Stingiest thing you've seen stingy people do

MrSnuffleupagus · 05-12-2011 9:45am

I got a story! A stupid, stupid story..

Last year I lived with a girl and we both drank lots of tea, so I bought a large box of Barry's for the house, figuring she'd buy the next. Put the box on top of the cupboard and went home to the parents for Christmas (she stayed in the house)

So I come back after a week or so to find my stash went from 160 bags to about 20.. Had NO idea how anyone could go through so many teabags so quick but whatever. Waited a few weeks for her to buy the next box. Then one day I had a friend over, noticed a lovely big box of Lyons in the back of a cupboard so I figured it was fair game, popped on the kettle.

Instead of finding the pyramid teabags we all know and love I found some Barry's teabags. My Barry's teabags.

She nicked my teabags, hid them in a different box, and left enough for me for a week or two, at which point she figured I'd buy some more and she wouldn't be left dry.

I always feel like a gobs**te telling people about it because it's so ridiculous

watna · 05-12-2011 10:06am

samsemtex wrote: »

She wont accept calls on her mobile as it costs her so she gets people to call her house phone instead. She told me to stop texting her once because she was in the US and was getting charged 12c to receive a text message on her roaming package.

I don't think that part is particularly stingy

If I were getting charged to receive calls/text messages I'd probably do the same and ask people to text me only if it's urgent while I'm roaming. Same for receiving calls. If it's going to cost both of you to call on the mobile then the phone company is just getting more money out of you and is the only one benefitting, far better to ask people to call the landline imo

I agree in conjunction with other things it may appear stingy but I don't think that part is particularly scabby

Africa · 05-12-2011 12:03pm

Im a bad one. I got Child tickets on the trains and such till I was 19. BUT I put that down to the fact that Laytown is just five miles or seven minutes further out than Balbriggan, yet pay nearly double the Balbriggan rate for the ticket. It’s an unsustainable rip-off. Think its something like 5er to get to Balbriggan and €12 to town. So yeah, rip off. Really wish they had some competition in this country as they are f*ckin useless at the best of times.

Always check the reduced section of a supermarket before other things. May as well sure.

Check Adverts.ie to see if the thing I want is available second hand; managed to build 90% of my drum kits over the years this way.

Fiancee's engagement ring is not a real diamond... (ok, thats BS. I dont have a fiancee...)

Overature · 05-12-2011 1:24pm

podgemonster wrote: »

One weekend a large group of us went paintballing so we organised convoys of cars. I picked up 3 lads from their respected houses and drove from Cork city to a woodland an hour west of Limerick city and then drove the same 3 lads from the woods to Limerick city where we went out for the night.

The next morning after a full irish, I had to pay 10e for parking and one of the lads said he'd get this, i said thats a nice offer and let him pay when the other two showed up and offered me a 5er between them (their split on the parking), I said there was no need.

Finally I drove back to Cork city, stopping once to get €60 petrol. Lads in the other convoy stopped also and as their driver went in to pay the other lads put money into the ashtray for him to find later. My passengers did not.

Finally I dropped the lads back to cork and the lad who offered me the €5 was going to get the bus to his folks home but I thought I should see my folks too and gave him another 50 mile lift to West Cork, dropped him right to his door and he said, 'Thanks for that' and left.

Out of not sounding stingy I didnt say anything but I felt that after driving people over 300 km that they could have least thrown me a tenner each.
Am i the stingy one or are they?

ah here, every time i give people lifts long distances i always split the petrol cost amounts how many of us are in the car or not, regardless of if i know them or not, if you don't pay your way you can get out and walk

podgemonster · 05-12-2011 2:26pm

Overature wrote: »

ah here, every time i give people lifts long distances i always split the petrol cost amounts how many of us are in the car or not, regardless of if i know them or not, if you don't pay your way you can get out and walk

Don't get me wrong I agree with your last sentence but I would never ask/demand money. I have been in many journeys in the backseat of a car where when the driver heads into the shop everyone leaves a few bob on the dash. Often theres the charade of
"heres a few euros for the lift"
"ah no you're grand, ah don't be silly"
"no seriously, thanks"
"sound, thanks for that"

That particular journey was an exception, one that I was fairly annoyed with as were the lads in the other car when I told them. Although a few weeks ago, I drove to the midlands from Dublin and my passenger offered to get me a few pints in return and the tolls, i almost prefer that (more socialable). He got me 4-5 pints and then I went up to the bar as I said it was my round at this stage.
It was a free bar! Cute hoor.

paddythere · 05-12-2011 2:30pm

my friends mother gave my mate an old vinyl that she knew id like to give to me as i collect them.he then proceeded to sell it to me for 30 quid

saa · 05-12-2011 2:51pm

samsemtex wrote: »

My current house mate is one of the stingiest humans i have ever met. She is a 55+ year old teacher who lives in Vancouver during the week but bought a flat in Whistler which she clearly cannot afford. She rents out the main room (to me) and sleeps on the pull out bed herself. (kinda defeats the purpose of owning your own place really especially since she works here too). Every weekend she gets here by hitch hiking every single time because she wont buy the bus ticket which is about $18 each way. And because she stays until monday morning this means her leaving here at 5am and standing on the side of the road waiting for a ride. This a woman who is almost 60!

She wont accept calls on her mobile as it costs her so she gets people to call her house phone instead. She told me to stop texting her once because she was in the US and was getting charged 12c to receive a text message on her roaming package.

She goes to Starbucks and brings her own teabags and uses their hot water but doesnt buy anything. She continually reminds me to turn the heating off when im not there as her budget will only allow it to be on 8 hours a day.

She walks for an hour into the village to avoid paying a $2.50 bus fair.

The list is endless really.

Yeah I don't really see anything bad here, it was stupid of her to buy a place she can't afford, what she is doing isn't bad but I suppose its her personality you have more of an issue with.
Like my landlord when I was in digs never put a bin out had to sort through everything tight arse he was but fair play to him just like yer one walking an hour instead of taking the bus, or not taking calls she doesnt want to or buying starbucks fairplay but I don't think I'd want to be friends with someone so anal.

Someone generally doing something uncommon to save money for themselves is fine but someone who will not allow for exceptions annoys me, but still when its for themselves it doesn't bother me

The worst are the folk who have the money and have a really horrid attitude to spending money

Saermegil · 05-12-2011 2:51pm

I make my own popcorn when I go to the cinema. I put it in a cereal box.
I take my own teabags to school and then get hot water off the machine for ten cents.

However I will usually pay loads of money for luxury products like gourmet food and drink. I guess it's because I feel like a right eejit paying 1.50 for tea from the machine or a fiver for some ****e popcorn in the cinema!

hypermuse · 05-12-2011 2:56pm

Saermegil wrote: »

I make my own popcorn when I go to the cinema. I put it in a cereal box.
I take my own teabags to school and then get hot water off the machine for ten cents.

However I will usually pay loads of money for luxury products like gourmet food and drink. I guess it's because I feel like a right eejit paying 1.50 for tea from the machine or a fiver for some ****e popcorn in the cinema!

thats not stingy!! its just common sense!!

But making popcorn at home and putting it in a cereal box is just a bit weird!! Not just get some manhatten or tesco popcorn no??

I refuse to pay for tea anywhere (don't drink coffee), 1.50-2 euro for some hot water and tea bag!! feck off!!

Saermegil · 05-12-2011 3:02pm

hypermuse wrote: »

thats not stingy!! its just common sense!!

But making popcorn at home and putting it in a cereal box is just a bit weird!! Not just get some manhatten or tesco popcorn no??

I refuse to pay for tea anywhere (don't drink coffee), 1.50-2 euro for some hot water and tea bag!! feck off!!

I HATE the taste of that pop-corn - I make mine from fresh and not some microwave bag. But I guess it is weird -but none of my friends ever complain when i whip out a huge thing of popcorn that's enough for 3 -4 people

gerryo777 · 05-12-2011 3:05pm

Once worked for a builder and my exact wages after tax was £99.98 and that's exactly what he paid me, wouldn't even round it up to the £100 mark.

wonderfulname · 05-12-2011 3:09pm

How would you feel if it was 100.02 and he rounded down to the hundred? Just curious...

smallBiscuit · 05-12-2011 3:10pm

Quackles wrote: »

I knew someone who removed light bulbs and picture hooks from his house before he moved. Reminds me of that Richard Prior film.. "We're taking it with us!!"

I did that a few years ago. But I hadn't planned on moving and the bulbs were the low voltage kind, tenner a pop at the time

Saermegil · 05-12-2011 3:15pm

smallBiscuit wrote: »

I did that a few years ago. But I hadn't planned on moving and the bulbs were the low voltage kind, tenner a pop at the time

A few years ago i moved into a house that the landlord ( a stingy fecker himself) had had to renovate. Why? The previous tennants had left in the middle of the night after dodging rent for a couple of months, taking : the rails and shelves from wardrobes and presses, various knobs from doors and presses, aluminium oven knobs. Mind you this was an expensive, nice flat.

smallBiscuit · 05-12-2011 3:40pm

banshee_bones wrote: »

i lived with a girl who was so stingy and tight that after we had used a black bin bag she emptied the trash out ...

and wanted to reuse it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do this one too. Not normal rubbish though, I have a small press, which we put recyclables in, I fill it, empty into the recycle bin and reuse the bag

gerryo777 · 05-12-2011 5:36pm

wonderfulname wrote: »

How would you feel if it was 100.02 and he rounded down to the hundred? Just curious...

:rolleyes:

LighterGuy · 05-12-2011 5:58pm

wonderfulname wrote: »

How would you feel if it was 100.02 and he rounded down to the hundred? Just curious...

Its 2 cent either way. Just round it off to 100.

Think about it ... You'd have to give a 50 note, 2 x 20 notes, a 5 note, 2 x 2 euro coins, 50 cent coin, 2 x 20 cent coins, a 5 cent, 2 cent and a 1 cent coin :pac: ... all that!!!!? .. or just give 2 fifty notes (or what ever notes)

Besides in your example you'd wanna be a right stingey fecker to get a 100 and say wheres my 2 cents? .. just round it off to 100 in both examples.

The Big Red Button · 05-12-2011 6:12pm

LighterGuy wrote: »

Its 2 cent either way. Just round it off to 100.

Think about it ... You'd have to give a 50 note, 2 x 20 notes, a 5 note, 2 x 2 euro coins, 50 cent coin, 2 x 20 cent coins, a 5 cent, 2 cent and a 1 cent coin :pac: ... all that!!!!? .. or just give 2 fifty notes (or what ever notes)

Besides in your example you'd wanna be a right stingey fecker to get a 100 and say wheres my 2 cents? .. just round it off to 100 in both examples.

But that's if he was paid in cash ... it's stingey alright if he actually went and counted out €99.98 that way, but I don't think it's stingey if he was just writing the cheque for that amount!

gerryo777 · 05-12-2011 6:17pm

chatterpillar wrote: »

But that's if he was paid in cash ... it's stingey alright if he actually went and counted out €99.98 that way, but I don't think it's stingey if he was just writing the cheque for that amount!

Was cash ok and it was back in 1989 when money meant something. In fairness to the guy he did teach me a lot about the building game. I wasn't really complaining about it, I just think it was funny...;)

tiny_penguin · 05-12-2011 6:19pm

LighterGuy wrote: »

Its 2 cent either way. Just round it off to 100.

Think about it ... You'd have to give a 50 note, 2 x 20 notes, a 5 note, 2 x 2 euro coins, 50 cent coin, 2 x 20 cent coins, a 5 cent, 2 cent and a 1 cent coin :pac: ... all that!!!!? .. or just give 2 fifty notes (or what ever notes)

Besides in your example you'd wanna be a right stingey fecker to get a 100 and say wheres my 2 cents? .. just round it off to 100 in both examples.

If he did that with every single wages for every employee every paycheck there would be a lot of unaccounted for 2cents in his business accounts at the end of the year. Since the guy mentioned after tax its all being done legitimately so you get what you earn down the the cent.

Personally i think we should do away with those denominations like they have done in Australia - makes things a lot easier all around. However what your boss did was not stingy, his books have to balance down to the cent at the end of the day!

garv123 · 05-12-2011 6:35pm

tiny_penguin wrote: »

If he did that with every single wages for every employee every paycheck there would be a lot of unaccounted for 2cents in his business accounts at the end of the year. Since the guy mentioned after tax its all being done legitimately so you get what you earn down the the cent.

Personally i think we should do away with those denominations like they have done in Australia - makes things a lot easier all around. However what your boss did was not stingy, his books have to balance down to the cent at the end of the day!

2 cent a person is 1 euro a person per year.
he was a builder so he probably didnt have many employees unless he was a big contractor, he paid cash so he probably wasnt a contractor so he might only have a handful people so it would cost him €10 a year maybe if not less.

joseph brand · 05-12-2011 6:42pm

alan1990 wrote: »

Was in Lidl today and the woman in the q ahead of me had a box of tea bags in her hand which she was wanting to return! She wasn't buying anything! The guy at the till asked her why she was returning them and she said they were the wrong ones! Guy told her because the wrapper was open they couldn't be returned! She then pleaded saying she had driven 25minutes to return them and it was a disgrace he wouldn't help her! I don't know the price of them but can't imagine it being more then 3 or 4 euro!! If they're the wrong ones just fu*k them out you stingy bitch!!

I hate that woman. And the rest of her ilk.
My wife works in Penneys and has to deal with returns. She has had women returning knickers that cost 1 euro. Knickers cannot be returned (for obvious reasons). I mean, a trek into town to get 1 euro back. Not to mention the furore in front of other people. Some people have absolutely no shame. And these cretins can vote.

emzolita · 05-12-2011 6:49pm

Flimbos wrote: »

Just thought of another one. Another friend-of-a-friend is very tight with his cash.

He holds off on visiting friends and relatives until the coldest part of winter, then spends his evenings going from house to house - availing of their heating, and not turning the heat on in his own house!

what a way to live!

gerryo777 · 05-12-2011 6:50pm

garv123 wrote: »

2 cent a person is 1 euro a person per year.
he was a builder so he probably didnt have many employees unless he was a big contractor, he paid cash so he probably wasnt a contractor so he might only have a handful people so it would cost him €10 a year maybe if not less.

Jesus, I'm sorry I posted that now:rolleyes:

wonderfulname · 05-12-2011 6:51pm

gerryo777 wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Fair enough, just some would complain.

Just to say I don't think he was being stingy, dealing with exact figures would make his accounts a hell of a lot tidier, it's less hassle to pay people exactly what they're owed no matter what the denominations than have tax returns that don't add up.

Overature · 05-12-2011 8:43pm

podgemonster wrote: »

Don't get me wrong I agree with your last sentence but I would never ask/demand money. I have been in many journeys in the backseat of a car where when the driver heads into the shop everyone leaves a few bob on the dash. Often theres the charade of
"heres a few euros for the lift"
"ah no you're grand, ah don't be silly"
"no seriously, thanks"
"sound, thanks for that"

That particular journey was an exception, one that I was fairly annoyed with as were the lads in the other car when I told them. Although a few weeks ago, I drove to the midlands from Dublin and my passenger offered to get me a few pints in return and the tolls, i almost prefer that (more socialable). He got me 4-5 pints and then I went up to the bar as I said it was my round at this stage.
It was a free bar! Cute hoor.

a yeah i see where coming from, i know that if i didn't ask for the money chances are i wouldn't get any and i dont have the cash to be paying for other peoples petrol

Overature · 05-12-2011 8:59pm

Not really stingy, but anyhows, saw a guy in Ikea trying to return some thing a while back. all their stuff comes in boxes and this guys box had been ripped completely to shreds, i mean looked like a dog at gotten a hold of it

ICANN · 05-12-2011 11:42pm

When I worked in a clothes shop a few years ago a woman tried to return a child'd dressing gown. In normal circumstances fair enough- wrong size, didn't like the style etc. Thing is the receipt was from a year previously and it was stinking of cigarettes and the white had turned yellow. This shop returns ANYTHING (well it did when I was there) so the manager put it through the til. It came up as €2 and the woman kicked off that she paid €18 for it.

The manager explained that it was so long ago that they didn't even stock the product any more and that it had been on sale so that would be the sale price. The woman started roaring about terrible customer service and stuffed the dressing gown into the dirty bag she brought it in in and walked off.

emzolita · 06-12-2011 1:53am

my choir were hired by a department store in the city to sing outside it for the arrival of Santy etc, and while we were singing, a junkie and a roma-gypsie (both at diff times) came up to the hundred or so people gathered with buckets, saying out loud, they were collecting for us, that it was charity caroling.
I was bulling. they were getting fivers and tenners thrown in, the brass neck.

then, was singin in blanch sc last week and a family of R.gypsies came in and told all the kids to go under the barrier into the crib, and in a matter of seconds, all the kids had fleeced the cribs money, and they were gone. scumbags! :mad:

gigino · 06-12-2011 2:03am

emzolita wrote: »

my choir were hired by a department store in the city to sing outside it for the arrival of Santy etc, and while we were singing, a junkie and a roma-gypsie (both at diff times) came up to the hundred or so people gathered with buckets, saying out loud, they were collecting for us, that it was charity caroling.
I was bulling. they were getting fivers and tenners thrown in, the brass neck.

then, was singin in blanch sc last week and a family of R.gypsies came in and told all the kids to go under the barrier into the crib, and in a matter of seconds, all the kids had fleeced the cribs money, and they were gone. scumbags! :mad:

thats not thrift, thats theft.

Stingiest thing you've seen stingy people do

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