Well, if you're hawt enough, they might offer to buy the stuff right off of ya!Or...look hawt, and maybe someone will buy the stuff for ya, saving you $$$!...
Ha! She was shrewed, all right. I hadn't thought of that item being resold again and again!I'd call that bartender an astute businesswoman.
Well, if you're hawt enough, they might offer to buy the stuff right off of ya!
Way off topic, but a friend tending bar once was offered a hundred dollars for her underpants by some drunk guy. I wasn't there that night, but she told me the story.
After the transaction, he held the undies over his head and waved them around like a flag. She snatched her panties back and had him booted from the bar.
Poor fellow. If only he had used a little decorum, he might still be in possession of those silky undergarments.
Well, if you're hawt enough, they might offer to buy the stuff right off of ya!
Way off topic, but a friend tending bar once was offered a hundred dollars for her underpants by some drunk guy. I wasn't there that night, but she told me the story.
After the transaction, he held the undies over his head and waved them around like a flag. She snatched her panties back and had him booted from the bar.
Poor fellow. If only he had used a little decorum, he might still be in possession of those silky undergarments.
The economy here is cooling but for most of the population who live in Dublin, it's simply a matter of selling the second home, cutting down on the foreign holidays and not spending an average of €500 a week on "designer" clothes, accessories and beauty treatments which don't do anything.
I lost my job fifteen months ago for no reason and have been on welfare since. I have applied for over 150 jobs, had seven interviews and no offers despite casting my net wide both on salary and location. I am living in a half built house bodged togather by a cowboy builder who ran off with the remainder of my life savings and now I am up to my neck in debt with no prospect of ever getting through this. I have no partner, no friends and no family to offer support emotionally or financially.
The economy, as such, does not figure greatly in my problems. Age, being a non-nation and female probably do.
Just give it your best.Good post KrystalR - unfortunately my options are extremely limited in ways that I cannot alter. I just wake up every morning knowing that I am still alive and take it from there. It gets me down without warning though - I can't stop crying tonight so there'll be no more writing and I am having to force myself to go and do something tomorrow that used to be my main pleasure but it feels like an insurmountable problem to go and do it...
I'm coming to this late, but I found this thread very helpful. I was laid off very abruptly which is pretty bad when you live paycheck to paycheck. I am fortunate enough to have picked up another short term gig for the moment but it pays half as much as my old job and we were only scraping by then. We're pretty much just dealing with it by going into more credit card debt. We're in so much debt to begin with (his-college, mine-medical bills) that it doesn't even seem to matter anymore when we pile it on. At least at the moment I'm so incredibly busy and stressed out about work that I haven't even thought about money problems in weeks!
On the plus side, we use the car so infrequently now (I work at home and he's been taking the bus) I can never remember where it's parked (we park on the street). As of this writing, I haven't even seen the car in days. I wouldn't have the first clue where to find it when I want it.
I never had a credit card before.
Same here. My credit score doesn't like it, but oh well.I never had a credit card before.
I know how easily this can happen. I used to have really good credit before the divorce. We were buying houses and moving up in the world before the divorce. Everything was sold off, at a loss, and my once perfect credit rating started to plummet. But not having a credit card will never be part of the debt to income ratio for me.My once-perfect credit is in complete ruins, but thank God I got rid of that card when I did. In my little world of worries the one worry I do not have is credit card debt hanging over me.
After I left my psycho ex a few years ago and had very little money, I re-evaluated my life and decided to live poor. I spent almost all of my savings buying a fixer-upper house for cash, got rid of credit cards, resolved never to buy another car on payments again....my rationale being, if Something Bad happens nobody can come repossess anything of mine.
So I own my home outright and have little debt. Unfortunately I also have little savings and currently no health insurance (I'm shopping for some now.) Joyce, I'm the same age as you - 50 - and have a business that hasn't been affected by the economy at all. I support myself doing that, by writing, and last year I started a petsitting business which makes me some more on the side here and there.
I am terrified of illness or injury though. Should Something Bad happen, I'll really be up shit creek without a paddle. If I don't work, I can't pay bills and my savings won't carry me far. I could sell my house but in this economy it's not worth much at all, and the thought of renting is depressing.
But compared to many, I know I'm lucky. The NYT recently ran a series about people who were truly drowning in debt, having their houses foreclosed on and such...I'm not there. My ability to keep my head above water depends on me staying healthy and working and that's the scary part. Having been self employed my whole life, I don't even know if I would qualify for public assistance of any sort, or how to go about getting it. I hope I never have to.
I've thought about trying to get a real job, like as a postal worker, for security and benefits. But eww, a real job. I've never had one of those!
I do second what someone said earlier about using skills to do side work. Housecleaning, pet sitting, auto repair, home maintenance, that sort of thing. People are looking to save money: offer a service at a slightly lower rate than large established companies, and you'll get work.
I don't find one bit of this thread whiny. I think it's been helpful for people to know they're not alone, that they're not the only ones, and there've been lots of good practical suggestions too.
This country has been on an economic roll for very nearly thirty straight years, until now. To not be doing well had become a mark of failure since, well, everybody was "doing well". But it has been based for at least the last decade on Monopoly money, credit not cash, and it had to crash sometime.
I don't think it hurts to stick a pin in this idea that all Americans are all about money and things and all are just rich as Richie Rich. This thread demonstrates that there are plenty of ordinary people just doing their best and trying their best.