SC's that put luxury ahead of priorities

[K'Z'K]

We once had to board a dog for a few days while he was recovering from carbon monoxide poisoning and the house was being cleared. He and his owner were overcome by the fumes of a leaky generator, and both lost consciousness and were lucky to survive (they're actually both fine). The reason for the generator was that the family's electricity had been shut off, presumably for non-payment. Yet the wife had perfectly styled hair, a fancy manicure, and a designer handbag a coworker who knows these things said was real. They were actually perfectly nice people, but the priorities...

-K'Z'K

[cinema guy]

The problem with anonymous calls is that once someone fromthe authorities come out, the neighbour can probably guess who it was reported them. He/she can may then make life hell for the reporting person and it will potentially take months for the authorities to sort it all out.

[CancelMyService]

The cable company must offer some kind of discount or free digital cable to low income people/people on welfare. My ex roomate's gf was below poverty level when he first met her....and she had digital cable and plenty of beer in the fridge.

My ex neighbors.....the children probably had one bath every 2 weeks, all you could smell was marijuana and BO seeping from the windows, and yet there were speakers bumping rap music that rattled my walls and the crackwhore elephant always had cigarettes. Not only that, but I could hear her TV, sometimes we'd both be watching the same channel, so SHE had digital cable as well.

Ex roomate wanted to cancel digital cable because it was starting to cost almost $120 a month for all the channels and internet...............I kept the cable in my name and struggled each month to keep that ONE luxury.......nowadays I cannot afford it at ALL and just settle for the free cable my landlords provide....

And you're telling me people on welfare get digital cable and satellite? Uh uh. It'd be one thing to deprive them of tv and local channels, which are free. It's another to give them a LUXURY that most working class people struggle to afford or flat out CANNOT afford for free or damn near it!

Believe me, there's no discounts to low income people. Hell, there's no military/senior/good customer discounts either. People call in and bitch to the cable company because things are too expensive, and if you suggest maybe they pare some of their channels it's like asking them which leg they want to cut off.

To be fair, I was poor to the point where I was living off eBay for 6 months (back when such a thing was possible) and I still managed to pay my cable and internet bill, but I was also was sharing the bills so I could somewhat excuse it. Most people I talk to have no sense of priority and consider TV to be essential like electric and water. It bothers me to see all people who are not well off get lumped in as lazy freeloaders just because some people are assholes who know how to work the system.

It might not be what corporate wants, but when someone calls in saying their bills are too high (and they're usually past due which underscores what their saying is true) the first thing I tell them is you can save money by getting rid of premium movie channels. You can get standard cable + digital box with all kinds of free movies for about $50 a month without promotions. If that's still out of your budget, you really need to rethink the whole cable thing.

[Gravekeeper]

Gotta love welfare.

I can always tell when its Welfare Weds here because we get a ton of calls all weds night on the 867 abused order line. They always order $500-800 worth of really nice cloths, sunglasses, etc.

*I* can't afford half the crap they order and I get a 25% employee discount from that company. ( Which I have yet to use but is very nice to have. )

[Jadedcarguy]

*I* can't afford half the crap they order and I get a 25% employee discount from that company. ( Which I have yet to use but is very nice to have. )

You need it.

Pink camo is in your future.

[Hon'ya-chan]

One of my friends works as a mechanic, and he's shocked at the services he's done to cars.

He's seen pimped out SUV's with the bling-bling rims, DVD players, amped up Stereo systems, and guess who's the owner of said cars?

Some woman that thinks she's Paris Hilton, yet her kids look like Joe Dirt.

[Seshat]

I know for a fact that this sort of confused priority system has been going on at least since the second decade of the 20th century - because my grandfather did it to my grandmother and their children.

[crazylegs]

Abuse always needs to be reported.

If your not reporting it and you know about it, maybe your the only one who does know about it, who will?

Abuse takes many forms, physical, mental, sexual, psycoligical, financial, deprivation, if there is a wall of silence these kids will not get the help they deserve, and remember abuse often carries down the family, so yes these children may be ok, but what happens when they have children too.

I normally put Stay Safe down here, but lets help others as well hey guys?

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/

[CrazedClerk]

One of my friends works as a mechanic, and he's shocked at the services he's done to cars.

He's seen pimped out SUV's with the bling-bling rims, DVD players, amped up Stereo systems, and guess who's the owner of said cars?

Some woman that thinks she's Paris Hilton, yet her kids look like Joe Dirt.

This could be a woman who is doing all the wrong things with Daddy's child support payments by the sound of it.

[Seshat]

and remember abuse often carries down the family, so yes these children may be ok, but what happens when they have children too?

Sample size: one family.
Half marry people like their abusive parent.
One quarter doesn't marry, becomes a single parent in an era when that's hideously taboo.
One quarter marries a good spouse, who themselves is child of abuse.

Thanks to the non-abusive parent's efforts, half of them (and the good spouse) make a conscious, determined effort to be good parents themselves. It isn't easy, and they have behaviour patterns clearly learned from their abusive parents, but they work hard at it.

The children of the spouses who married people like the abusive parent suffer abusive situations (surprise!), though between the efforts of the remaining adults around them and their own efforts, four fifths end up doing well as adults.
The child of the single parent turns out okay, but is raised in poverty.
The children of the good-spouse family show signs of trouble, and have behaviour patterns they need to train out of themselves, but are basically okay.

[Hon'ya-chan]

This could be a woman who is doing all the wrong things with Daddy's child support payments by the sound of it.

He's seen a few of these cars in the low-income housing areas.

[blas]

Exactly.

Ex roomate's gf was rolling around in an Olds Alero with real nice modifications (how do I know? Thank you Facebook and Myspace!) but living in the slums of section 8, which is actually only about 2 miles away from where I live.

Her part time job at TGIFriday's sure couldn't afford that type of stuff.

[BookstoreEscapee]

You need it.

Pink camo is in your future.

I was watching What Not to Wear last night and the girl owned a lot of camo. Nothing pink, though.

[greensinestro]

This could be a woman who is doing all the wrong things with Daddy's child support payments by the sound of it.

Like my brother's ex-girlfriend that he and her have a child with. They no longer are together, and at one time, he was paying her child support, up until the judge saw who should rightfully have custody. Before that though, it was apparent she was using his child support money for cigs and booze, and after she lost custody, even asked him "What am I going to do without that extra income?" Sorry, that's not an income, it's money to help feed, clothe, and house your child, not support yourself.

[hotelnpa]

I had an EX-friend of mine who had his priorities in the wrong place.

He had to have all of the premium channels, the best vodka, a carton of cigs, a nice car...but he only worked when he felt like it (or if he wasn't teriminated) and mooched off anyone he could, including me. For example, because of non-payment, his electric was shut off. Like a sucker, I loaned him the money to get his service restored and he promised to pay me back. He never did of course.

His car was nearly reprocessed, but his mother helped him out before that could happen. Keep in mind, this guy is in his 30's.

I may not be rich, but I am comfortable. I work full time and buy things I can afford. What a concept!