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: 09-04-1997
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 1:01pm
You said several times that the millionaries you know don't shop in thrift shops. So I believed you. Now you say you know all kinds of people, including some millionaires who shop at thrift shops. It's kind of hard to have a conversation with you because your story keeps changing all the time.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 1:01pm
You don't have to use bleach. A dryer will kill anything that might be 'icky'. You might want to spend some time finding germs in your own home. Your kitchen sponge probably has more stuff on it then an entire thrift store of clothing.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2007
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 1:02pm

So not only is everyone here on this board the "millionaire next door" shopping in thrift stores. All the boardies have relatives who are multi-millionaires too. Okayyyyy.

Ahhh, the beauty of anonymity of message boards. Gotta love it.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 1:02pm
Not to butt in but Lexus cars are made by Toyota. They have the same engines. My parents decided to stay with their Toyota's instead of paying double for a Lexus.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 1:02pm

You probably do, you just dont know it. And even if you dont, that still doesnt make it right to refer to people as *lower-class*. I think judging people based on things like where they shop isnt too classy myself.

dj

Dj

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

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 1:03pm
Of what?

Dj

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

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 1:04pm
But hopefully people get smarter too as they get older, and realize that buying their child the $4 jeans from the thrift store is a better use of their money then the $15 brand new jeans since the child is going to outgrow them in 3 months. Or, if they're like my son, every pair of jeans he owns will have a hole in them right next to the zipper after 1 or 2 wearings (still a mystery as to how the hole got there).
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 1:06pm

Which means almost nothing in the scheme of debate. You have several times mentioned *these kind of people* , *lower class people*, etc. You dont see how judgemental that sounds?

You cannot make such blanket generalizations based on your own limited experience-end of story.

dj

Dj

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

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 1:07pm
No, I said that I KNOW all different kinds of people. I have known frugal millionaires and millionaires who would not walk into a thrift shop.
I am not changing my story. It is just hard for people to believe that I have known and met all walks of life. They think I am just in my little world and never have been out of my own town.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2007
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 1:07pm

And how do you not see that there's a community aspect to shopping in thrift stores? First, millionaires simply don't shop in thrift stores.

Only people who cannot afford new clothes at outlets, on sales, with a coupon, etc., shop in thrift stores. That's the poor and lower middle class.

So millionaires have the luxury of not shopping at thrift stores because they know the needy shop there. At a minimum, they don't want or need to take clothes out of the hands of people who truly cannot afford better. Please don't tell me that people who can afford new clothes without impacting their budget willingly choose to shop in thrift stores when there are places like Kmart, Walmart, Target, etc. around. Only lower middle class and the poor do.

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