insist on getting a lunch."

She actually said this to a few people, seems her idea of going to a funeral is to get free food. One of her work colleagues said that she often does this, insists on permanently getting food after going to funerals of family of people she hardly knows.


Her stinginess is legendary, about 20 of us went to Westport for a weekend a couple of years ago, kitty was €100 a head to pay for the three houses, diesel, breakfast food and snacks. She came along with us, which I din't want, missed out on rounds all weekend and at the end of it when we were collecting the cash she said she didn't have the €100 even though I had seen her getting it out of the ATM in Westport. She said she'd give it back during the week which means never, so I stopped at the toll on the M4 in Enfield and threw her out of the car along with her bags unless she paid the €100, she coughed it up quick enough. She complains later that as my car was a diesel and more economical she should have to pay a bit less than those in the other cars.

A guy who grew up near her in Kilkenny used to bring her up and down at the weekends from where they were working in Dublin, literally door to door. She never offered him a cent or a pint. when he suggested it once her reply was that she shouldn't have to pay as she knows the way and can show him!

I fcuking hate the sight of her. It really is a psychological condition with some people.

LeinsterDub

Gingernuts31 wrote: »

Yes if someone goes over by a few cents on the fuel I won't ask them for it specifically but of course if they are getting other bits I can't void out the cents so I have to take it. But if paying by card I can't do anything except take the full amount be it 1 or 10 cents cause it automatically goes through the till.

I understand there are people who want to wait for their 1 cent change and pocket it as it is their change. Then as you said people want their change and they will give it to charity.

There is 1 man and I dread seening him coming in as he always goes over on the fuel by no less than 5 cents each time. The last time he was in he went over by 12 cents :mad:. I asked him for it as I don't want my till being down because if 10 people go over by 12 cents and I don't ask my till is down by 1.20 and it looks bad on me. He said he only had the 20 he had put in and was I really going to want the 12 cents. I said yes because if I didn't ask for the cents my till would be down. He went out to the car and found it.

I'm sorry but that makes no sense. Surely if your letting people off up to 5 cents left and right all day your till is always going to down and down a fair bit depending on how busy? Ok maybe you had enough of this guy but your till being balanced isn't really the main issue