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!

No,one is the forgotten child (he just mooches along in life) one is the golden child (can never do anything wrong and believe me,if he was my ds,I would have disowned him,hes a nasty piece of work,a druggie,a thief,a liar and belts her at least once a week while acting like he owns her house-her own fault im ashamed to say,thats what happens when you treat someone like god and never make him face up to his actions,just smooth it over,stick up for him and never let him take blame) and the other brother is easygoing and allows it all to slide over his head

Shes a narcissist-they weave a web and from birth (certainly since they came along) I was branded the scapegoat (I fit right in on the stately homes thread)

It all came to a head one day (death by a thousand cuts-this reason was very minor) and I walked away

She went nuclear and turned everyone (family,friends and strangers) against me-they all enable her in fear of being turned into the next scapegoat

I am to blame for everything that goes wrong in life even though I've not spoken to them in years

Not my problem-i dont care and that really bothers her,I live my life my way and she hates it

After he was fired from my workplace, an ex-colleague landed a fancy PR job with the Sydney Olympic Games organising committee. (This was about 1996.) They sent him to London to promote the Sydney games to the Brits. Friends of friends had a nice place in Hampstead so, rather than finding a rental of his own, he pocketed his per diem, called them up and asked to move into their guest room, "just while I find my feet here ..."

Six months later, he was still there, living rent-free on their kindness and paying not a penny toward those tiresome household expenses such as food and utilities. Finally his secondment was up and it was time for him to go back to Sydney. His hosts were counting down the minutes. Would he at least buy them flowers and take them to dinner?

"Thanks. See ya," he said, as he pulled out a 10-pound note and dropped it on their kitchen table. His cab arrived, and off he went.

Why did they tolerate it for that long??

He could have found his feet 6 times in all that time.

A mum from an after school club and I would chat for the hour and nip into the local shop for a drink. We’d take turns every week paying. I’d allways buy us individual drinks but she’d choose the 3 in packet and give one to her child when she came out. Fine. I thought I’d do the same the following week and give my child the drink. She got very annoyed with me and asked what her child would have. The cheek.

Tramp?

@Stardancerintheskye that's terrible. It's really good you can detach from it though. She sounds beyond toxic.

Agreed, there is stinginess and then there is abuse. This is a case of abuse.

You think stealing is perfectly acceptable?

My mums saying for someone who was tight was "he could nip a currant in half in his pocket"!

Lifelover16 I have a stingy tight as arseholes daughter who is a decent earner but pinches toilet rolls! 😂🙄🤬

I am no longer friends with this couple as they were so tight fisted evenings out were so miserable and embarrassing because they would constantly complain about meals / service to get things knocked off the bill that I distanced myself and we no longer speak.

There local chain pub offers “free refills soft drinks” so they bought a drink and took the glass home and every time they return bring the glass in her bag then take it back home with them. They used to joke that it did say “unlimited refills”

in the same pub they regularly go for all you can eat breakfast where they order 1 breakfast and 1 drink and take there “own” cutlery with them so the other can eat for free and they share the refill cup.

I'd be telling the pub. That's theft.

Awful dishonest behaviour that spoils it for other paying customers as it will probably get pulled

Glad you got there in the end, you both deserve better than that.

Wish you all the happiness in the world, away from her!

Wow what happened? Did he get in trouble for stealing food and wasting time? Audacity of these twunts!

I'd remembered it slightly wrongly wrt the HR response; also (not that it makes a difference), the worker whose lunch was stolen was actually male.

Here's the original case with a link to the update (real twist in the tale!):

https://www.askamanager.org/2021/05/a-coworker-stole-my-spicy-food-got-sick-and-is-blaming-me-2.html

She explained it very clearly-which is why everyone else who read it understood!!

An old friend of dh was notorious for almost invariably having ‘forgotten his wallet’ when we went out for lunch with him and his wife. Once home (we would be staying, they lived a long way away) he’d also be unable to find his cheque book (this was some years ago) so would ask his wife to write one for Dh. But he was so tight, and she had a lot less money, that we never paid it in since we were pretty sure he’d never pay her back.

Dh is very easy going and had never been tight, so he always shrugged it off - until….
The friend had a Big Birthday and wanted to celebrate it with us in central London. So we paid for 2 nights’ accommodation, plus 4 West End theatre tickets (his present) for a show he wanted to see.

On the Sunday he wanted a roast at Simpson’s In The Strand - famous for roasts. A dd was joining us, and friend had insisted that this would be his treat.

Only when the bill came (fairly hefty for 5 of us) he had once again ‘forgotten his wallet’, and once back at the hotel made no offer to go and get cash.

It was a full 3 weeks before he actually sent a cheque (only, as I heard later, because his highly embarrassed wife insisted). This was the only time I ever saw dh really seriously pissed off with him.

This was a man (no longer with us) who left over £1m cash, and 2 houses long paid off.

Needless to say, I shed no tears over his grave!

I'm thinking of the idiots in the 'Twenty Twelve' London Olympics Deliverance spoof - sounds like this guy would have fitted right in!

Friend from school who was a devious cow from such a young age - this happened around age 8. Remember those Scholastic book fairs - a lorry would come with all these books on shelves, put them in the school hall and you could browse and buy books. Highlight of the year! Except my parents never had money for things like that. Until one year I had literally saved pennies all year and had about £2.50. Found a nature book I really wanted, it was £2.50, then this cowbag, I'll call her Tracey because that is her name, comes up interested in the book too. She suggested we go half on the book and we can share it - swap it every week at school. Awesome, I didn't want to blow all my massive £2.50 in one go anyway so this seemed great. Only thing was, she hadn't brought her money in so she'd bring it in on Monday. I paid and she suggested she get the first week because it was her idea, I was gutted but thought it was fair. Come Monday when I ask about the book and the money, she says she has no idea what I am talking about and just denied the whole thing. No book, no money. Teacher said it wasn't to do with school, parents believed me but thought it was a valuable lesson for me to learn (they loved teaching me valuable lessons that were mostly completely unnecessary and they'd bail my brother out of in a split second).

Same girl also later sold me a Miss Selfridge coat that I found out was stolen and then made all the popular girls bully me for stealing.

Tracey - you were a dickhead then, I hear you're a dickhead now and I wish nothing but the absolute worst for you, you self centred, demonic arsewipe.

I'm amazed at how long people think they could get away with forgetting their wallet every single time?! Wouldn't their dining companions get used to sending them lots of reminder messages in advance (multiple ones from each of them ideally) as standard?

Imagine posturing so that you're having to be constantly reminded by other adults that you need to make sure you take your money with you when you'll clearly need to pay for something - like you're a pre-schooler and mummy is always having to follow you and ask if you remembered to wash your hands after you went wee-wees!!

And a people's friend and a gabb
Like your user name..chewin the fat if I'm not mistaken.

Well said!

I smell a rat. Did you read the update? So they took the worker back and gave them double pay? As if they'd get away with that. Everyone would complain. It sounds far fetched.