Why should I support someone else?

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-27-2006
Why should I support someone else?
4426
Sat, 12-30-2006 - 1:24pm

Let me start by saying that I"m new here so this may have already been discussed, but this has come up in my office several times and I wanted to get some other views of this.

I do payroll for a rather small company so I know most of the workers and their wives (most of the workers are men due to the nature of our business). There are two in particular who's wives SAH. These two are up to their eyeballs in debt. I have bill collectors constantly calling for them. That part is really their business, it is annoying but I enjoy being rude back to the bill collectors, lol.

The part that bothers me is that both wives have been in the office wanting copies of X amount of check stubs so that they can go and get public assistance (I know because they told me that is what it is for)! Why should my tax money go so that these women can SAH? I know that not all families that one parent stays at home are like this, but I know lots that are. Heck, growing up we were always broke because my mother refused to work, but we weren't on any public assistance.

So, why should I pay for a woman to SAH? Why can't she go and get a job to support her family just like anyone else?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 11:01am

Sounds like you need to get out more. Thats a really shocking pov to maintain in life and sounds very prejudiced. Better hope you never have the bad financial luck to end up one of the working poor.

dj

Dj

"Now when I need help, I look in the mirror" ~Kanye West~

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2007
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 11:03am

So let me guess, you study infectious disease, but not DNA?

DNA will remain after clothes are washed...and then the murder happens. Get it? Ha, ha. At that point Police Forensics will still be able to detect the DNA even after several washings! This is such common knowledge! I'm so surprised.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 11:03am
Ok. Maybe this should be on the news then. Do you think everyone will be running to the thrift stores? I doubt it.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 11:05am

Good point.

The people who are too *good* for thrift stores quite possibly live in areas that are less affluent to begin with. Which would explain the fear and horror of being seen at a thrift store-maybe they are worried about what people might think if they are seen there.

dj

Dj

"Now when I need help, I look in the mirror" ~Kanye West~

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 11:05am
My point is that it has been worn over and over and over by someone else. How do I know THAT shirt did not come from another thrift shop years ago? Yes, while it might not have shrunk because it came from a good store, it will not last forever as all clothes do not last forever. My clothes basically have to last until they "die". I don't buy tons of clothes for myself each season like the kids.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 11:06am
I definately know my boss is as his salary is published and he sold a million dollars of stock many years ago alone.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 11:07am

It may never have been washed and therefore be just as prone to shrinkage as something new from a store which has ALSO never been washed. Everything in a thrift store started its life in a regular store. In the intervening time, it may or not have been washed (although washing brings fade, so actually you CAN tell) which means it was once subject to the same vagaries of shrinkage as anything else that's in a store and hasn't been washed.

Why do you think things new in stores are less likely to shrink? As you said in another post, you go by reputability of maker and stick with brands you have good, non-shrinkage experiences with. Did it not occur to you that these very same reputable, non-shrinking clothes often end up in thrift stores? They don't suddenly acquire shrinking properties just because somebody donated them. If a new Gap shirt won't shrink, a used one won't either. And identifying labels are still on the clothes.

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-07-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 11:09am

Probably not. Most people aren't very concerned about the environment. Check out this though: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/13/BAGH3H7DH71.DTL http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/

Jessica

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 11:10am
Why is that? Everyone has experiences on where they live and this is mine. I did state earlier that maybe thrift shops are different in different places but I am telling you how it is where I live.
I am not worried about being the "working poor". My dh and I have worked our way up, bought our home when prices were very low so we have a low mortgage and have experience to make decent money. My dh would work 2 jobs to make sure the bills were paid and we were taken care of and we have life insurance policies in case something happens to one of us.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-09-2006
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 11:11am

And even *if* one couldn't tell if an item had been washed prior to purchasing, there's a ridiculously simple solution.

do you suppose you and I are the only two in the world who know what that might be? ;)

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