Page 22 | What is the stingiest thing you've ever done / seen someone do?

Teadrinker11 · 2022-01-12T21:03:17+00:00

Yourself or someone else, what is the most stingy, mean, miserable thing is that you have ever done or seen someone else do?

RedPandaWanda · 14/01/2022 19:18

My in laws were beyond tight. They would collect rainwater to flush their toilet down, it was grim in the summer because the water would contain gnat larvae 🤢

Ddot · 14/01/2022 19:20

I take a Tupperware box with me when I go for lunch. I eat what I can then take the rest home. I cant physically eat a large meal, I quite often order a starter for main but some places don't like you doing that.

lilstarr99 · 14/01/2022 19:20

@CPDubs

I live on a main road into the town centre and we occasionally will have empty cans/bottles of alcohol ditched on paths and walls. Working from home last year I saw an older man pick up a can on a wall at the house opposite to see if any of the horrid, cheap lager had been left

I saw a homeless chap drinking dregs from bottles left next to a full bottle bank 🤮

Poor bloke must have been desperate to do that.

An old friend of mine and her boyfriend would always ask for expensive drinks on mine/boyfriends rounds and then have cheaper drinkson their round! Think JD & coke or a cocktail vs half a lager. We would just stick to our usual normally, but one round we did the same back them and her bloke said he’d forgotten what we wanted and got us our usual drinks. We stopped going out with them in the end. Her boyfriend was also a letch!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 14/01/2022 19:24

And here I am, I never "buy" a Poppy, instead I donate the full amount to the seller so they get all the money, otherwise a quite large % of the cost goes to the company who makes the Poppies.

Aren't they made in-house by volunteers - often elderly ex-servicemen and women? I seem to recall reading (I may be mistaken) that some of the younger volunteers are folk with learning difficulties as it's a simple job to put the parts together, but they like to know that they're making a valuable contribution and supporting the overall aims of the charity.

Iona0911 · 14/01/2022 19:25

Best one so far

Mitzi067 · 14/01/2022 19:27

In 1960 my friend and I worked in several small London hotels at the weekends (we were schoolgirls). Our jobs were to take the room service trays to the kitchen after breakfast, where we would scrape leftover marmalade into giant storage jars. Also, scrape leftover butter into a dish, put in fridge to cool for an hour, reshape and use tool to make pats of butter, then re-store. Orange juice would be poured into containers for desserts. If a visitor stayed one night only, we would change the sheets, fold and spray with lavender water, then feed into an iron-press and place in huge airing cupboard! My friend and I got paid 2 shillings and sixpence an hour (4hrs on Saturday+ Sunday morning) to learn these disgusting saving methods!

Muckymaisonette · 14/01/2022 19:27

First evening at a choir practice.

Choir leader, asks everyone if they have their pencils ready to mark the scores. He then chastised people who have brought brand new pencils and proudly displayed a 1” stump of pencil that he uses.

He was a multi-millionaire!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 14/01/2022 19:31

The PP mentioning toast reminded me of when I was a child and my family were on holiday, staying at a B&B. One morning, I didn't feel well, so I stayed in the bedroom whilst the others went down for breakfast.

The lady who ran it brought the toast allocation for my family of four - 2 slices of toast (half a slice each!!) - but then, when told that I wasn't coming for breakfast that morning, pointedly came back and took 'my' half a slice back - just as somebody else was reaching for it! My family had of course still paid for my breakfast - no suggestion whatsoever from her of a refund for any/all of my foregone breakfast!

Maireas · 14/01/2022 19:31

@Ddot

I take a Tupperware box with me when I go for lunch. I eat what I can then take the rest home. I cant physically eat a large meal, I quite often order a starter for main but some places don't like you doing that.

Why do you go out for lunch then? Just meet friends for coffee.

woodhill · 14/01/2022 19:32

@user1492450936

At a works "do", collecting all the plastic cutlery and glasses to take home to wash

That's green I suppose

ThistleTits · 14/01/2022 19:32

@CathyorClaire

Bring a bottle of lemonade to a party then drink wine.

I've met many like that ^

Larryyourwaiter · 14/01/2022 19:33

Lazy colleague was always trying to get others to buy her lunch so she could try and make her hours up. One staff member was too nice and would go and go and buy her meal deal. She once started ranting that the change was 1p short until staff member gave it to her. Luckily no one would buy it for her again.

Blankscreen · 14/01/2022 19:33

Some people are only stingy when it comes to them having to spend their own money but happy to accept other' hospitality.

We've got some couple friends and the dh of the couple is a big drinker.

When we invite them over they will turn up with 1 bottle of wine and 2 mismatched beers. They always inevitably drink loads of our wine (circa 4 or 5 bottles). He has been known to take msmatched beers home with him!

When we get invited there we take 2 bottle, some chocs and flowers but every time the dh says he hasn't got a drink and shall he and my dh nip to the shop to get some

DH goes with him and somehow always ends up paying!

It's actually just f'ing rude behaviour

YourVagesty · 14/01/2022 19:34

Did anybody watch that secret billionaire series last year? I think he was in detroit or something and he helped set up some sort of BBQ restaurant and range of sauces?

Anyway, at the end, when he revealed that he was a secret billionaire, he was so bloody tight with how much money he gave those who'd helped him along the way.

Me and DH were horrified. Even on the British version, they usually give people a dream holiday and a sizeable cheque. This guy barely gave them anything. It was kind of embarassing.

There was a woman who worked really hard to help him flip a house and you could see the joy when he revealed his true identity, and the confusion when he rewarded her with a pittance for her help.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 14/01/2022 19:34

Choir leader, asks everyone if they have their pencils ready to mark the scores. He then chastised people who have brought brand new pencils and proudly displayed a 1” stump of pencil that he uses.

I remember reading a book by Martin Lewis and, in the preface, he wrote "Hello, and if you have just bought this book.... why didn't you borrow it from the library instead?!?!" However, he clearly wrote it with a glint in his eye - and he's a good guy and most definitely one of society's givers rather than takers.

GreenShadow · 14/01/2022 19:38

Much of this isn't stingy; it's common sense.
Why waste things you don't need to ?

Mine too! They just like weak tea! As I discovered when I offered to make a pot, put three bags in, and mum couldn't drink it and had to water hers down! It wasn't even overly stewed, just not like warm water with t-bag waved over it
I couldn't have drunk this either!
I hate strong tea so it makes perfect sense to use someone's tea bag after them.
I have time and ingredients to make a packed lunch, so why shouldn't I?

Larryyourwaiter · 14/01/2022 19:39

BIL likes to call everyone else stingy but really it’s him. He’s very generous with himself and his family, but no one else.
Borrowed thousands off MIL he never paid back, used to get the money off her if he bought her a pint of milk. If he thinks a bill is going to be split him and SIL will just start drinking anything. Never provides anything to eat/drink in his house.
Had a party, invited loads. Provided nothing, ate and drank other peoples stuff.

hibbledibble · 14/01/2022 19:40

My parents keep used tea cups in a saucer, to use again.

We never went out for dinner as a child, unless it was a very cheap buffet, and even that was a special occasion.

Water used to wash dishes is saved and used to water the garden.

woodhill · 14/01/2022 19:46

@SE123

One of my colleagues only used to to shit at work to save the loo roll and water.

Did they admit that to you - how embarrassing

ufucoffee · 14/01/2022 19:46

@Ddot

I take a Tupperware box with me when I go for lunch. I eat what I can then take the rest home. I cant physically eat a large meal, I quite often order a starter for main but some places don't like you doing that.

Why do you go for lunch? Take packed lunch or if you're meeting friends meet for drinks or coffee. Putting leftovers into a Tupperware container in a restaurant is pretty stingy.

NotTheGrinchAgain · 14/01/2022 19:47

I saw a businessman in an Armani suit calmly filling his briefcase with the free bottles of alcohol in a first class airport lounge once (I got upgraded because I agreed to bounce to a later flight because someone else wanted my seat)

AdriannaP · 14/01/2022 19:48

Friend invited me for dinner. I brought wine and chocolates for dessert. We drank the wine during dinner. She cooked salmon and potatoes.

A few days later she asked for £5 to cover the cost of the ingredients.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 14/01/2022 19:48

@Blankscreen

Some people are only stingy when it comes to them having to spend their own money but happy to accept other' hospitality.

We've got some couple friends and the dh of the couple is a big drinker.

When we invite them over they will turn up with 1 bottle of wine and 2 mismatched beers. They always inevitably drink loads of our wine (circa 4 or 5 bottles). He has been known to take msmatched beers home with him!

When we get invited there we take 2 bottle, some chocs and flowers but every time the dh says he hasn't got a drink and shall he and my dh nip to the shop to get some

DH goes with him and somehow always ends up paying!

It's actually just f'ing rude behaviour

I have a cousin who I (fortunately!) see very rarely (every 5-10 years or so), who is the tightest girl in the world, married to the tightest man. Last time we saw them, we went out for a big family meal - there must have been twenty of us -to a cheap and cheerful Italian bistro. Everyone got the happy hour £5 pasta type main courses. They got lobster, then suggested we spilt the bill evenly.

Galdos · 14/01/2022 19:48

A fair bit of this thread reminded me of old fashioned thrift, which seems to have largely disappeared (now it's 'mean'?). Not everything - some folks really are mean - but there's nothing wrong with economic habits like making teabags last longer by limiting the number in the pot or reusing them. 'Waste not, want not', as my mother sternly reminded me almost daily ...

And you can also be more green by the same careful habits.

itsacovidxmasone · 14/01/2022 19:49

When travelling in Thailand I got asked on a breakfast date by a cute Kiwi who had approached me the day before.

On the day I was quite nervous and didn't want to eat so ordered a smoothie while he had a normal breakfast. My smoothie was the equivalent of about £1.

When it came to paying up he didn't stop me from contributing 😂 not sure why I didn't walk off there and then.