There are many ‘usual’ money saving tips out there: cutting down on luxuries; eating in and taking public transport to work. There were then the extreme money savers such as the dumpster divers and the electively homeless (check out our previous article on Yahoo!). This time; we looked for the downright bizarre ways people have used to save money – and boy did we find them.
You’ve been warned: these are honest-to-goodness true stories and one of these people could be lurking in your clique!
The debt roller
“I didn’t think much of it when B asked me to lend him some money. He appeared sheepish and recounted how he had left his ATM card at home but needed to buy some plumbing items urgently.” Amalina recounted. “So I lent him RM100.”
It was only when Amalina accidently let slip during a chat with the others that she was awaiting repayment from B did she; and everyone else; realise they had been taken in. “One by one all of us recounted how B had approached each us for money. The story was always the same. No ATM card; lost ATM card; machine ate the ATM card. It was like he was forever having ATM card problems! Collectively, B had borrowed nearly RM1,500 ringgit from us.” Not one of them had been repaid.
A little sleuthing led Amalina and her friends to the truth: B had borrowed money from almost every person in the office. He was a ‘debt roller’. If a person asked for their money back; B would just borrow from someone else to repay them. “Needless to say, he stopped hanging out with us once we asked for our money back: collectively. He left the company not long later. I do wonder which poor group of office workers he’s preying on now.”
The one-bite-each girl
Cherry Lim had a group of girlfriends she often hung out with and it included the ‘one-bite-each-girl’, Sheena. “Sheena was a good friend so when we noticed it at first; we were hesitant to call her out on it.” Cherry explained. “What she would do is always say she isn’t hungry when we go out to eat. But when our food arrives; she’d ask if she could try some. She would try everyone’s food. Sometimes not just a bite or two but would help herself to half the portion. This way, she never paid for anything and at the end, got a full meal’s worth of food.”
The first few times she did it, Cherry brushed it off but soon it was hard for the girls to ignore. “We paid good money for our food and it wasn’t fair. And it wasn’t as if she couldn’t afford it. She always had the latest branded handbag or clothes.”
“The next time we went out, we ordered as usual but when Sheena tried to share, we said no. We felt mean, but she got the idea. She never asked again and thankfully, we’re all still friends.”
The handphone Houdini
“It was the oddest thing but we can’t prove it.” Anthony quipped as he relayed his story. “We have a friend – let’s call him Joe. Whenever he’s around, handphones go missing. The first time a friend lost a phone; we didn’t think much about it: chalked it up to bad luck; then the second and the third. But the fourth was just too weird. It was my phone. I was playing snooker with Joe; just the two of us. I lost the round so I set my phone on the table, and went off to pay for the game. When I came back the phone was gone. Joe was nearby but not at our table. He caused a huge ruckus accusing everyone in the joint but a search turned up nothing. The only person we didn’t search was Joe: because he was my friend.”
Later, Anthony recollected the situations when the others lost phones. Joe was always around.
“The sad thing was that we could never prove it. Joe and I lost touch after he moved but I heard from a mutual friend that his girlfriend had lost her phone whilst they were on holiday together. The phone was in the hotel room. No one else could’ve gotten in but Joe blamed the service staff. It just made me even more certain and sick to my stomach to think that he’d steal from his friends and his own girlfriend. But I can’t prove any of it so maybe… it’s just one big coincidence that phones go missing in his presence.”
*All names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals mentioned.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/strange-sometimes-criminal-ways-people-save-money-012833151.html
You’ve been warned: these are honest-to-goodness true stories and one of these people could be lurking in your clique!
The debt roller
“I didn’t think much of it when B asked me to lend him some money. He appeared sheepish and recounted how he had left his ATM card at home but needed to buy some plumbing items urgently.” Amalina recounted. “So I lent him RM100.”
It was only when Amalina accidently let slip during a chat with the others that she was awaiting repayment from B did she; and everyone else; realise they had been taken in. “One by one all of us recounted how B had approached each us for money. The story was always the same. No ATM card; lost ATM card; machine ate the ATM card. It was like he was forever having ATM card problems! Collectively, B had borrowed nearly RM1,500 ringgit from us.” Not one of them had been repaid.
A little sleuthing led Amalina and her friends to the truth: B had borrowed money from almost every person in the office. He was a ‘debt roller’. If a person asked for their money back; B would just borrow from someone else to repay them. “Needless to say, he stopped hanging out with us once we asked for our money back: collectively. He left the company not long later. I do wonder which poor group of office workers he’s preying on now.”
The one-bite-each girl
Cherry Lim had a group of girlfriends she often hung out with and it included the ‘one-bite-each-girl’, Sheena. “Sheena was a good friend so when we noticed it at first; we were hesitant to call her out on it.” Cherry explained. “What she would do is always say she isn’t hungry when we go out to eat. But when our food arrives; she’d ask if she could try some. She would try everyone’s food. Sometimes not just a bite or two but would help herself to half the portion. This way, she never paid for anything and at the end, got a full meal’s worth of food.”
The first few times she did it, Cherry brushed it off but soon it was hard for the girls to ignore. “We paid good money for our food and it wasn’t fair. And it wasn’t as if she couldn’t afford it. She always had the latest branded handbag or clothes.”
“The next time we went out, we ordered as usual but when Sheena tried to share, we said no. We felt mean, but she got the idea. She never asked again and thankfully, we’re all still friends.”
The handphone Houdini
“It was the oddest thing but we can’t prove it.” Anthony quipped as he relayed his story. “We have a friend – let’s call him Joe. Whenever he’s around, handphones go missing. The first time a friend lost a phone; we didn’t think much about it: chalked it up to bad luck; then the second and the third. But the fourth was just too weird. It was my phone. I was playing snooker with Joe; just the two of us. I lost the round so I set my phone on the table, and went off to pay for the game. When I came back the phone was gone. Joe was nearby but not at our table. He caused a huge ruckus accusing everyone in the joint but a search turned up nothing. The only person we didn’t search was Joe: because he was my friend.”
Later, Anthony recollected the situations when the others lost phones. Joe was always around.
“The sad thing was that we could never prove it. Joe and I lost touch after he moved but I heard from a mutual friend that his girlfriend had lost her phone whilst they were on holiday together. The phone was in the hotel room. No one else could’ve gotten in but Joe blamed the service staff. It just made me even more certain and sick to my stomach to think that he’d steal from his friends and his own girlfriend. But I can’t prove any of it so maybe… it’s just one big coincidence that phones go missing in his presence.”
*All names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals mentioned.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/strange-sometimes-criminal-ways-people-save-money-012833151.html
