Stingiest things thread(op for R&R access)

rab!dmonkey · 20-09-2014 5:46am

colossus-x wrote: »

I was being paid 2 quid per hour gross. My tips were my income, not treats.

Where did this happen? I can't think of anywhere with meals that price where wages like that are legal.

thesandeman · 20-09-2014 7:44am

rab!dmonkey wrote: »

Where did this happen? I can't think of anywhere with meals that price where wages like that are legal.

I presume you never worked in The US?

Running Balance · 20-09-2014 7:47am

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Getting an invite to a wedding is like getting a big bill through your letterbox.

yeah or like a court summons.

Peg14 · 20-09-2014 9:22am

was staying with my aunt doing work experience, one day I didn't eat one of the sandwiches she gave me for lunch, brought it home with me cause there were no bins...the next day she gave me three halves, one of which was from the day before. Might not sound bad, but it was disgusting all the soggy lettuce and tomatoes and mayonaise

LynnGrace · 20-09-2014 9:42am

Fishyfreak wrote: »

On holidays, 2 couples. We went for a meal in this really nice restaurant. The country was relatively poor, so the meal was dirt cheap.

End of the meal, 3 of us put our money in, the cost of the meal plus a generous tip for the staff. The 4th person tried to only put in the difference to make our payment equal the exact bill. Basically, our tips were subsidising his meal!!

His partner made an absolute show of him for it, awkward at the team but hilarious when i think back now. Stingy sh*te!

It's a trait I hate to see in anyone, it would put me right off. It must get wearing too, dealing with a stingy person, I'd guess it's been a dealbreaker in many a friendship /relationship.
I worked with someone who was of the 'hang out tea bags and reuse endlessly' , mentality. Needless to say they were loaded.

Love this thread.

Ice Storm · 20-09-2014 10:22am

When I was in Cambodia, I was out for dinner with a group and there were two English girls of about 18 in the group. They were on a gap year.

They were both from pretty well off families and their parents were paying for their trip. They didn't have a huge budget though so they tried to be frugal, looked for cheap places to eat, sometimes shared meals etc.

We had finished our meal and were paying. We were in a group of about 12 and the staff were arranging separate bills for everyone. The two girls left abruptly after paying (before everyone had paid) and shorty after, someone else in the group came over to me and whispered to be careful with my change as the staff had tried to short change her. There was a bit of a disagreement going on with the staff but they rectified the mistake. My bill was fine.

The next day, the two girls who left apologised for leaving so quickly the previous night and said that they'd been given too much change back the night before and legged it before the staff noticed! They had no shame in saying this in front of everyone.

I told them that the staff must have got two bills mixed up as someone else was short changed. They seemed a little embarrassed then and said it's not something they would usually do but they were on a tight budget so... Apparently that makes it ok that the money probably came out of the waitress's pay!

An older woman in the group gave them a right dressing down; she reprimanded them like children! One of the girls even had a part time job as a waitress at home and I'm sure she must have made a mistake at some time. I thought it was disgraceful tbh, especially after all the poverty we'd seen in Cambodia. :mad:

rab!dmonkey · 20-09-2014 10:54am

thesandeman wrote: »

I presume you never worked in The US?

Federal minimum wage in the US is currently $7.25. It hasn't been under $3 since the 80s.

Victor · 20-09-2014 11:25am

rab!dmonkey wrote: »

Federal minimum wage in the US is currently $7.25. It hasn't been under $3 since the 80s.

That includes tips - the employer only has to pay the difference between the tips and minimum wage.

rab!dmonkey · 20-09-2014 11:28am

Victor wrote: »

That includes tips - the employer only has to pay the difference between the tips and minimum wage.

So? That's still a lot more than 'two quid an hour, gross'.

Blitzkrieger · 20-09-2014 11:33am

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

And by the way the trend in Airports is to offer free charging points

They only do that so you'll sit by the wall out of the way - they're stingy on space in their thoroughfares.

padma · 20-09-2014 11:53am

In jakarta getting a taxi with 3 American friends to downtown CBD. Taxi pulled up..bill was 20,000 rupiah..less than 2 euro..they all start arguing in the back looking for 5000 rupiah each...i was up front..handed the taxi man a 50,000 rupiah note (about 4.50) told him to keep the change. They all got out thanking me for paying the fare..offering there 5000 rupiahs..

Looked at them all and says lads ye americans are funny..5000 rupiah is 50 cents..get a grip. Hold on to it.

Big discussion over a meal in a fancy restaurant about how cheap Jakarta is. Came to paying..all out counting their rupiahs again..one person had a notebook and worked out what each of us ate and drank and how much we owed plus a 20 percent tip.

Just threw in a big note..went out and ordered a cab, couldnt stop laughing...even after the discussion we just had. On the way back one of them was in the front..he said he will pay..we all got out..he came out angry..he was charged 22000 rupiah for the taxi back..then he asjed us to chip in for it...these were semi business people.

tea and coffee · 24-09-2014 2:00am

I volunteer to organise the staff Christmas do. It's self funded, so we try to keep the costs down. The etiquette in the place generally is that the senior managers get a round of drinks between them for all staff (5 managers, 25-30 staff) or few bottle of wine.

So couple of years ago, I just reserved an area in a local pub. I had ordered platters, and everyone was asked to contribute €3 towards them (and then buy their own drinks). 4 of the senior managers gave me €20 or so towards food/drinks for the night, the 5th came in- most senior of them all- and put a 2 euro and a 1 euro coin on my desk and said "that's for my sausage rolls for friday night!" :eek:

Oranage2 · 24-09-2014 3:00am

Is paying exactly what your food comes to stingy? I don't do it but I wouldn't think someone was stingy for doing it.

Anyway a new joined our group and he's stingy but It's just small things. He never pays for taxis, they usually come to a euro or 2 but he never offers to pay.

At lunch time he'd get a 40p meal off the street but then help himself to our food when we go to a restaurant.

Would often forget his wallet at restaurants too, it would only come to about 2 euros so he knows we won't ask for it back.

He always leeches of generous guys in the bar to get free drinks.

Always slips out on his round.

Complained at a bar that he was given a more expensive beer than the one he ordered, it was 5 cent more.

Brings two 2liter empty bottles of water to work and uses the water fountain to fill them up. tap water isn't drinkable, another 30 cent saving.

We went to a expensive ish restaurant, his bill came to 15e, he left 10 and said he had no change and left the restaurant.

We went to a bar, when I arrived he was drinking cans bought in the shop next door and looking at the football on the outside tv.

This is only a fraction of what he does, one guy said it to him, he was in complete denial over it, and now he won't talk to us, win win really.

kowloon · 24-09-2014 3:29am

ProudDUB wrote: »

Maybe so, but multiply that by several customers, using several devices, on several sockets, 12-16 hrs a day, 7 days a week & it all starts to add up, for the person paying the electric bill. It is becoming a trend for some coffee shops to stop letting customers charge their devices when they are in their premises.

That might actually hurt business. People sitting around for a while on their laptop often chain drink coffee, I know I did around exam times.

crybaby · 24-09-2014 3:38am

kylith wrote: »

Nothing wrong with cloth nappies, other than the ick factor. They're a lot more eco friendly than the disposable ones.

Cloth nappies are still the norm in a lot of countries around the world as well, frankly though as a parent I think we lasted about 3 day with them before giving up, they really are a pain in the hole to put on, take off and clean.

Preset No.3 · 17-10-2014 12:34am

This thread has gotten stingy with its replies!

colossus-x · 17-10-2014 1:14am

Preset No.3 wrote: »

This thread has gotten stingy with its replies!

Ya well the longer I leave my laptop on typing needlessly the more energy it uses up and hence the more I have to pay for the leccy.

Paramite Pie · 17-10-2014 1:23am

colossus-x wrote: »

He jumped back in his car to make the 10 mile journey I guess primarily to get his 1.50 back asap.

Ha! he didn't factor in the cost of the petrol money.... there's hope for him yet!:pac:

pipelaser · 15-11-2014 7:38pm

Just a bit of background to the story.
I (Dave)live with Rachel and Victoria. A few weeks ago I was speaking to Rachel in the kitchen, saying that at some point next year, all going well I'd probably move in with Fiona(my girlfriend). Just chit chat.
Below is the email I received from Rachel during the week.
(To put things in context, I pay about £700 in rent and bills a month and I might stay over in Fiona's on average about 3 nights a week)

Email-

Hi guys,

just thought I'd put this out there in case we might be interested. My New York friend has asked if we might be interested in hosting a student who is over in London for some work experience from the 5th to the 25th Jan (3 weeks).

A couple of my friends with spare rooms / sofas are keen but I thought that in case you guys wanted a bit of extra cash I'd run it by you. I think 3 weeks is way too long to have someone on the sofa (for her sake as well as ours!). But Dave, as you mentioned maybe moving in with Fiona next year I wondered if you fancied a trial run...

Was thinking that we could ask for £450 and split it so that Dave got £250 for his room and me and Victoria got £100 each for babysitting a teenager. Or we could offer for less than 3 weeks?

Tis completely just an idea and I might even be relieved if we say no. Not sure that the split is entirely fair given that Dave would have to move out(!) but I don't want to be responsible for someone out of the kindness of my heart

Let me know what you think x

Tarzana2 · 15-11-2014 7:44pm

That's just a bit odd! Not sure if stingy really. Just odd. Where do they think you'd go for three weeks. I'm guessing your GF's housemates/family wouldn't be cool with you living with them solidly for three weeks. You likely have to offer rent to do so. Just weird.

mountsky · 15-11-2014 7:45pm

I utterly despise 'stingy' people,so much so they make my blood boil,I actually can't be around them end of

indigo twist · 15-11-2014 7:50pm

Emm don't see how that's stingey at all.

She's only suggesting the idea .. And no one involved would agree to the suggestion for free, why would they?! Just say no if it doesn't suit you, I don't get the impression that she's putting any pressure on you at all to agree if it doesn't suit you ..

Birneybau · 15-11-2014 7:55pm

indigo twist wrote: »

Emm don't see how that's stingey at all. She's only suggesting the idea .. And no one involved would agree to the suggestion for free, why would they?! Just say no if it doesn't suit you, I don't get the impression that she's putting any pressure on you at all to agree if it doesn't suit you ..

Well, Dave would be living with his girlfriend and still paying €450 is how I read it. The others picking up €100 each for no reason whatsoever.

Tarzana2 · 15-11-2014 8:10pm

Birneybau wrote: »

Well, Dave would be living with his girlfriend and still paying €450 is how I read it. The others picking up €100 each for no reason whatsoever.

Hmmm. Well, if he's out of the house for three weeks out of the month, he should only pay ~ £220 for the week and bit he'll be there. So if they want to make money on the student staying with them, they'd need to charge £480 + whatever they want for themselves.

EDIT: Sorry! Rather he should pay the £700, then receive £480 for the weeks he's not there.

Paddy Cow · 15-11-2014 8:20pm

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Hmmm. Well, if he's out of the house for three weeks out of the month, he should only pay ~ £220 for the week and bit he'll be there. So if they want to make money on the student staying with them, they'd need to charge £480 + whatever they want for themselves.

Dave has said that he pays roughly €700 a month on rent/bills and this one wants to give him €250 to move out for three weeks to his girlfriend's house, where he will have to contribute, so he'll be down even more money, all so this girl can earn herself an extra €100.

Calling her stingy is putting it politely. It's telling that she put it in an email and didn't have the neck to say it to the others in person. She "might" be happy if they say no. Well that's good then. We all want you to be happy when you try to screw over your flatmate to make money for yourself :rolleyes:

Paddy Cow · 15-11-2014 8:27pm

pipelaser wrote: »

Tell her there is a website www.homestay.com that deals in short term student accommodation. Host families put up students at a cheap rate and take care of them. For the amount of money she was looking for, I'm sure the student could find something. It would be more appropriate for the student as these families are used to looking after people. They usually provide meals and I doubt your flatmate has factored in cooking etc. I know a family here in Ireland who do it and they love it, as do the students.

colossus-x · 15-11-2014 8:49pm

mountsky wrote: »

I utterly despise 'stingy' people,so much so they make my blood boil,I actually can't be around them end of

I feel exactly the same way. It's strange cause there are worse people in that world I don't despise as much. When I see ppl being conniving and all that effort just to save a few measly euros it just makes me sick.

cart man · 15-11-2014 9:04pm

I know a couple now married +10years, but when they were still going out they went to Paris for a romantic weekend. They split the costs all throughout their trip, on the last day they went to the Eiffel Tower. The girl realised she had enough money to go half way up, so he said he would take pictures for her from the top.

costadeldole · 15-11-2014 10:55pm

My local weekly paper costs 2.15 Euro.
I go to my local library every Wednesday to read it for free.
Until I sold my car, and got internet at home; I used to drive around my town, and park up outside local hotels/cafes/Tesco to leech their free WIFI. It was good while it lasted, but then they started to password lock. My local cafe also started turning their router off after hours so I couldn't leech it when they were closed.
Rather than pay for expensive branded cleaning products, I just use Tesco white vinegar in an old spray bleach bottle for cleaning.
I put on my washing machine on after 11.00pm when the electric units are 50% cheaper.
Whenever I bought a new car I used to lift the back seat to look for change under it.
I have change tin that I save all my coins in, and often pick up change in the street even if its only a 1 cent coin.
When making a mug of tea, I just pour a mugful of water into the kettle so it boils faster to save on electric. It just covers the element in the kettle so it doesn't burn out.
I used to live on the top floor of an apartment block, and realised the wall sockets in the stairwells were live and paid for by the landlord. So I used to run an extension lead from the landing under my front door at night and unplugged it every morning so the cleaners wouldn't catch me. Free electric every night for my heater for the 2 years I lived there.

Chance The Fapper · 15-11-2014 11:07pm

costadeldole wrote: »

I used to live on the top floor of an apartment block, and realised the wall sockets in the stairwells were live and paid for by the landlord. So I used to run an extension lead from the landing under my front door at night and unplugged it every morning so the cleaners wouldn't catch me. Free electric every night for my heater for the 2 years I lived there.

Sounds like the dream

costadeldole · 15-11-2014 11:12pm

Chance The Fapper wrote: »

Sounds like the dream

It sure was. In the winter my girlfriend loved coming round to the sauna as she called it. Condensation running down the steamed up windows meant clothes were optional.

El_Duderino 09 · 16-11-2014 12:25am

This isn't stingy as such. Or maybe it's stingy in a good way.

I know a guy who has a great gob and lots of money and he doesn't care about money. Very generous, modest kind guy and would hate waste.

He bought a new car which developed a problem where it just wouldn't start. It was under warranty and kept bringing it to the dealer who really didn't know what was wrong with it. He kept losing the car for a day here and there and the garage couldn't figure out how to solve it. Eventually the dealer offered him a brand new car and he was horrified. He couldn't stand the idea that the car would be wasted so he insisted they find the fault and fix it which they eventually did.

P.S. I would have taken the new car.

Kevin McCloud · 16-11-2014 12:26am

I knew an old fella who used take apart the envelopes he got his mail in and put them back together inside out and reuse them.

costadeldole · 16-11-2014 12:29am

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

I knew an old fella who used take apart the envelopes he got his mail in and put them back together inside out and reuse them.

I do a similar thing with padded Jiffy envelopes. I slit them open with a knife and reuse them. I just paste over my address with a blank piece of paper. If I have to post anything larger I just cut up a free brown paper bag from Heatons and use that.

costadeldole · 16-11-2014 12:32am

Another thing I do is to re-sharpen my Gillette Fusion razor blades by rubbing them one way over a pair of jeans 20 times. I am still on the same cartridge after 3 months of shaving. Mind you, I only shave every other day to save on wear.

Tarzana2 · 16-11-2014 1:04am

costadeldole wrote: »

I put on my washing machine on after 11.00pm when the electric units are 50% cheaper.

When making a mug of tea, I just pour a mugful of water into the kettle so it boils faster to save on electric. It just covers the element in the kettle so it doesn't burn out.

Dunno how much of your list is true, but these two aren't stingy, they're just good sense. Lots of people do this.

16-11-2014 1:10am

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Dunno how much of your list is true, but these two aren't stingy, they're just good sense. Lots of people do this.

Yeah I know it was supposed tobe a bit of satire but those two are grand...

SkyBlueClouds · 16-11-2014 12:58pm

I've just watched Extreme Supermarket Coupling on TLC. 800 yo yos worth for 9 dollars. That sh*ts extreme.

gidget · 16-11-2014 3:59pm

I've just watched Extreme Supermarket Coupling on TLC. 800 yo yos worth for 9 dollars. That sh*ts extreme

Yeah was watching that last week with the woman who managed to get a shopping value of 1000 down to 0. Impressive stuff that!

dellas1979 · 16-11-2014 4:02pm

pipelaser wrote: »

Let me know what you think x

Ahahaha

I dont know if she is a bit stingy or a bit stupid.

At most, I hope you helped point out to her what 4/£700 is.

pipelaser · 16-11-2014 5:29pm

dellas1979 wrote: »

Ahahaha

I dont know if she is a bit stingy or a bit stupid.

At most, I hope you helped point out to her what 4/£700 is.

I took the diplomatic route and told her it was a nice idea but who knows what will happen with the girlfriend between now and then. Don't mind the student taking the couch, blah blah.
It's a pity, she's nice so I think she just must have lost her head for a while, but she's certainly one to be watched after that. :-)

costadeldole · 16-11-2014 6:16pm

Another thing I do is remove unmarked postage stamps from envelopes by spraying the back of the envelope with WD40. This softens the adhesive and they peel straight off.
I then wipe the adhesive off using a cloth, and stick them onto new envelopes with Pritt Stick.
I haven't bought a postage stamp in 5 years as a result.

16-11-2014 7:43pm

costadeldole wrote: »

Another thing I do is remove unmarked postage stamps from envelopes by spraying the back of the envelope with WD40. This softens the adhesive and they peel straight off.
I then wipe the adhesive off using a cloth, and stick them onto new envelopes with Pritt Stick.
I haven't bought a postage stamp in 5 years as a result.

You realise that that pushes up the price of postage for the rest of us as well as making the service suffer? It's not stingy, it's theft.

Speaking of post, I have a friend that lives abroad. Another friend decided to put together a care package for her, and said she had enough space for a letter or something small and asked me if I'd like to put anything in it. So she's now made up a big ol' box of chocolates, crisps, etc., and it's probably going to cost around 60 quid. I bought a little postcard with a picture of our hometown on it and wrote her a hello. I was over in my friend's house the other night and apologised that I had forgotten the postcard, and that I'd just send it myself. She was a bit disappointed since apparently she had been under the impression that since I wanted to put something in the box, we'd be splitting the cost

Yeah, like I was going to pay her 30 quid so that she could send our friend a whole box of stuff while I'd get to send a postcard.

dellas1979 · 16-11-2014 8:05pm

pipelaser wrote: »

I took the diplomatic route and told her it was a nice idea but who knows what will happen with the girlfriend between now and then. Don't mind the student taking the couch, blah blah.
It's a pity, she's nice so I think she just must have lost her head for a while, but she's certainly one to be watched after that. :-)

Fair play to you for being diplomatic.

I guess if she was being ruthless about it, would be a different story. Just came from a silly place I guess.

Reminds me once, a friend of mine Ive known for years (who is very kind hearted), a friend of hers was getting married. I met her handful of times. Vaguely knew she was getting married. And my friend asked me if I wanted to contribute to her wedding present. Queue a "eh? Um, shes your friend" type of response. I guess people just dont think sometimes!

myshirt · 16-11-2014 8:28pm

Miner's hat around the house to save on Electric

civis_liberalis · 14-01-2015 2:47am

No posts since Novemeber. Yee shower of stingy so and so's.

Here's something for people using this thread as a manual.

colossus-x · 14-01-2015 2:56am

I went to my stingy friends place after xmas and he offered me a coffee. He asked me if I take sugar and said well sorry if I do cause he ain't got none. He enjoyed telling me he's hasn't gotten round to taking a fistful of sugar sachets from the self service coffee dispenser in the local convenience store as a friend of his had suggested he do so.

The next time I was in the supermarket I took note of how much a own brand 1kg of sugar cost. Think it was like 1.20. I also wondered how many fistful of sachets would you have to take before you'd have a whole kilogram of the stuff - must be a good few lol .

riaganach · 14-01-2015 8:47pm

Before mobiles became common place - 1996 - I was living with two lads in Dublin- one from Cork and one from Laois.

Every month or two the telephone bill would come in and we'd all tick off the numbers we'd called so we could divide up the bill fairly.

Sounds a bit pre-historic now to me.

I think every rented house would do the same because while calling local numbers wasn't so expensive unless you stayed on for more than 3 minutes, 'long distance calls' added up.

There'd always be numbers that no-one owned up to calling so The first time I suggested we'd divide the cost of those by 3. The cost for each of us might only be a fiver on average.

Not a hope.

Each time, the two lads would bring the list of unallocated numbers into work... And then they'd phone up those numbers and try to work out who the people were on the other side were.

Those phone conversations (at work) would start along the lines of... 'Hi I'm (deliberate mumble)... Who is this?'

It might then take them a week to finally agree who'd pay...

Used to wreck my head.

muletide · 14-01-2015 8:49pm

Surely Mr D Mumble should have paid for those calls

Saipanne · 14-01-2015 9:00pm

In the canteen at a former workplace, a bloke used to get the same thing every Friday; Chips, Sausages, Beans and Curry.

His trick was to pour the curry onto the plate first, and then pour the beans directly on top, thus concealing the curry. He frequently boasted about how he managed to scam free curry.

He made an annual saving of approx €5.

Stingiest things thread(op for R&R access)

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