Thursday, July 16, 2009

Overheard at Lunchtime

Don't you hate it when you're sitting outside eating lunch, enjoying some peace, quiet and fresh air on a sunny day, and then someone sits too close to you and proceeds to yack on a cellphone?
Well, I hate it too, except when that person starts talking about money! I couldn't catch all of what this young woman was saying, but here are some snippets:

I can't understand why people can't afford things. If you work in an office you must be making at least $35,000...

Down there, they can't pay their bills, but they're not stressed out because they're always around people. Up here, everybody's all over the place...

Up here rent is like $200, down there it's like $100...

I know! It's OUTRAGEOUS! Maryland is a nice place to live too. The only thing good here is there's always things to do, but down there you can find things to do too....

It's always money, money, money...

I was going to go to the Bahamas... my mom said she'd pay... but I told her I didn't want her to, because she was saying she wasn't sure when she'd have the money to pay the bill... but she wanted me to come anyway so she'd have company....
It's always fascinating to me to overhear things like this. It makes me so curious about the person's finances and other feelings about money. And in this case, it also made me wonder where the heck anyone was paying $200 a month for rent in NYC!

12 comments:

Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog said...

"I can't understand why people can't afford things."
Hilarious!

Anonymous said...

One of the major problem in US education system is to fail to teach kids the concept of money.

Anonymous said...

$200? Probably a bed in Chinatown.

Anonymous said...

She can't possibly be paying rent in NYC for $200 unless she's living with a lot of roommates in a tiny space.

Maybe she was just using those numbers as way to express that NYC costs twice as much as "down there"?

1001 Petals said...

I assumed the $200 rent was in reference to a storage locker or something like that.

Anonymous said...

Maryland is nice, but the taxes are really high. There are things to do here, too. It's crazy!

I think the 200/100 was an analogy.

Her mom is one of those people that can't afford things, apparently. Duh.

-Tasha

Savings Accounts Girl said...

I know - in a box!!! :) hahaha

Ashie said...

Maybe it's weekly rent? (I don't know about rent in NY but for Melbourne it's a possible weekly rent) Or she said "hundred" by mistake?

Anonymous said...

I know someone paying $100 per month on a 1br. This person gets paid in cash, and never files tax return. As a result, she qualifies for low income housing, and welfare from the government. As a taxpayer, I felt sick to the stomach.

Lindsey said...

At lunch I overheard a girl who was calling realtors to try and find an apartment in the Boston area for a lot less than is really possible...and I wanted to turn to her and give her some advice, but instead kept my mouth shut...

cweb said...

I'm sure she was talking about the rent on her purse that was due back a month ago!

Elisa said...

Interesting blog!