New Cup II
One of my favorite coworkers is looking for a new apartment. Her landlord is selling hers, so she and her husband have been scouting out new locations in various city neighborhoods. They're both in their mid-thirties, no kids, with jobs that I have to assume pay reasonably well. But to hear her tell it, they're both hopeless with money--their cable is always getting shut off because they forget to pay the bill, or they're putting off getting their car fixed until the next payday.
Today she stopped in looking like she'd run a marathon. They found an apartment that they love, and they're in the process of getting together the application. She had all the requisite forms and account numbers, but they didn't have enough money for the application fee. To be precise, they were nine dollars short. Prior to coming to work, she had been digging through couch cushions and in old coat pockets trying to make up the difference, but no luck.
The fault for this latest financial catastrophe, she says, is her husband's. His method of bill-paying apparently involves getting tired of random balances and paying them off, regardless of the effects on the total financial picture. He mailed off a check to a credit card company that resulted in their checking account being overdrawn, which resulted in a hold being placed on their ($25) savings account, which left them $9 short of the application fee with four days to go until payday. She said she'd exhausted every legal means of raising cash that she could come up with.
Sympathetic soul that I am, I said, "Do you watch "Flight of the Conchords"?, and suggested male prostitution as a possible solution. Then I gave her ten dollars from my wallet. I felt a little weird offering her money--I didn't want to embarrass or patronize her--but she accepted it gratefully.
Math has never been my strong point, and I know I'm lucky to have M. Defarge and his pharmacist's salary to pay the bills with, but I just can't imagine living paycheck to paycheck in quite this fashion. Even in my single, pre-$25K salary days, I never had to resort to the couch cushions to make ends meet. I feel a little spoiled today, but kind of like a grown-up too.
Today she stopped in looking like she'd run a marathon. They found an apartment that they love, and they're in the process of getting together the application. She had all the requisite forms and account numbers, but they didn't have enough money for the application fee. To be precise, they were nine dollars short. Prior to coming to work, she had been digging through couch cushions and in old coat pockets trying to make up the difference, but no luck.
The fault for this latest financial catastrophe, she says, is her husband's. His method of bill-paying apparently involves getting tired of random balances and paying them off, regardless of the effects on the total financial picture. He mailed off a check to a credit card company that resulted in their checking account being overdrawn, which resulted in a hold being placed on their ($25) savings account, which left them $9 short of the application fee with four days to go until payday. She said she'd exhausted every legal means of raising cash that she could come up with.
Sympathetic soul that I am, I said, "Do you watch "Flight of the Conchords"?, and suggested male prostitution as a possible solution. Then I gave her ten dollars from my wallet. I felt a little weird offering her money--I didn't want to embarrass or patronize her--but she accepted it gratefully.
Math has never been my strong point, and I know I'm lucky to have M. Defarge and his pharmacist's salary to pay the bills with, but I just can't imagine living paycheck to paycheck in quite this fashion. Even in my single, pre-$25K salary days, I never had to resort to the couch cushions to make ends meet. I feel a little spoiled today, but kind of like a grown-up too.
posted by Madame Defarge at 4:31 PM
1 Comments:
Update: They got the apartment, and she forwarded me an email to the effect that they'd overpaid their application fee by $50. So actually they were ahead $41 rather than short $9. Which also seems a little sad...
Post a Comment
<< Home