To ask your stingiest stories?

[iLoveFoood]

Tell me some of your stingy stories. The ones where you've had a friend out to dinner and they inspect the bill down to the last €0.20.... or the guy at the office who refuses to bring in the Friday biscuits but eats everyone else's!

I know a guy at my work who is a full time smoker but never has a box of cigarettes. Just asks someone different every time. He gets away with smoking ten a day, one off a different person every single day!

I asked him for one before after giving him my last few a couple of times and he said 'no, these need to last me 2 days' 😆

Place marking so I can read later on. Loving these so far though.

My ex fiance from years ago was very very stingy. I was only in my mid 20s and still living with my parents at the time when we were dating, and I recall a time when my parents went on holiday and ex came to stay for the week. I bought all the food shopping, stuff for a full roast dinner, and I paid for dinner at a pub one evening. He happened to use the same shampoo as me and put it in my bathroom, and had the nerve to mention that I had used a bit of it one morning! Also there was a time when he reminded me about £5 that he had lent me about six months previously!

Also - here is a time when I was stingy lol (I'm not usually!).
Some years ago in an attempt to get out and meet more people I joined "Meetup" and went along to my first social event, which was out for Indian food. There was about 20 of us at the table, obviously this was the first time I'd met all of them. I don't drink, and several people on the table were drinking bottles of wine. When it came to paying the bill, the event organiser announced that we were just going to split it equally, but I quickly realised that because of the amount of alcohol that had been consumed by the others on the table, the amount I would have had to have paid was coming to a LOT more than what my meal and soft drinks added up to. So I went up to the bar area and paid for what I'd had only, made my excuses and left 🙈

enjoying these stories but i can say i actually dont know many stingy people
thieves who stole money off me yes even they werent stingy just scummy lol

LegoAdventCalendar we called her out on it as much as we could. I had one friend in particular who was very good at saying to her ‘oi, no, this is our wine/taxi/pizza which we’ve paid for, you need to chip in if you want in on it’ but sometimes it was surprisingly hard to bring it up. For example, when she would count out her exact share of the bill with 5ps and coppers, it would be very irritating but somehow you’d feel like a dick if you just said ‘mate, give over, we all know you’re loaded!’

I remember one such occasion where she’d carefully counted out the pennies for dinner and made a big fuss about getting her exact change, then we all went to a fairly posh bar which had a good happy hour deal for students. I knew she liked Cosmos so I asked her if she wanted to get a Cosmo with me on a 2-4-1 deal. She turned up her nose and said no, sorry, she wanted to get something off the normal menu instead. What she got was some kind of fancy lychee and guava Cosmo or some bollocks like that, which can’t have tasted much different to the cheap ones we were drinking! So she was perfectly happy to spend money on herself, just not on other people.

Looking back, I think she probably had some kind of control issues. She also had some odd eating habits which, while maybe not a full-blown eating disorder, suggested that she liked to keep herself very disciplined and in control of things. I think that maybe she had become obsessed with ‘budgeting’ for uni and felt like she needed to watch every penny and get a free ride whenever she could? I don’t know. She wasn’t a bad person so I hope she’s relaxed a little now!

it would be very irritating but somehow you’d feel like a dick if you just said ‘mate, give over, we all know you’re loaded!’

Ah, see, I never once felt like a dick for pulling someone up on that. 'WTF is wrong with you? You're being a total skinflint and making a scene. Embarrassment!' These freaks are never expecting that.

We stopped going out with skinflint flatmate for this reason. All the change-counting is utterly cringe-worthy. She'd do stuff like order a roll, just a roll, and a glass of tap water and sit there with a face on whilst everyone else ate, expecting one of us to offer up some of our portion. But it was like water on a duck's back to us and then we just stopped telling her we were going. Didn't feel at all bad about it, either, people who do that don't deserve to be indulged.

DB’s girlfriend came out for a meal with us. She ordered only a starter and a water as she was skint. Then proceeded to watch every mouthful of others asking “are you finished? Can I have the rest”

Also, aged 14 I had a job for £1 an hour. One day I had to stay 30 mins extra and still got the £1.
The following week I was asked to go home 30 mins early and only got 50p!

My father told the story of the couple of old.ladies who shared their table one holiday and never bought wine but always accepted his offer of sharing thd wine he bought. Last night one of the old ladies win a bottle of wine in the raffle. He thought maybe she would out it on the table, but no she put it in her bag to take home
The extreme stinginess I witnessed that has stuck with me, was when I was shopping. I came round the corner into the deodorant aisle to see a woman using one of the roll ons, both pits, putting the lid back on, putting it back on the shelf. She saw me watching, but just went the other way. I suppose I should have said something but I had a basket of shopping, no doubt the woman had left the shop and how could I prove it and identify the roll on that'd been used. We've all been out and ended up feeling less than fresh but if you don't want to spend just go into the ladies and have a bit of a wash.
It's not like taking a spray of perfume, someone else would have bought that deodorant not knowing it had been used already by a malodorous woman, who hadn't even gone into the ladies to wash first

Years ago pre mobile phones, my friend rang me at my ex parents in law where we were staying for the weekend in a state as she had been assaulted. I rang her again later that evening to check how she was doing and give her a bit of moral support despite being 200 miles away. My ex FIL demanded money for the phone call...

My workplace decided to start providing free milk for people to make their tea with. It was very clear that that's all it was for. Lots of people decided to use it for cereal or porridge which isn't so bad but it did mean the milk went down quite fast. The company stopped providing the milk when they realised that at least one person was bringing an empty milk carton in from home and filling it up from the work milk before taking it home again.

My exH was so mean that he would claim to have no appetite at a restaurant and order a tiny side dish. If we went to someone else's house for dinner he would eat like a horse, including scoffing the last portion without checking with others.

An old college friend would take alcohol to a party, keep it near her and take it away again. I witnessed her asking for it back once at a meal.

One person always fucks things up, Red. I wish they'd found out who is was and disciplined them instead.

Obviously, if you take something round to someone’s house you don’t expect to go home with it however, I have a friend who often invites the friendship group over, so we all duly come bearing supplies which she immediately tucks away in her fridge/cupboards and rations out a small serving to the four of us, keeping the majority of it for herself to have at a later date.

She never has any snacks or booze in herself, we bring it all and if we get a takeaway, she never pays towards it as she is the hostess... which would be fine except if we stay over, we’re lucky to get a cup of tea in the morning never mind any actual breakfast. It kind of weird and I’ve decided to not go again as it ruins the atmosphere.

Call me stingy but I outright refuse to split bills!! I don’t drink and to be honest I just don’t see the point this day and age when most places let you pay separately. I think most ppl would be happier paying for what they actually had!

Used to rent a room from a family who were tight as cramp. Heating on for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, I worked shifts so I was always freezing there. They owned 4 properties in a VERY expensive part of the country but would sit in jumpers and coats, rather than put the heating on. They knew they were unreasonable though as they had relatives round for dinner a few times and the heating was on all night!

Went out for dinner with a friend I was staying with and some of her friends. We got there late due to bad traffic so I bought our drinks from the bar and paid for them (1 coke, 1 glass red wine). Had a main each and a dessert plus one more drink each. Our total was no more than £15 each so I put £20 in as did she. When the money had been counted up, it was around £80 short and one of them said to me “How much did you put in?” I told her and she said we owed more, until I pointed out the rest had shared about 5/6 bottles wine between them, while we only had 2 drinks (less than £5) that had gone on the bill. My friend just wanted to pay but I said I didn’t mind paying if we’d had the same but we hadn’t and I thought they were being CFs ordering drinks and expecting us to pay for them. I don’t mind splitting a bill if everyone has had pretty much the same but no way when I’m expected to subsidise everyone else.

My auntie was a classic for stinginess- but thinks of herself as chock-full of bonhomie, Christmas spirit and the warmth of human kindness.

She took up oil painting (teeny 10x10cm ‘seascapes’ of blue line (sky), white line (horizon), blue line (sea)). That’s all we got as birthday or Xmas presents for 2 decades. Plus, on the back of all of them was written ‘Limited Edition no 3 of 100’ or similar, and the card given with them would specify that we were to make the paintings available for her to take back for her next exhibition. She’d make a big fuss of collecting them back, then we’d never see them (or the exhibition) again. A blessing, really.

My grandmother (her mother) died at a ripe 95. For the last 8 years of her life, she kept a box of her wedding china (gorgeous Art Deco) to pass on to me. Told everyone each Xmas it was for me. Kept it in her room with my name in 30cm high letters on said box. In the last year of her life she asked me if she could ‘borrow’ the teapot from ‘my’ set, since her normal one had broken. It became our joke, that she’d make me a cup of tea from ‘my’ teapot as ‘rent’. After my grandma dies, my auntie refuses to pass on the teapot, since it wasn’t technically in the box. Worthless on its own. But that’s how she is.

Estranged now from all my side of the family, I often wonder if my auntie’s teapot, and other early-century memorabilia are keeping her good company? I picture her like Gollum in Lord of the Rings, gleefully cradling her Precious Things.

My PILS refuse to pay for parking.
I once sat in a car with them going out for lunch for over 2 hours whilst they drove around and around trying to find somewhere to park for free. I did point out that they'd probably spent more in petrol than the pound it would cost to park.
In the end DH lost his temper and said he'd pay for the parking.
It was all in vain anyway as by this point it was after 2 and everywhere had stopped serving food so we ended up sat in the car eating fish and chips, without ketchup as that would have been 10p extra.

Call me stingy but I outright refuse to split bills!!

I think it's the antithesis of stinginess. Only paying for what you consume is the fairest way of all. It's usually the actually stingy people who get bent out of shape when you don't want to split the bill, as they know they're going to have to pay for everything they've had, rather than subbing it onto someone else bill, who had less.

A friend of mine who was organising her cousin's hen- I am also friends with her cousin but not that close. Tried to charge (for hosting at her house) £40 each off 10 hens and then said to bring a bottle....."to include, food and decorations"....needless to say no one agreed and we ended up going out for a bottomless brunch.

A bit different but I saw some tight arses being caught out one night and it was amazing!

Local Italian restaurant in a small town. Very popular spot. Mobbed every night of the week and hard to get bookings. Exceptionally good value for money so very popular with large groups. You’d easily get three courses with sides and wine for £25/person. It’s family owned and the owners are very generous with bread, drinks measures, complimentary digestifs etc.

I was there one Saturday night with some friends and we were all having a lovely night. Next to us, there was a table of 10 women. All glammed up for a night on the town. Tables were pretty packed in so we could hear what was going on at their table.

They were given bread when they sat down, and then almost immediately asked for more which they were given. The waiter asked to take their drinks order and they said they weren’t ready, but would like more bread. It was given to them. He came back and they asked for tap water all round. He brought the water, started taking food orders. Between the ten of them, they ordered four starters to share... and more bread. Waiter asked if they were ordering main courses and was told they would decide later.

Waiter leaves and the owner comes out. Asked them if they were having a nice night? Yes. Table and chairs comfortable enough for them? Yes. Heating and music to their satisfaction? Yes. Was the bread and water ok? Yes.
And then he said “so, why are you trying to put me out of business? You’re costing me much more in staff, bread, insurance, heating than I’ll ever make off of four starters. Are you planning on ordering at least a main course for each of you?”
One of the women eventually piped up very sheepishly “no, we were thinking of just eating light and sticking to our starters”.

He threw them out! Told them he had no problem with filling people with plenty of bread, or having people share some courses etc but he couldn’t live with having his business and his staff abused by cheap arses!

Just after graduating, I lived in a shitty bedsit at the top of a house full of bedsits, owned by a rich posh old cow who looked like Margaret Thatcher, but uglier. The house was in a horrible state, and my window frame was rotten. I reported it to her as I thought the window pane might fall out and kill someone below. She sent someone round to board up the window, and boarded up it remained. I was literally living in a windowless garret. On top of that, the house had no heating, and each room had an electricity coin meter. I discovered a socket down the hall and ran an extension cable under the carpet to my room, put an electric fire on and left it on 24/7 for weeks. Toasty.

My friend:-

She would rather walk two miles into town than pay for parking, so she'll drive towards town and park somewhere free and walk in and out of town to save £2.

Any bill always has to be worked out to the penny when we go out

One day we had to go to two different shops (a few miles apart) because she didn't want to pay the 25p convenience charge for the card machine (little independent shop).

Always last to the bar!

It bothers me more because I know she spends about £100-£150 a week on drugs and booze!

An old boss of mine earned in excess of £100k ( the NHS). My daughter was having violin lessons and needed a violin. I was skint and so was her dad ( my xh). Ex managed to find a second hand one, so we went halves on it and ex had it refurbished and tuned etc.
It left us both short for the rest of the month.

In the staff room one day, the boss was bragging about how his wife had managed to get a brand new violin and cello for their ds through a charity! They then sold the new instruments, bought second hand ones and kept the profit. I had to walk out of the room, I was so disgusted.

Later the same day the bastard stood and watched as a patient assaulted me and did nothing. I left soon after and found out that he was made redundant because he was so crap at his job.

I bet he managed a massive pay out, cheeky fucker.