Biggest scam you didn’t know was a scam

Those tight backpacks every runner now uses for <10k runs. You’re literally going to be out of the house for an hour, calm down you don’t need luggage

My young relative said it was like being put in prison.

When the children left home we downsized from a huge house with multiple bathrooms & land looked after by a gardener,to a top floor flat with a balcony overlooking the sea. We had some wonderful family times in our home but I wouldn't go back now if I was offered it for free. We love our cosy flat with beautiful grounds in a quiet neighbourhood. Large imposing houses are impressive but the work involved & the costs involved, no thanks. Lived it,loved it (at the time) wouldn't go back 😁

The food industry is embracing the idea of lab grown meat, what could possibly go wrong?

@godmum56Tretinoin

That the NHS is free. It’s the biggest scam going. It is free at the point of delivery and we all pay for it. When something is “free@ it makes complaints more difficult than they should be. For decades now almost an entire population has put up with sub-optimal standards due to misplaced gratitude. Why should the public be grateful for a service for which they have paid?

the same applies to universal free lunches for children in reception and stage one. It was dreadful when my dc were little and we paid directly. I imagine it’s still dreadful but it’s free so complaints must be difficult.

Capitalism, which kind of covers most of the previously mentioned issues

None of these things are 'scams'. They might be awful ways to live, or even flat out rip-offs, but not 'scams'.

Ultra processed food, made with the crappiest, cheapest ingredients. The resulting products may appear 'cheap' in price, but in terms of all the things that should be valued about food (healthiness, nutrition, freshness, not trashing the environment) - they most certainly are not cheap.

Solicitors; estate agents; care homes. I don't expect any of them to be free, but by God some of them could do more to make it seem a bit less like being mugged when they can't be avoided, because you have to pay up, no matter how piss poor or negligible a service you've received.

Shaving!

The scam of adult education - Open University and other unis preying on the vulnerable older people by advertising all over bus shelters, promising 'a new career in your 50s' if you do a degree. I think this should be banned and actually, not only banned, but looked into for mis-advertising, mis-selling, fraud, etc. Vulnerable people in difficulties are lead to believe that the world of employment will embrace them at 50 if they did a degree. These universities are no better than scammers like Tony Robbins selling courses or lectures of 'How to become a millionaire' by running a business from your bedroom.

I had a uni mate, a fellow student, I was a 20, doing masters, she was 39, doing a PhD (European politics or something similar at the LSE) because some idiot lecturer told her 'she will get a great job in Brussels with that, plus a great life style'. She emerged with her PhD in this idiotic subject at 43, with no work experience apart from baby sitting and dog walking (she had a modest British Council grant to indulge in this folly). Obviously nobody wanted to have anything to do with her, there were plenty of 25-year olds with the same PhDs, plus languages (she had none) and she is now working for a charity, saying daily that it was all a lie, that she wasted her best years on a hollow idea, did not have a relationship/children and she regrets it all massively. Her mum, a down-to-earth seamstress was telling her it was a scam, it was idiotic to embark on a mature student's journey, that she was wasting her life opportunities, but she did not believe her at the time. Now she says she wished she did.

£12 to park at Alton Towers this year.

Nah. They can only go where they're allowed to. They eat the food you give them wear the clothes you buy them. You make all the decisions. They have no money, no choices. They have to go to school. They hardly ever get to decide how to send their time.
You on the other hand have money and choices Yes you have to work but you chose what and where and when. You eat what you want, wear what you want, go where you want, see who you want. You can travel and do what you want.

You're free. They are not

They don't get to choose how they spend their time, what and when to eat, wear, where to go and not go. The money is in the hands of the grown ups too. Some grown ups GIVE children freedom of choice over some of these things but children are not free.

"Kids are expensive" - no, they are not. Childcare is expensive, kids can cost very little money.

Ok but.... every single child needs childcare. Either a parent doing it in lieu of paid work or outsourced.

I don't quite understand how this could be avoided - are you saying everyone should get family to look after the baby/child unpaid?

My 2nd dh is. So sorry you lost yours.

@godmum56

Nobody has to do anything. But we do. It's the psychology of all this stuff.

I loved the Christmas of the 70s.
Now it lasts three months and even buying some bacon has some festive meaning. 😂

Of course they have freedom, they don't have to work: food, shelter, clothing and transport are all provided and they get to choose how they spend their time.

On the other hand I have to work, pay bills, do housework, and I have to always consider my kids before I can go anywhere or do anything.

Childhood is the most free time of all.

You might say the same about a gold and diamond ring But If I don't own the one I paid money for then who does? We have LITERALLY been making money ever since money has existed....now its printed plastic is the only difference.

@godmum56 Personal contract Plan for cars. You put down a lump sum, pay a monthly amount for x number of years then there's a final (often significant) payment at the end if you want to own the car outright, or you start all over again with a new car. Very profitable for the car dealerships and finance companies.

Yes religion too as has been mentioned

Yep! We are staying in our 2 bed flat with 2 kids ! I have a place for everything and declutter massively every few weeks.

the Kids only really have about a weeks worth of clothes I’d say - I don’t buy loads and I’m doing laundry daily anyway so the clothes are coming out clean quickly

we mostly get books from the library these. Days rather than new books

toys one in one out policy

also ironing - why do people bother I never have done it

I also did not know that GP surgeries were a scam. I thought they were part of the NHS with salaried doctors. I found out only recently that they were private partnerships, i.e. capitalist ventures. I could not get my head round the notion that you can have a private company (GP surgery) where you choose to work part-time, but get paid as if you worked full-time and all of that is paid by the taxpayer. I still don't get it. I also did not know that these capitalist ventures work on the capitalist principle - the fewer referrals, the fewer blood tests they make, the more money they get to keep for themselves within the GP practice. When I was told for the first time, I thought they were maligning the NHS and lying.

I also did not know that consultants ran a scam too - by being allowed to work on the NHS and privately at the same time, in the same discipline, thus abusing the system, creating the queue for the NHS and if needed, shifting more serious cases for operations from their private practice to the NHS theatres. It was disgusting to get to know.

I find the greed and the cynicism of the most vulture-like private businesses and corporations more honest and refreshing than the lies of the NHS specialist doctors and GPs. Nothing of the above is aimed at nurses, hv, auxiliaries, etc.

Oh yes, I'm sick of it and mainly of thinking what to cook, DH turning his nose up but when I ask for suggestions he hasn't got any.

I can't even say do without as he's disabled, I'm his carer and I suspect it wouldn't look good if I let him starve to death.