Stingiest things thread(op for R&R access)

The_Conductor

Deleted User wrote: »

When it comes to weddings, I'm all for a small group and not wasting money on stuff that's not essential - wear jeans and t-shirt if you want and have a picnic in a field....

BUT, what is always essential when you invite people to a celebration is food and drinks for your guests - you can't be a stinge with that part of a wedding

It all depends- its the norm here- however, other parts of the world would have different practices (and indeed- some of them are a lot more extravagant than even here- I've fond memories of a procession of elephants at a wedding ceremony in India for example).

Its not really appropriate to equate the practices elsewhere- with what is normal here.

I've also been at a tiny registry office wedding here- where I went for drinks with the bride and groom afterwards- no food, no fuss- just the two witnesses and the bride and groom- they wanted it as quiet as possible.

My own wedding had 7 people at it- as my now wife was extremely ill and undergoing chemotherapy at the time- that said, we did have a nice cake which we distributed to both sides of the family, and brought the rest out to Rolys for dinner.

Different practices for different people.

a_squirrelman

galway_lad wrote: »

I worked the bar for one of these in Ireland in the 2000s. An Eastern European couple. The bar was not closed. They did their first dance and the whole pub clapped, then they just stuck to their area to the side.

I think it's easy to get mixed up with nationalities and stereotypes and limited exposure. Last Feb was out for a working lunch/pint-session with some Dutch visitors. Round one in, fine. I went up for the next. Since it was expensed and all that, and I was going to the jacks I didn't even blink to ask if people wanted another. Of course they did. I land back with the drinks, one of the Dutch lads says he's ok (with the little bit he had left) so quickly grabs the glass brings it to the bar and looks for a refund! There was a bit of agro and they fobbed him off with a couple of quid, which he then pocketed!

Jaysus, I'd have asked him for that cash, cheeky monkey.

galway_lad

a_squirrelman wrote: »

Jaysus, I'd have asked him for that cash, cheeky monkey.

But since I was expensing the whole affair that would have made me the stinge Dangerous waters.

a_squirrelman

galway_lad wrote: »

But since I was expensing the whole affair that would have made me the stinge Dangerous waters.

Oh I understand ya, but throwing it in some poor box or tipping the bar staff would be better than that stinge pocketing it.


What was he thinking like, the mind boggles.

ohnonotgmail

the purple tin wrote: »

I don't know if you can speak for an entire country either even if you are English.
I've been to weddings in England and Scotland years ago and they were pretty much identical to here. Function room in hotel, band or DJ, cake, drinking and dancing til late.

to be fair I have been to a wedding like that in england but one family was Irish so that may have helped. Still awful though. They held it in the local masonic hall. the food was terrible. Chicken in a basket. And they ran out of vodka at the bar.

ohnonotgmail

a_squirrelman wrote: »

Oh I understand ya, but throwing it in some poor box or tipping the bar staff would be better than that stinge pocketing it.


What was he thinking like, the mind boggles.

or, and this may sound crazy, drink the feckin thing.

Antares35

I was at an English wedding a few years ago. I don't mind that it's a different culture and that but I thought it was odd that after the reception, all the guests except immediate family were expected to just fúck off and entertain themselves for the day while the bride and groom had dinner with immediate family, and then we'd to join them again later for drinks in a pub. Would've been ok if they'd told people this was the plan but there was just this awkward moment after all the photos were taken where they said, "um ok we're going for dinner now and we can't afford to feed you all so meet you back at wherever in about five hours". So we ended up just finding a pub and hanging out there.

On the card, we had £100 in ours and a relative who lived there and obviously knows the "going rate" told us to take £50 back out!

Oh yeah, there were sandwiches provided at the pub I think!

arctictree

I know its not real life, but in the movies, English weddings look very similar to ours. Big sit down meal, best man speech etc. Is the reality just very different?

Blitzkrieger

MikeOxsgreen wrote: »

Also, if you brought a cake or something nice (for the tea) , you'd be offered rich tea biscuits from stock.

razorblunt wrote: »

Stop bringing cake, bring Rich Tea.

Marietta!

The_Conductor

arctictree wrote: »

I know its not real life, but in the movies, English weddings look very similar to ours. Big sit down meal, best man speech etc. Is the reality just very different?

What weddings? Victorian or period weddings?
Funerals are the same in England- sad affairs that do little to celebrate the passing of the person and give them a good send-off in the manner in which we do here. I couldn't tell you how many wakes and full funerals I've been to in Ireland- I've lost count, in comparison the few I've attended in London and Cambridge- were sparsely attended, sombre affairs, where you were expected to feck off afterwards.

El_Duderino 09

arctictree wrote: »

I know its not real life, but in the movies, English weddings look very similar to ours. Big sit down meal, best man speech etc. Is the reality just very different?

Depends. There’s more variety in English weddings. Irish weddings are very samey, generally ranging from a bit over the top to 3 day extravaganzas.

Some English people have top hats and coat tails and all the frills. Others have a reception in the working men’s club or the sports clubhouse.

galway_lad

galway_lad wrote: »

At my wedding, a stingey uncle of mine gave us a present of a scratch card! I know you shouldn't expect gifts but c'mon, how could you do that without any shame. When I saw him after he made a big deal of asking if I won anything, probably looking for a share!

Jesus ironically your man would have been better off if he just gave nothing at all. I mean if he gave nothing you could at least pretend to yourself that he just forgot, but to give a scratch card and ask if there was any few bob on it is just broadcasting you're a tight fisted cnut!

Quazzie

The_Conductor wrote: »

What weddings? Victorian or period weddings?
Funerals are the same in England- sad affairs that do little to celebrate the passing of the person and give them a good send-off in the manner in which we do here. I couldn't tell you how many wakes and full funerals I've been to in Ireland- I've lost count, in comparison the few I've attended in London and Cambridge- were sparsely attended, sombre affairs, where you were expected to feck off afterwards.

That's because funerals in the UK can be up to 2 months after the death. most people are well into their grieving period at this stage, and the funeral itself can almost be a nuisance. The Irish dead and buried in 3 days normality is actually great for the grieving process as it forces people to confront it straight on, and often serves as a vital distraction for the people closest to the deceased.

johndaman66

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

You went to a different culture’s wedding and are cross that they didn’t do a wedding like your own culture.

The third round of drinks that you bought was just being a martyr. It must have been clear to you that they weren’t doing rounds after the first two rounds (but it was bad form of them to let you buy rounds if they didn’t say they would prefer to buy their own)

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

Weddings in England are a nightmare in general. They don't do them properly at all. My brother is getting married again over there next year and I'm dreading it.

I fully appreciate and acknowledge that the English do weddings in a different manner to the Irish. To be frank I think the idea of dropping €25 - €30k upwards on "the big day" is just insanity. I know the third round of drinks I bought with my sister was me being a martyr but I bought them for peace sake as I know my sister would have caused pandemonium, maybe not there and then but I would have got it from her after (believe me I know her too well). It just would not be worth the grief. If I didn't pitch in she would have bought them herself anyway and as I mentioned she did not even have a job at the time. If she wasn't there I would have absolutely held tough on buying.

Different and all as weddings are over there I would have expected my brother and his new wife to at least bought one round of drinks and that is what irked me more than anything given the generous gifts they received without having to shell out any money much. I was under no illusions that your average English wedding is a totally different affair to weddings are over here but I would think your average English couple would have at least bought a round of drinks under the circumstances all the same. They are just starved.

johndaman66

dinneenp wrote: »

She already owned the shoes!!!! Didn't waste money by going and buying a new pair!!!!

"bargain basement wedding dress". She didn't spend €1k or €2k on a dress that will only be worn for one day!!!!!! What a stinge.

Well the shoes looked pretty worse for wear - for a pair that you would wear on your wedding day. I'm not one for keeping up with the Jones or all about appearances but I would be disappointed if the woman I was marrying turned up in them on the day.

You might probably be best off not casting aspersions on whether this lady is a stinge or not seen as you don't know her and no amount of exclamation marks will change that. I know her and believe me she is a stinge in other aspects of life, not just confined to the wedding day. By the way I think its insanity dropping up to €2k on a dress that will only be worn for one day but what she wore was a hand me down at best or something that must have being picked up in a charity shop.

AndyBoBandy

MOD: We'll leave it at that regarding the wedding mentioned a number of posts ago, and continue with the stinge..

the purple tin

On homes under the hammer some bloke bought a house and then found out the previous owner had stripped out the sockets, light fittings and switches and took out all the radiators!

The_Conductor

the purple tin wrote: »

On homes under the hammer some bloke bought a house and then found out the previous owner had stripped out the sockets, light fittings and switches and took out all the radiators!

Sadly its not as unusual as you'd imagine.
Its why in Ireland we ask to have all contents listed- including fixtures and fittings, when buying/selling........ You'd be amazed at how many people get caught out.

the purple tin

The_Conductor wrote: »

Sadly its not as unusual as you'd imagine.
Its why in Ireland we ask to have all contents listed- including fixtures and fittings, when buying/selling........ You'd be amazed at how many people get caught out.

Yes I think it was all a-ok when he viewed it but after he made the offer place was stripped.
The bloke said he had been buying and doing up houses for years but he's never seen anything like this before.

Strumms

There was a fella I worked with on nights, where there were 4 of on shift in our department ...

Another manager of a different department used to supply snacks and drinks for his team, there’d be fruit bowls, bowl of chocolate bars, Pringle’s , soft drinks, water etc in their office. They’d knock off at 5am, we’d be on shift until 6.30am..

No sooner had they disappeared this fella was in their office filling a bag and leaving feck all... he wasn’t filling a bag for us nor did we even get offered anything... it was for his family and him, a proper miserable cûnt he was earning about 44,000 and his wife worked part time.

One night me and a colleague had a word, said it would be prudent to clarify if that was ok, as the eye could be on ALL of us.. his reply... “ it’s coming out of the budget, for employees, I’m an employee end of story... “... forgetting of course each manager has their own budget... and the problem he wasn’t just half inching a coke and some Pringle’s he was bagging their remaining stash or 70% of what was left....always ‘4’.... 4 cokes, 4 waters, 4 mini Pringle’s, 4 Cadbury snacks... about twice or three times a week.

Every second conversation with him was, ‘the price of xxxx is outrageous’... ‘this country is a rip off’... he was even giving out that the company mechanic who he’d been getting to service his car as a nixer as we all did, great mechanic, nice guy upped the charge from 70 to 80 euros.... despite even collecting the car in the morning , driving 1km, bringing it back before he clocked off... nutsville.

Gwynplaine

the purple tin wrote: »

Yes I think it was all a-ok when he viewed it but after he made the offer place was stripped.
The bloke said he had been buying and doing up houses for years but he's never seen anything like this before.

My stinge of a brother took off all the handles of internal doors of his house when he sold it. I saw this box of door handles about 15 years after he sold the house, I said "what are the box of door handles for" he said, delighted with himself, "oh I took them them out of that house I sold years ago". I wasnt surprised to be honest. He then told he also took all the lightbulbs with him.
Same fella asked a relative for petrol money when bringing them for Chemotherapy one time. Unsurprisingly, he was never asked to do a hospital run again.
Glad I've nothing to do with him now. People like that can be toxic, in many ways.

Strumms

Gwynplaine wrote: »

My stinge of a brother took off all the handles of internal doors of his house when he sold it. I saw this box of door handles about 15 years after he sold the house, I said "what are the box of door handles for" he said, delighted with himself, "oh I took them them out of that house I sold years ago". I wasnt surprised to be honest. He then told he also took all the lightbulbs with him.
Same fella asked a relative for petrol money when bringing them for Chemotherapy one time. Unsurprisingly, he was never asked to do a hospital run again.
Glad I've nothing to do with him now. People like that can be toxic, in many ways.

I think with stingy people it’s not just money, it’s their general toxicity... it’s time, it’s effort... everything they demand and take from others with never an inclination to ever pay back or reciprocate....

Antares35

Strumms wrote: »

There was a fella I worked with on nights, where there were 4 of on shift in our department ...

Another manager of a different department used to supply snacks and drinks for his team, there’d be fruit bowls, bowl of chocolate bars, Pringle’s , soft drinks, water etc in their office. They’d knock off at 5am, we’d be on shift until 6.30am..

No sooner had they disappeared this fella was in their office filling a bag and leaving feck all... he wasn’t filling a bag for us nor did we even get offered anything... it was for his family and him, a proper miserable cûnt he was earning about 44,000 and his wife worked part time.

One night me and a colleague had a word, said it would be prudent to clarify if that was ok, as the eye could be on ALL of us.. his reply... “ it’s coming out of the budget, for employees, I’m an employee end of story... “... forgetting of course each manager has their own budget... and the problem he wasn’t just half inching a coke and some Pringle’s he was bagging their remaining stash or 70% of what was left....always ‘4’.... 4 cokes, 4 waters, 4 mini Pringle’s, 4 Cadbury snacks... about twice or three times a week.

Every second conversation with him was, ‘the price of xxxx is outrageous’... ‘this country is a rip off’... he was even giving out that the company mechanic who he’d been getting to service his car as a nixer as we all did, great mechanic, nice guy upped the charge from 70 to 80 euros.... despite even collecting the car in the morning , driving 1km, bringing it back before he clocked off... nutsville.

Doesn't seem to be any correlation between what someone earns and how stingey they are. I worked in a place years ago where there'd often be a good whack of leftover sandwiches from various meetings. The company always over ordered from the likes of O'Briens and Munchies etc. Guaranteed as a meeting was due to wind up there'd always be the same members of middle or senior management just hanging around like flies ready to pounce. You'd kind of expect the poor employees on 28k to be doing that, not the ones on 70+. Hungry gits.

Princess Calla

Antares35 wrote: »

Doesn't seem to be any correlation between what someone earns and how stingey they are.

You'd kind of expect the poor employees on 28k to be doing that, not the ones on 70+. Hungry gits.

I have noticed the higher the salary the more likely they are to be penny pinching.

The lower salary would be too embarrassed to do that, higher salary will brazen it out.

Bob Harris

Antares35 wrote: »

Guaranteed as a meeting was due to wind up there'd always be the same members of middle or senior management just hanging around like flies ready to pounce. You'd kind of expect the poor employees on 28k to be doing that, not the ones on 70+. Hungry gits.

That's how the cats get fat.

Antares35

Princess Calla wrote: »

I have noticed the higher the salary the more likely they are to be penny pinching.

The lower salary would be too embarrassed to do that, higher salary will brazen it out.

Yeah, some of them used to pretend they were too busy with their important jobs to be running out for a sandwich, hence they scarf down the free ones...

odyssey06

Antares35 wrote: »

Doesn't seem to be any correlation between what someone earns and how stingey they are. I worked in a place years ago where there'd often be a good whack of leftover sandwiches from various meetings. The company always over ordered from the likes of O'Briens and Munchies etc. Guaranteed as a meeting was due to wind up there'd always be the same members of middle or senior management just hanging around like flies ready to pounce. You'd kind of expect the poor employees on 28k to be doing that, not the ones on 70+. Hungry gits.

Maybe I'm missing something, but they were leftover sandwiches though?

Popping up at the end of a meeting to claim a share of sandwiches and leaving the real attendees short would be a different story.

Antares35

odyssey06 wrote: »

Maybe I'm missing something, but they were leftover sandwiches though?

Popping up at the end of a meeting to claim a share of sandwiches and leaving the real attendees short would be a different story.

The fact that they were leftover isn't really the point, it's that the same people would always be hovering around in the kitchen when the meeting was over, ready to pounce on them.

I agree taking them from the meeting would be a different story, but that isn't the story I posted.

Strumms

Antares35 wrote: »

Doesn't seem to be any correlation between what someone earns and how stingey they are. I worked in a place years ago where there'd often be a good whack of leftover sandwiches from various meetings. The company always over ordered from the likes of O'Briens and Munchies etc. Guaranteed as a meeting was due to wind up there'd always be the same members of middle or senior management just hanging around like flies ready to pounce. You'd kind of expect the poor employees on 28k to be doing that, not the ones on 70+. Hungry gits.

Very true. I think it’s how just some peoples brain is wired unfortunately...

You can’t even blame upbringing or wealth, again my Dad is super generous... his brother wouldn’t even spend the petrol money to come visit my Dad when my Dad was in hospital...a mean individual of both wallet and spirit even though he’d have a six figure bank balance having been a company director and all the time and comforts that brought.. couple of months ago his son my cousin was dying and he was onto my dad every 3 days for advice and a shoulder to cry on... my attitude was... ‘give him the number for Rom Massey and Joe Duffy and tell him we’ll see you at the funeral’.....

Princess Calla

the purple tin wrote: »

On homes under the hammer some bloke bought a house and then found out the previous owner had stripped out the sockets, light fittings and switches and took out all the radiators!

A friend and of mine told the story when they bought their house ,they'd just got the keys and the father in law (who didn't think he was good enough for his daughter) was with them.

Got to the house all the bulbs etc were removed. He was mortified and another nail in the coffin with the FIL.

So anyway few yrs pass and there's a knock at the door. Previous owners wondering if a box containing some sentimental stuff was left behind in the attic.....nope sorry, door closed.

I'm not sure if he ever looked for the box, I probably would have checked, but if you are going to be petty by removing everything, expect pettiness back in return.