What’s the stingiest thing you’ve ever seen a friend do?

[zappp]

I have an (ex-)friend who is very stingy. She earns plenty and is happy to splurge on herself and show off, but when it comes to others, she is mean with money to the point where I’ve felt really taken advantage of on multiple occasions. It’s almost like it’s a game for her; seeing how little she can pay and how much she can extract from others.

The friendship fizzled out when I started calling her out on it and stopped covering her costs (I previously didn’t want to make things awkward, especially in a group setting, but it got to a point where I was too pissed off to keep being polite).

Against my better judgment, I recently attended a group dinner that she was also part of - a mutual friend was in town and this was the only time we could see her. In the WhatsApp planning group, she’d enthusiastically agreed to the restaurant choice - it was definitely a nicer place, but not extravagant.

When she got there, she claimed she wasn’t hungry and didn’t order any food, only to ask the waiter for an empty plate and help herself - rather generously - from everyone else’s food!!! She also asked for a glass for the wine we’d already ordered, which would’ve been fine, except guess how much she chipped in to the bill…? Exactly, zero.

It was also a bit embarrassing towards the restaurant; it’s hard to get a reservation and the group was small enough that it was strange for one person not to be eating at peak dinner time, especially as we were seated at a big table.

This time I didn’t even bother calling her out - it was so brazen that she basically called herself out.

I know you never truly know someone else’s financial situation, but she’s certainly spending enough on clothes, holidays, and skincare to make me think she could afford a plate of pasta and glass of wine…

Anyway, rant over, I want to hear other stingy stories!

Not another one?!!
How many tip thieves is that on this thread? It's an epidemic.

Now I think about it I'm not sure if this is stinginess or CFery, but does anyone remember a thread about a group of married couples who had known each other for years - since before children - and regularly socialised and went out for meals? One couple used to say they couldn't afford expensive venues and quite often the others subsidised them.

Then much later, when the children were about old enough to go to university I think, it transpired that the reason they couldn't afford it was because they were putting a large proportion of their income towards trust funds for their children who looked as though they were going to be wealthy - whereas the other parents hadn't been able to do this. So the broke couple must have been much better off than the others who had been paying for them. The OP just didn't know what to think, but felt resentful that she had been helping to subsidise their children's trust funds. I wish I could find the thread.

That’s just sensible

Isn't coke mixer cheaper than vodka? So she's not ripping anyone off, just not drinking all of the coke at once?

I used to work in a fancy dress shop. We had a very strict return policy - tags on, no odors, no signs of wearing, etc. I have no problem with confrontation, so that had me managing the returns quite often and I LOVED to explain to the CFs why we weren’t going to accept their return.

A very rich friend lent me £10. I was going to give the cash back next time I saw her (usually once a week) but she messaged and rung me asking for it to be transferred over by bank transfer, which I did. Never did work out why it was needed urgently as £10 was more the equivalent of 1p to her!!

I remember it but it was a long while ago.

Omg u must be around my age!! Had my 18th in the v cheesy B and L!! Lazy Lil's, Swinging Sporran.... you've sent me down memory lane - what days!!

my friends husband saves the chocolates from his pillow on a cruise, then gives them to his neighbour for watching the house while the were away

Love this thread!

Went to a work leaving do. I was then working shifts so I'd had no time to eat before and was starving! The colleague whose do it was had provided the 'buffet' - basically a few packs of crisps and none were left. I bought a nice bottle of wine as a contribution but that was whisked away 'for later'. Never saw it again and just drank water as only rather nasty fizzy soft drinks left. Never mind, there was a gorgeous farewell cake, really professionally made by another colleague. Speeches were made and came the time for cake cutting. Colleague who was leaving posed for photos with the cake, then picked it up, shoved it in the box and left! I stopped for chips on the way home.

When I was at uni, it was a group of us playing pool, and it would cost 60p for a game, and no one wanted to chip in.it was so embarrassing, I gave £1 at the end

An ex friend of mine arranged a birthday meal for me. She had a cake made for me and the restaurant decorated the table. After the meal was over, she picked up everything on the table and started shovelling even confetti stuff in her bag saying she could re-use it. Fair enough but she was hardly an eco warrior, it was the way she said it that made me feel she had begrudged spending any money on me. The best bit was when she said we were all too full for cake and she cut a slither of the cake for me and took the rest home with her.

This has to be the grossest stingy post ever! You win the thread!

Someone in my friendship group is a multi millionaire. If we go out for a meal as a group (we pay individually), if I leave so much as a crumb on my plate, he asks to have it. He brought a lovely woman out to an event once. He made her pay for his meal and all of his drinks. He is so tight that he squeaks when he walks.

I know someone who took his adult daughter out for a coffee. He pulled up to DFS and she said why are we here do you need a sofa? He replied no but they’ve got a free coffee machine

Did you respond at all? What goes on in people’s minds that they think that they’re entitled to everything they see?

We used to have a cookie exchange in my department around Christmas - everyone would make a couple of different kinds of cookies and we’d graze during the day then each pack up leftovers so that everyone would have a nice mix to bring home.

Our office building had separate rooms for each department, so it was not a single open area where departments all bleed into each other.

One year, two women from another department came into our room first thing in the morning, made themselves plates piled high, and walked out. One of my coworkers heard them talk about how they were going to bring these plates of cookies to their own department’s holiday potluck that evening. I was the department manager & had been in a meeting with their manager, but when I heard, I went over to their department, took the plates off their desks and explained that our cookie exchange in MY department was only for participants and was not an opportunity for them to shop for their potluck.

They complained to their manager that I had embarrassed them, but it went nowhere and they both ended up with reputations for being stingy. Any time our company bought lunch for everyone, they were watched like a hawk & would get upset about it all over again.

I worked at an office where we all brought in cakes, chocolate, biscuits. There was no set rules on who brought in what and when but there was always something available. One particular person would eat loads of the snacks but would never bring anything in. It was voluntary so nobody really cared.

One day she brought a cheap cake in and I kid you not, asked us for £1.25 each 😂

I have a friend that goes on holiday 4 x a year. Then she gets free food off Olio, dosn't matter what it is she will have it, even if she dosn't like it.She steals tea bags, coffee, milk from work, if I clean fridge/freezer out she's oh don't throw that away I'll have it, have you got, so and so to go with it. Buys grand children clothes from charity shops and alters them so they fit. Will go to anyone's house for a free meal then asks for any leftovers to take home. She has an income of over 6000/mth owns her own house and car. Then takes her washing to do at her parents then says I may as well.leave it here to dry, 2 days later visits again and irons it there as well. She will ask, have you gut a couple of slices of bread, I've run out. Then another day says oh I don't buy bread, I rarely use any.

I don't see anything wrong with that at all. It isn't like they are ever fashionable.

Same with the post above about buying Halloween stuff after Halloween in advance for the following year. Why not?

Sorry I’ve probably not explained very well- say two of us are drinking vodka and coke, she won’t drink coke from the machine -
so my round is my drink, shot of vodka for her, tin of coke
her round is my drink, shot of vodka for her…
only I ever pay for the tin of coke (several over the course of the night)

Ah now I understand! Thanks @Rockandgrohl !
Edited to add: yes she's stingy!

I think these people have the same thing in common, I have come across similar individuals every now and then, they like getting one over on other people, like little victories. I don't thing it is really about money or saving, if you remember the comedy show 'porridge' from the 70s, fletch did his time by gaining little victories over the screws...

My sister is one of the tightest people I know. She's also nasty. I looked after my parents for 18 years. I housed them, paid for care and gave up my SLT job to nurse them. When she visited once a fortnight she brought two cakes ( two for £4 in the co op). She's a chef! When they died she went through their bank statements and excused me of theft. She's still saying it 9 years later. I lost my career and she has no mortgage, no car finance and plenty in the bank. Her children don't like her very much ( one NC). These people reep what they sow.

I remember this thread…. I think it came out when the children were together and talking about student loans/part time jobs etc and the child said about the money that had been saved.

Im pretty sure they also went a lot of very cheap holidays too so that the couple they thought had no money could afford to go! Awful behaviour.