Stingiest things thread(op for R&R access)

rushfan

Boom_Bap wrote:

We have one of those boxes as well, when it's counted every week it's short. There is at least one or more stinge that steals from charity every week multiple times.

Indeed, sometimes they might even have the title "Chief Executive " too!!

Graces7

Lollipops23 wrote: »

Not stingy, outright theft.

Probably one o f the "charity begins at home" ones.. ie HIS home?

_Dara_

Lollipops23 wrote: »

I'd be pretty pissed off at two incompetent incidents in a row tbh.

Would you be apoplectic about it? It's hardly incompetence either. Literally every person who handles money has made these types of mistakes.

Canard

Thought I'd provide an update on my post about my stingy landlady -- some people might not agree with what I did, but I have no qualms. Bit of a long read but it involves various stinge stories from the past four months.

So, firstly, from that post to now: in addition to taking my roommate's room as mentioned there, she then took mine too over the holidays for two nights (apparently). Again, didn't really have the option of saying no because she'd have done it anyway and just not given me any reduction for it because she always saw the place as her own. I asked her to clear out my wardrobe then (!!!) because it was full of her crap, she cleared out one shelf for me to put my stuff away. :rolleyes: Anyway, I came back and got a generous reduction of "€10 per night, same as if you have guests" -- can't acknowledge my magnanimity without reminding me of my (non-)contractual obligations, of course.

She'd completely reorganised the entire room. Her poor daughter found it too dusty for her precious liking, so they moved all of my stuff and hoovered, and I was told not to store my things under the bed anymore to keep it clean -- again, she still hadn't cleared out the wardrobe and the room was quite small. I'm asthmatic and I can assure you that my room was not dusty! She joked that I should pay her cleaning fees for it.

Another discovery upon my return was the replacement of the hall light (again, apartment building, so no natural light in our hallway) with a motion-activated one, clearly to save on electricity costs despite it being winter and the light being very necessary. I asked her if it wouldn't be annoying to walk down the hallway in the dark waiting on the light to come on and feeling your way around... she misinterpreted my question and said "thats exactly why I did it; I was walking down it and almost fell and decided we needed a way to turn it on from a distance!". Or a way to save a few cents here and there, every little helps.

As the months went on she became more and more insufferable. One month she couldn't come back for the rent so she had her daughter come get it with no warning; we were just woken up by her in our hallway telling her mam on the phone that no one was home (lol) and how there were shoes everywhere and the paint on the ceiling was peeling (as if that could be our fault). I came out and greeted her then. :pac: We told her we didn't have the rent on us because we hadn't been told she was coming and she wasn't impressed (again, despite the already ridiculous set-up of it all).

April was the straw that broke the camel's back. My roommate was away in Germany to see his girlfriend and, given that our workplace has been unexpectedly shut down for a while, kept extending his trip to avoid her, so I was on my own. She came back and instantly launched into a tirade about the state of the place, e.g. "the bins haven't been taken down". I pointed out that it was half-empty and she insisted that I still should've brought it down (???), "her" shelf in the fridge wasn't cleared (sorry what), she moved all of our stuff into "our" (smaller) shelf of the freezer, and when I told her she was just b1tching at the apartment looking, well, lived-in and that she ought to clean up her shelf by throwing away her sauces (THEY ALL EXPIRED BETWEEN 1999 AND 2006), she responded with "If I want to eat rotten food I'll eat rotten food, it's my shelf!". The cleaning fees were referenced again and this time she was insistent about it, but I didn't give her any obviously.

I mentioned that I'd be in London this week and she asked when I'd be back. I told her, and she seemed disappointed (sorry for renting a room for myself like) and said she was having her granddaughter come and stay that (so, this) weekend and was clearly going to try take my room for it, no consultation on whether we'd be happy for her to bring her along or anything.

The washing machine: we were using it, but not washing things that we knew she'd wash (e.g. sheets). She asked if I had any and I said yes, two sets actually, because they take up too much space in the laundrette machines (pretending we'd been going) "and since you wash them when you're back but we're not allowed, I left them for you". "No no no, you can't do that, if you have to, pay for another cycle at the laundrette". Cleaning fees indeed.

So... she left early April, I found out I had to stay in England later than planned, a good friend of mine agreed that I could take his apartment for the bit of May I need to be in Paris and pay half his rent (so we both get a great deal), and I just left. Didn't tell her because her big selling point for her unorthodox modus operandi was "no contract, all under the table, leave when you want " and I knew she'd lose her sh1t at me leaving at such short notice, so I just left and blocked her number. Gave the place a clean and plonked my keys in the place we leave the rent, left with my suitcases in tow.

Sweet, sweet revenge on a stingy, stingy cow.

Purple Mountain

Canard wrote: »

Thought I'd provide an update on my post about my stingy landlady -- some people might not agree with what I did, but I have no qualms. Bit of a long read but it involves various stinge stories from the past four months.

So, firstly, from that post to now: in addition to taking my roommate's room as mentioned there, she then took mine too over the holidays for two nights (apparently). Again, didn't really have the option of saying no because she'd have done it anyway and just not given me any reduction for it because she always saw the place as her own. I asked her to clear out my wardrobe then (!!!) because it was full of her crap, she cleared out one shelf for me to put my stuff away. :rolleyes: Anyway, I came back and got a generous reduction of "€10 per night, same as if you have guests" -- can't acknowledge my magnanimity without reminding me of my (non-)contractual obligations, of course.

She'd completely reorganised the entire room. Her poor daughter found it too dusty for her precious liking, so they moved all of my stuff and hoovered, and I was told not to store my things under the bed anymore to keep it clean -- again, she still hadn't cleared out the wardrobe and the room was quite small. I'm asthmatic and I can assure you that my room was not dusty! She joked that I should pay her cleaning fees for it.

Another discovery upon my return was the replacement of the hall light (again, apartment building, so no natural light in our hallway) with a motion-activated one, clearly to save on electricity costs despite it being winter and the light being very necessary. I asked her if it wouldn't be annoying to walk down the hallway in the dark waiting on the light to come on and feeling your way around... she misinterpreted my question and said "thats exactly why I did it; I was walking down it and almost fell and decided we needed a way to turn it on from a distance!". Or a way to save a few cents here and there, every little helps.

As the months went on she became more and more insufferable. One month she couldn't come back for the rent so she had her daughter come get it with no warning; we were just woken up by her in our hallway telling her mam on the phone that no one was home (lol) and how there were shoes everywhere and the paint on the ceiling was peeling (as if that could be our fault). I came out and greeted her then. :pac: We told her we didn't have the rent on us because we hadn't been told she was coming and she wasn't impressed (again, despite the already ridiculous set-up of it all).

April was the straw that broke the camel's back. My roommate was away in Germany to see his girlfriend and, given that our workplace has been unexpectedly shut down for a while, kept extending his trip to avoid her, so I was on my own. She came back and instantly launched into a tirade about the state of the place, e.g. "the bins haven't been taken down". I pointed out that it was half-empty and she insisted that I still should've brought it down (???), "her" shelf in the fridge wasn't cleared (sorry what), she moved all of our stuff into "our" (smaller) shelf of the freezer, and when I told her she was just b1tching at the apartment looking, well, lived-in and that she ought to clean up her shelf by throwing away her sauces (THEY ALL EXPIRED BETWEEN 1999 AND 2006), she responded with "If I want to eat rotten food I'll eat rotten food, it's my shelf!". The cleaning fees were referenced again and this time she was insistent about it, but I didn't give her any obviously.

I mentioned that I'd be in London this week and she asked when I'd be back. I told her, and she seemed disappointed (sorry for renting a room for myself like) and said she was having her granddaughter come and stay that (so, this) weekend and was clearly going to try take my room for it, no consultation on whether we'd be happy for her to bring her along or anything.

The washing machine: we were using it, but not washing things that we knew she'd wash (e.g. sheets). She asked if I had any and I said yes, two sets actually, because they take up too much space in the laundrette machines (pretending we'd been going) "and since you wash them when you're back but we're not allowed, I left them for you". "No no no, you can't do that, if you have to, pay for another cycle at the laundrette". Cleaning fees indeed.

So... she left early April, I found out I had to stay in England later than planned, a good friend of mine agreed that I could take his apartment for the bit of May I need to be in Paris and pay half his rent (so we both get a great deal), and I just left. Didn't tell her because her big selling point for her unorthodox modus operandi was "no contract, all under the table, leave when you want " and I knew she'd lose her sh1t at me leaving at such short notice, so I just left and blocked her number. Gave the place a clean and plonked my keys in the place we leave the rent, left with my suitcases in tow.

Sweet, sweet revenge on a stingy, stingy cow.

That sounds more like mental health issues.

Dan Jaman

4Ad wrote: »

Our lady on the till at work needed change one day, so she went through the poor box and replaced 50 euro of coins with a 50 euro note.
When she checked the following day the 50 euro note was gone.
She knew there was one shift in who are notoriously mean (and proud of it) they are so stingy they even had to bolt the chocolate vending machine to the wall as the used to rock it to get the chcolate out !

Couldn't accuse anyone but the meaness of them..

Plain and simple theft.
The Guards should have been called.

4Ad

Dan Jaman wrote: »

Plain and simple theft.
The Guards should have been called.

I guess it would be her word against theirs ! A big can if worms to open..
I hope the person who stole it has no luck for it !

Graces7

4Ad wrote: »

I guess it would be her word against theirs ! A big can if worms to open..
I hope the person who stole it has no luck for it !

How come they were able to open it?

antrim14

Boom_Bap;106834094

ncmc wrote: »

Thinking about work has reminded me about another incident. Though not sure if it’s stinge or just plain theft! We have one of those charity boxes with sweets, chocolate, crisps, cans of mineral etc for €1. Which is actually pretty good value as you’d pay more than that in shops. Every week the woman would come in to refill it and take the money and every week it would be short money. I moved it over to the reception desk and put an extra post it note on it reminding people to pay and still the money would be short occasionally.

There was one woman who was buying a new car and had been coming in a fair bit for one reason and another. I’d seen her take stuff out of the box and was fairly sure but not certain that she wasn’t paying. One day I came back to my desk and caught her red handed and so politely pointed out that the items cost €1 each and it was a charity box. She proceeded to bluster and get thick and starting going on about how she was paying thirty odd grand for a new car and how it was only a couple of Euro. I tried to explain how it wasn’t us taking the money that it was an outside charity but she was having none of it. So in the end I made a big show of pulling out €1 from my purse and saying ‘sure this ones my treat’. She had the decency to look a bit sheepish but not sheepish enough to pay herself!

Thirty something grand on a new car and stealing stuff from a charity box ffs.

We have one of those boxes as well, when it's counted every week it's short.
There is at least one or more stinge that steals from charity every week multiple times.

I used to work of the main office of my department.. A couple of times there would be a bake sale for a particular charity e.g. Cancer Research, Children's Hospice etc.. The way it worked was that people were encouraged to bring in their own baked treats e.g. cupcakes, traybakes, cookies etc. A table would be set up in the middle of the office and people could then pick out a couple of treats and then leave a donation to the particular charity. There was no set amount but the understanding was that you would throw in at least a quid. The person who organised this told me that they usually raised a lot of money, but every time there would be a few people who would take the piss by throwing in 10p or 20p (sometimes even just coppers!) and take an armful of treats. No shame at all.

CruelCoin

Some people in my estate when it comes to paying to have the grass cut.

€40 for the year. €40! Only around 60% paid.

I cannot fathom the penny-pinching to not contribute to the maintenance of the place you live in.

ncmc

CruelCoin wrote: »

Some people in my estate when it comes to paying to have the grass cut.

€40 for the year. €40! Only around 60% paid.

I cannot fathom the penny-pinching to not contribute to the maintenance of the place you live in.

Exact same in our estate, €45 and the grass is cut every 4/5 days from April to November and still only about 55 out of 76 houses pay. Maybe 1 or 2 of them would be vacant but the rest just won’t pay. It’s such a small price for the estate to look well and any leftover money goes to plant trees or buy goals for the kids. I just don’t understand people who don’t contribute.

Tell me how

CruelCoin wrote:

Some people in my estate when it comes to paying to have the grass cut.

€40 for the year. €40! Only around 60% paid.

I cannot fathom the penny-pinching to not contribute to the maintenance of the place you live in.

I have some feelings on this.
I'm involved in collecting in my place. €35. About the 60% also.

The excuses though!

I don't use the grass.
The council should be doing it.
Will they weed my flowerbed.
I can only contribute €5.
I'll drop it over to you. (Never do)
Landlord: "talk to the tenant"
Tenant: "talk to the landlord"

Echoed when there's an estate clean up.

88 houses. Same 10 people out every time. Those houses that have kids playing on the grass every day, do they (or the kids) come out? F that. Why should they, the idiots who always do it will take care of that.

And to the 40% of people reading this who don't contribute to the maintenance of your area where there are similar collections, F you all very much.

I know there are always some valid cases but I absolutely judge the people who won't pay when they easily could, as stinges.

The landlord getting €900/month rent but won't pay because "he doesn't live there so doesn't care what the grass is like"? Stinge!!!

Paddy Cow

A woman came into my work place a couple of days ago asking if she could leave one of those charity boxes with the sweets. I felt bad saying no as it was for a good cause (childline) but I didn't want to be responsible for it as I just knew that people would end up stealing from it and I would get the blame. After reading the last couple of pages, I feel vindicated and not so guilty anymore. It's such a shame that the few ar$eholes ruin it for the charity.

Canard

Purple Mountain wrote: »

That sounds more like mental health issues.

Nah, she’s barely retired, just extremely stingy and stubborn wanting to have her cake and eat it at every turn. As for the sauces etc she’s generally very messy anyway and also lives elsewhere most of the year, so that’s why she probably doesn’t care to throw them away. Other non-stinge things include making us carry our toiletries to the shower in a box every time because she doesn’t want us leaving them there because she’d have to clean around them, so she’s just too used to having her own way imo. Glad to see the back of her anyway!

Liam28

These honesty boxes have provided some interesting research opportunities into human behaviour.
Usually attempts to appeal to people's better nature by describing the charity do not work. What has been shown to work is monitoring of the donations, or even suggestions of monitoring. e.g. a real or fake security camera, or notices to say that a security camera is in operation, or suggestions that the donor is being watched. One study showed that a picture above the box of a pair of eyes staring at the donor improved honesty. Psychologically, the donor thinks he is being watched, and is more likely to be honest.
Some people will be honest all the time, but some will steal or stinge if they think they can get away with it, or if no-one is watching.

robindch

antrim14 wrote: »

We have one of those boxes as well, when it's counted every week it's short.

You could add a picture of a pair of eyes close to the box:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5120662.stm

by8auj6csd3ioq

"Some people in my estate when it comes to paying to have the grass cut.

€40 for the year. €40! Only around 60% paid.

I cannot fathom the penny-pinching to not contribute to the maintenance of the place you live in." that is not stingy. If they do not want to pay it is their business. sometime the people who own their houses want the area to look well as they will stay and want everyone, including renters to pay .

WHIP IT!

Bo Refined Snakebite wrote: »

"Some people in my estate when it comes to paying to have the grass cut.

€40 for the year. €40! Only around 60% paid.

I cannot fathom the penny-pinching to not contribute to the maintenance of the place you live in." that is not stingy. If they do not want to pay it is their business. sometime the people who own their houses want the area to look well as they will stay and want everyone, including renters to pay .

Agreed, this "sure it's only €40, just pay it and say nothing" attitude is quintessentially Irish...

nice_guy80

use round up on the grass and write...

"pay up you stingey backstards..."

get drone footage

Graces7

Bo Refined Snakebite wrote: »

"Some people in my estate when it comes to paying to have the grass cut.

€40 for the year. €40! Only around 60% paid.

I cannot fathom the penny-pinching to not contribute to the maintenance of the place you live in." that is not stingy. If they do not want to pay it is their business. sometime the people who own their houses want the area to look well as they will stay and want everyone, including renters to pay .

and E40 can be hard to find on a low income. I am still not able to renew my Disabled Drivers badge for the cost

mistersifter

Graces7 wrote: »

and E40 can be hard to find on a low income. I am still not able to renew my Disabled Driers badge for the cost

agreed.

Often there's more than meets the eye in these situations where people refuse to pay to residents associations or whatever to upkeep the locality.

A friend of mine refused to contribute 50euro to grass cutting because 1. she's a single parent and hasn't got much money and 2. she spent a lot of time and money catching and neutering stray cats that were multiplying like mad in the street and nobody helped her with this.

People have to prioritize when it comes to finances. It's not necessarily that they dont care about keeping their estate nice, but sometimes this just isnt at the top of the list of bills that need to be paid.

People looking for 40 quid here, 20 quid there for different things. It builds up and there comes a point where you just have to say no, despite the fact that it may be a "small amount of money" to some people.

Graces7

mistersifter wrote: »

agreed.

Often there's more than meets the eye in these situations where people refuse to pay to residents associations or whatever to upkeep the locality.

A friend of mine refused to contribute 50euro to grass cutting because 1. she's a single parent and hasn't got much money and 2. she spent a lot of time and money catching and neutering stray cats that were multiplying like mad in the street and nobody helped her with this.

People have to prioritize when it comes to finances. It's not necessarily that they dont care about keeping their estate nice, but sometimes this just isnt at the top of the list of bills that need to be paid.

People looking for 40 quid here, 20 quid there for different things. It builds up and there comes a point where you just have to say no, despite the fact that it may be a "small amount of money" to some people.

.. and then we get called stingy? ay me! Stingies are something else. They have abundance but refuse to part with it graciously, or think they are owed?

CruelCoin

Bo Refined Snakebite wrote: »

If they do not want to pay it is their business. sometime the people who own their houses want the area to look well as they will stay and want everyone, including renters to pay .

Obviously its their choice.

However it's my choice also to (justly) label them as bottom feeding moochers.

Kolido

mistersifter wrote: »

agreed.

Often there's more than meets the eye in these situations where people refuse to pay to residents associations or whatever to upkeep the locality.

A friend of mine refused to contribute 50euro to grass cutting because 1. she's a single parent and hasn't got much money and 2. she spent a lot of time and money catching and neutering stray cats that were multiplying like mad in the street and nobody helped her with this.

People have to prioritize when it comes to finances. It's not necessarily that they dont care about keeping their estate nice, but sometimes this just isnt at the top of the list of bills that need to be paid.

People looking for 40 quid here, 20 quid there for different things. It builds up and there comes a point where you just have to say no, despite the fact that it may be a "small amount of money" to some people.

She is a single parent with little money yet she is paying to have stray cats neutered, that doesnt seem like prioritising to me!

Not that I completely agree with housing estate collections, more often than not, someone is pocketing a % of it somewhere on the sly.

CruelCoin

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Agreed, this "sure it's only €40, just pay it and say nothing" attitude is quintessentially Irish...

I'll fill you in,

We had collections of Approx €2400 with maybe another 2-300 coming later.
The quotes we received to get the grass cut ranged from 3500->4500.

So, the only option was to buy our own mower as we couldn't afford that, Which will need to be operated by volunteers willing to give up their Saturday/Sunday to cut the grass. Let alone look after the flower beds, etc.

It's also quintessentially Irish to expect some other chump to pay/do the work.

€40 to have the place looking well and to not have to lift a finger? You couldn't have it better.

Graces7

Kolido wrote: »

She is a single parent with little money yet she is paying to have stray cats neutered, that doesnt seem like prioritising to me!

Not that I completely agree with housing estate collections, more often than not, someone is pocketing a % of it somewhere on the sly.

Se is already GIVING a huge amount to the area. And yes she should have had help . TNR is the way forward to stop ferals breeding.I have done this BUT with the financial help from small animal charities etc
So yes putting real needs first.

Greybottle

CruelCoin wrote: »

We had collections of Approx €2400 with maybe another 2-300 coming later.
The quotes we received to get the grass cut ranged from 3500->4500.

So, the only option was to buy our own mower as we couldn't afford that, Which will need to be operated by volunteers willing to give up their Saturday/Sunday to cut the grass. Let alone look after the flower beds, etc.
.

My sisters estate did this. 33 houses chipped in €100 each for a new ride on. One of the people in the estate "generously" agreed to house it in his garage. The young lad of 16 was the fella who would cut the grass. except when he did it, he demanded €50 for a 4 hour job.

This is in 2010 when in rural Ireland it was tough to find any job, let alone one that paid €12.50 net. And my sisters BF did it with one neighbour and it took 2.5 hours, not 4.

The money for petrol was always "running out", he always had to repair it, but never in the very well known delaer where the Residents Assoc purchased it and always repaired for several hundred.

The son offered to cut grass in houses for €30 a pop (35-45 mins max) and would not give the mower to anybody else. He spent the summer being carted around the place by his Dad cutting grass in every estate in the town.

The mower was 'removed' from underneath the son one day and it's now used by a few responsible people in the estate.

An utter shower of cnuts that man, his son and his family in general from what I gather. he will come over to you if you're back from a foreign holiday and hint at getting a couple of bottles of whatever because he "minded" the house from burglars whilst you were gone. The mind boggles.

mistersifter

Kolido wrote: »

She is a single parent with little money yet she is paying to have stray cats neutered, that doesnt seem like prioritising to me!
.

I'm not saying she got cats neutered instead of buying food for her kid. Im saying she considered this her contribution to the estate and wasnt willing to fork out more cash when asked for by neighbours who wouldnt help her.

It probably would seem like prioritizing to you if your garden was overrun with tens of cats, each of which was potential of having two litters of six kittens per year. Believe me, it was a serious problem that was, and should have been, sorted out before giving money for the grass to get cut. I think she spent about 200 on neutering and also got homes for about 40/50 kittens. She chased up a few charities for help with other neuterings too (these were really helpful to her) The time alone was unbelievable. This was all because some irresponsible f*cker living behind her moved house and left some cats there.

While the neighbours were all complaining about the problem, not one offered to help. Then when one asked her for money for grass cutting and she said "ive spent a couple of hundred getting the cats on the street neutered, so Ive given all I can to the upkeep of the estate for this year.

She was well within her rights.

upandcumming

mistersifter wrote: »

A friend of mine refused to contribute 50euro to grass cutting because 1. she's a single parent and hasn't got much money and 2. she spent a lot of time and money catching and neutering stray cats that were multiplying like mad in the street and nobody helped her with this.

It seems like she has greater problems than not having a spare fifty for the mowing.

mistersifter

upandcumming wrote: »

It seems like she has greater problems than not having a spare fifty for the mowing.

That was my point.