people, instead of telling us you have stories, post the stories ffs. There is obviously interest in these stories as we have a 26 page thread going

also, sir garbled needs to stop tarding it up in here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-BsjPjm2bo

"Extreme Couponing". Stingy but kinda awesome.

Those entertainment coupon books are only $20 for a ton of coupons. That one coupon is not worth $30.

When I give someone a coupon I don't charge them for the value of the item but I keep a running tab and when I have given that person 100 coupons I ask for 1 cent.

I completely understand it from the other side, because this is my dad's point of view and I grew up with it my whole life. But you need to recognize that you are looking at this through a filter of "what makes me the most $$" and "how can I get the most out of this situation". Yes, it's a win/win. I get it. I get it. I still save $15 and he makes $15 he never would have were it not for me golfing.

But the point is that there is a very fine line between being opportunistic and stingy, and someone who sells a coupon they wouldn't use anyway to a friend or relative is sending the message that they are willing to do someone they care about a favor, but only if they themselves get something out of it. Yes, it's +EV from a monetary standpoint but -EV in the way of effecting relationships, and is frankly a very robotic, Asbergersy way to be. It's like since they can't quantify the value in things like the enjoyment of an experience, or the company, or doing a good deed, they concentrate on maximizing the one thing they can quantify, which is money. So life becomes about making the most, saving the most, getting the best deal, etc. regardless of how it effects those other things.

It's like at some level they feel that if someone gets something from them for free, even if it didn't cost them anything, that they've been taken advantage of in some way. There was wasted potential for profit. They had something that was of some value, gave it away, and had nothing to show for it.

And for the record, I didn't "expect" my dad to give me the coupon like some spoiled kid. I asked if I could have it, he said yes, and then the next morning he proposed his win/win offer to me. Your analogies of a friend bumming a drink or a 20 mile ride from you is not applicable, because in those cases a friend is asking of something from you; your money, your time, etc. And FWIW, I am very, very sensitive when it comes to asking people for favors because I have been witness or party to countless events of someone taking advantage of someone else.

For example, it is my standard move that when asking for a friend for a ride to the airport, I offer them lunch on the way. It gives us an opportunity to hang out and is a sign of gratitude. Would they still take me if I didn't offer lunch? Definitely. But driving to LAX and back is a bitch and my taking them out for lunch is my way of letting them know that I recognize that and appreciate what they are doing. Sometimes they offer the same to me when asking for a ride, and sometimes they don't. I really don't care. I'm not keeping count. They're my friends.

Your point of view sends the message that making every possible dollar is priority number one, and quality of relationship is priority number two. You are completely entitled to that opinion, I just do not happen to share it, nor do most people (at least in this situation). It comes from a mindset of limit and scarcity.

What if right before we went golfing, my dad said, "Nevermind about the coupon. I just talked to a friend from work willing to give me $20 for it". Would you see anything wrong with this or not, since now he's making $5 more?

OK, I promise that I will post the stories soon. I wasn't trying to be a tease, it was just incredibly late last night. I will take some time today to come up with a top ten, rank them, and start posting. As you can see, brevity is not my strong suit (no one could accuse me of being stingy with my words), so I think one a day might be fun.

LOL

Double Down, with all that typing you probably could have posted some good stories

if this really is a coupon which isnt actually worth a penny, then i say sorry, that is really stingy.
but i assume, and still think this is one of these coupons which really worth 30$.
e.g. i just recently gave my brother a 25$ coupon of gas at a gas station. he drives there everyday, me not that much. We didnt agree on any exact amount he should pay me after he used it, but i expect at least 15$.

your post contradicts in itself. first you say you dont expect any repayment for things you do for your friends, and 1 min later you say whenever somebody drives you somewhere you pay him a meal and vice versa.

totally different situation because here he says it afterwards.
when he beforehand says after you ask him for the coupon "sorry boy, a friend of mine said already he pays me 20$ for it", i think thats totally fine of him.

totally not true. its not the dollar which is important, its the "justice".
whenever somebody does a favor for me, he gets repaid and vice versa. this guarantes that nobody feels "cheated". with the system everybody else suggests, there is always 1 guy who pays for the others.
selctive memory ftw, it prolly ends up that everybody thinks he got cheated.

You're talking about a gift certificate. That's not the same thing as a coupon.

Do you not have these coupon books where you are from?

There are literally hundreds of coupons in these books. The books cost around ~$30. Most of the coupons are 2 for 1 coupons or 50% off coupons (such as a coupon to a restaurant that offers "buy 1 entree at full price and get the second entree for free") to various businesses in the area. Most people that buy these books end up using maybe 5% of the coupons. The coupons expire after 1 year.

The coupon was worthless to this guy's father, as it sounds like his father was not going to use it.

LOL fair enough. But I'm kind of looking forward to compiling a top ten and don't want to crack one off now that will make the 10. But here is something that happened last night that I was going to post. Not dad related, but still hilarious.

So I had a game night last night for about 12 close friends (max # you can really comfortably have for game night) and I put out a major spread. Tons of great food and full bar, way way too much for such a small crowd but the Jew in me always looks to overfeed.

They're all close friends except one guy who is a friend of my friend, visiting him from out of town for a week.

There was a ton of food put out, but at one point I go in the kitchen and this guy has a big container of my oriental cracker mix. I did not put this mix out for the party, but rather it was put away. And frankly, behind lots of other cans and boxes in my pantry. He actually needed to do some serious rummaging to find it. He sees that I see him with it and so he asks if he can have some of it. I tell him no prob.

Towards the end of the night, he needs to leave. He says his goodbyes and heads out. FIVE MINUTES LATER he walks back in and says he forgot that he had wanted to take a couple of chocolate biscotti for the road. What is so funny about this is that for this to have happened, he had to have gone back to his car (which was just outside), left, been already driving a couple minutes, and consciously decided that it was so important for him to have these couple cookies that he turned around, drove back, refound a parking spot, and came back in for the cookies.

Even funnier, I never offered this to him, although would have had no problem if he'd asked.

End of the night, party's over, and I go into the kitchen to start cleaning up. There on the counter is my huge back of cracker mix, completely empty. Also empty, a packet of Skittles and box of Oreos, all of which had been in the back of my pantry. I put out a big ass spread and this guy went through my groceries.

And to anyone thinking that I'm cheap for caring about those few things, let me make it clear that it didn't bother me in the least. I found it absolutely hilarious and my gf and I were having a big laugh about it while cleaning up. I told her that she has my permission to publicly slap me if I ever do that crap at a party.

double down: i hope you gave his friend that brought him to your party a ton of crap for his shenanigans. people like that do not deserve to have friends.

i used a translator and it said that coupon can be used for both of it, a gift certificate and those coupon books.
in my language you can call both the same as well.
yea if its really one of these coupon books, its a whole different situation, i was thinking about those gift certificate which srsly worth real money

It was a 2 for 1 coupon for a round of golf, which costs $30.

My post does not contradict itself. I do not expect repayment for things I do for my friends or feel that I am owed. I like doing favors for people I care about. I also like having friends I can call upon for favors. Haven't you every just been appreciative for something without feeling like you expect it? Or done something for someone without feeling like you are now owed something?

At the end of the day, it ends up evening out. If I really find myself in a position where it really becomes apparent that the generosity in a friendship is really one sided to the point where I feel like I'm being taken advantage of, I would bring it up with my friend or just end the friendship if it wasn't that deep or lasting of one.

My friends would drive me to the airport if all I did was ask, and an honest thank you in return would suffice. But I like to show my gratitude by taking them out for a meal. I don't feel obliged to do it like if I don't then I'm indebted to them for ONE(1) favor of equal or lesser inconvenience to be redeemed at a time of their choosing. I feel grateful to them and naturally want to do something nice. I don't know what's so hard to get about that.

My $20 friend from work hyopthetical is not a different situation. Your example actually made it a different situation to fit your point, making it as if the coupon was already spoken for. I asked my dad for the coupon. He said ok. Then the next morning right before leaving for the golf course, he asked if I could split the "savings" with him.

The fact that you say that it's the "justice" that matters is incredibly telling of the type of person you are, and I get it because my dad is the same way. You feel like by using other people's honor system, then it leaves the door open for some to take advantage of others, and you'd be right. And yet, by using your system even though it guarantees that no one feels cheated, it sets it up that any favor someone does for someone else now makes the recipient indebted to them for a favor, or else be accused of having taken advantage of their friend. It would make everyone start keeping score of every nice thing they did. And some people do do this. You sound like one of them.

The stingy part with the golf coupon is all about it being a relative - not the actual money part.

If the father sells $30 coupons online for $25 each, then not stingy right?

No, but just like with poker strategy questions, the answer is usually it depends. I think income effects the answer here. Like someone unemployed trying to make ends meet, it would seem like a great idea. Bill Gates spending his free time doing this would seem kind of bizarre.

I would have been very tempted to buy my own Entertainment book, eat the extra $15 and use enough coupons to recover the cost.

Double Down, if this is a teaser I can't wait for the dad stories. Please to be compiling the list tonight and posting tomorrow?

Did you actually see him leave in that five minute span? He could have spent that time sitting in the car, recounting the pennies in the ashtray... just in case.

Wow, this thread has really got its ups since I last visited. Despite unavoidable trolling, there are many intresting stories here to read

Unreal



I would do her too.


Lol

I've just got some standard 'lol college student' stories.

When I was in college, our football team was horrible. Like, 2-30 in conference over my four years horrible. As you might expect, most people left long before the end of the game. One game, as the score was 42-7 in the third quarter, I noticed the stands were a lot thinner than they were at the beginning of the game, and I noticed that a lot of people left their garbage/Coke bottles/etc behind. Since this was during the time period when every 20oz Coke product had a 1-in-8 chance of having a bottle cap that could be exchanged for a free 20oz, I got the bright idea to wander the stands and check every discarded pop bottle for a winning cap.

I spent the entire fourth quarter doing this, and ended up with seven free Cokes out of the deal. Add in the four free Cokes I got from those, and I came out ahead on my $11 ticket. And I only felt slightly embarrassed when I walked past my best friend's parents while doing this.

Oh, and then there was time I snuck a bottle of lemonade into a theater to see The Passion of the Christ. I didn't think that one through very well.

OK, here we go. So there is a chocolate manufacturer based out of Vegas called Ethel M. It's the Mars corporation, but their box of chocolates version, like See's or Godiva. So you can go to the factory in Vegas and get a tour, which is free and unguided and is essentially a 100 foot long corridor and on your left through glass windows is the factory, and you can walk along and watch the chocolate get made.

So at the end of the hallway, you enter a huge gift shop with all their wares, and if you've gone through the "tour" you can get one free sample of chocolate, one of whatever you want. There was no hand stamping or tickets for it or anything like that. The employees just see you emerge from the hallway and you can walk up to any of the counters and ask for a free sample.

So when I was a kid (maybe from ages 8-11) my dad and I would go once or twice a year, and the fun would begin. We would go through 5, 6, up to maybe a dozen times through the corridor to the end to get a free chocolate each time. By the end, it was a matter of sprinting through the "tour", racing each other, to see who could get to the end and get the next free chocolate. We made a game out of it. The gift shop was pretty big, with probably 4 or 5 different counters, so we would split up and try to approach different cashiers so as not to double up.

Here's where it got really fun. By round 4 or 5, the employees would recognize us and get wise to what we were doing, so at some point when asking for a chocolate, an employee would say to us, "I'm sorry sir, it's only one free sample per person per day." My dad would try to argue and swear that he had just shown up for the first time.

Now here's where it goes of the mother effing deep end. And I swear to god this is true. My dad and I after getting "caught" would go to the parking lot and get "in character". It started innocently enough with me wearing his glasses and putting on a more scholarly demeanor, and him wearing my baseball hat backwards and acting "younger" and then going back in. It eventually led to us bringing disguises, things like different pairs of sunglasses, manners of walking (limps FTW), different accents, bringing different shirts to change into, different pants, my dad's doctor jacket (yes my dad is a doctor!), etc. Pretty much everything short of professional face putty or fake facial hair and wigs.

Of course, we'd get caught after a few times of this. I have a very vivid memory of a lady saying to my dad, dressed like his young hip dude character, "Sir, I already told you, there's only one free sample per person per day," and my dad sort of doing a two wild and crazy guy shimmy dance saying, "What are you talking about, lady? Never seen you before. Come on, don't be such a square."

How's that for starters?

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Amazing. Couldn't stop laughing during the last couple of paragraphs.

that sounds moar like your dad was just having some fun rather than being stingy imo

Exactly. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my dad isn't really "stingy" like in a cheap, curmudgeonly way, but rather has a true passion for pursuing great deals, free crap, trying to get something for nothing, finding shortcuts, etc. FWIW he is the most fun-loving and adventurous individual there is. He has said on numerous occasions that having fun is his #1 priority in life.

My dad is a fascinating individual. Upon meeting him, you can definitely get that he is a very sweet, but socially awkward guy. He really is operating at a different frequency than those around him. It would not surprise me at all if it turned out that he has Asperger's or something. He had a real bastard of a father, and by observing seeing how unhappy and angry of a guy his dad was, he decided to be a nice guy, and so has a major fear of confrontation or uncomfortable situations, so he definitely lets people walk all over him, but in return, because he feels screwed over, he feels that it has earned him the right to do the same.

A more positive and equally accurate spin on that is that he is very generous and doesn't know how to say no to someone, like if someone asks if they can stay at his place for a few days, he is happy to oblige. But he assumes the same generosity from the rest of the world, so gladly takes without permission, since he would be fine with others doing that to him. For example, he will, without asking, gladly help himself to food on your plate, without any kind of recognition that such a thing is socially unacceptable and regarded as inconsiderate and disrespectful. He's very childlike in his apparent inability to notice how his actions affect those around him, and has major trouble reading social cues when people are turned off around him by what he's doing.

Not asking permission for something lets him avoid the discomfort of being told no, and conversely, always telling someone yes avoids the discomfort of conflict of having to say no to them and risk being the "bad guy" like his dad was. I don't think he recognizes that in countless ways, in his attempts to be likable and friendly, he has sacrificed being respected by his friends, family, and colleagues.

But because his number one priority is "fun", this doesn't really bother him. The major thing in his life that fuels this is that he's been diabetic since age 12, so not only does he feel like life sort of handed him a losing hand and screwed him over (and he therefore has the right to do the same), but the notion of living for today is that much more apropos. He takes very good care of himself, but is well aware of the life expectancy of most diabetics, along with other complications, so he absolutely tries to squeeze every possible drop of "fun" out of any given situation. And significantly less than most people is the amount of fun affected by those he is with. Really, a fascinating guy.

As a young kid, he was my best friend and hero, and I was definitely growing up to be very much like him. I mean, that chocolate thing was a blast for a little kid. But as I hit puberty I became very aware of the consequences of living such a life, and I am actually incredibly grateful that I had him as an example of how not to be (in the regards of stinginess, or whatever we want to call it). But the guy is a seriously great time and fun guy. It really is only until recently, like the past year or so, that I've been able to reach a point where it doesn't bother me when he does what he does. It used to be absolutely humiliating when he did this crap in public, most likely fueled by a major fear of ending up like him, but now it just doesn't bug me because I know that I'm not like him.