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?

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 2:20pm

Oh are we talking donations now? Well I'm sure the tons of clothing and furniture items, as well as monetary contributions, has added up over the years to compensate for the few hundred dollars spent at the local salvation army (and I'm sure some of that few hundred dollars went for things like paying their employees and back into their programs....)

Dj

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

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 2:20pm
Good points. My youngest lives in his soccer shirts.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2007
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 2:25pm

Because in the end you are not getting a bargain. Because the jeans are new, much better quality and not worn out, they will last much longer in a good condition, because they definitely haven't been exposed to blood and other bodily fluids, they will hold up to washings better and for a longer time than used jeans will so they will have a longer life-span with its only owner, and they will be in style longer. Nothing like a cheap pair of bell bottoms to waste money on!

New jeans hold their shape better and longer, are not worn at the knees and rump just yet and they "hang" and fit much better.

If all of this has to be explained to anybody, I defy that person to pretend he's the millionaire next door and actually has the CHOICE to buy "new". It's not rocket science.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-31-2007
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 2:28pm
Why do others treat poor people so bad? We get talked down to and treated like we dont have any business being on earth. Alot of have not chosen to be poor. I recently went in a convenience store to buy an item and ll I had was nickles that were rolled. The clerk said she couldnt take that much change (1 roll). The way it was said made me so sad I cried all the way home. Why are you mean to us.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2007
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 2:30pm
I bought a ceramic houshold item advertised as "new" on EBay. It was photographed with the new tags on and everything. When it arrived, I opened the box only to be greeted by a boxful of cigarette smoke in my face! LOL. You just don't know where things have been. And of course the item had been used by one of its previous owners. I watched EBAY for weeks for that item - people just kept buying the same or similar thing, re-wrapping it in a different box, and then re-listing it as new!
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2007
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 2:33pm
Amen! I can't imagine my kids getting through a season without a stain of some sort or another on everything. Apparently most kids out there are not as active as mine and don't make messes! Sounds like a fun childhood.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 2:34pm

I think your attitude is exactly the one that has so many people in financial dire straits.

Make more. Get more. New is better. Instant gratification and personal fulfillment can be picked up at the mall. These things are myths designed to promote over consumption. It sounds like you have swallowed it, lock, stock and barrel. Your own examples show that you look at buying used as going backwards, when in many cases it is a sound financial decision based on depreciated values.

Carrie

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-15-2006
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 2:34pm
ahh,so your opinion about ebay is because of that experience......yea,i've had rotten experiences with ebay,too..but i keep going back because 9/10,sales are honest!!

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-07-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 2:36pm
True, it's just a guess, which is why I used the word doubt. Anything's possible. All I wanted to point out is that your statement is probably untrue for many people.
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-07-2003
Wed, 01-31-2007 - 2:38pm
very true.

Pages