grades based on things like this can and do stand up in game theory courses at some universities (not general econ)

this is wrong. any iterated game with a finite ending unwinds back to the equilibrium of a non-iterated game (when played optimally). In an infinite series you can find the other equilibrium.

just read this guys: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma

i'm not talking in absolute, economic terms. i'm sorry i didn't say nominal value instead of $.01.

i'm making a semi-moral argument that i, for many factors, don't have a problem with people stealing pop from McDonald's in certain circumstances. mainly, if you can't afford it, are buying food and rarely, if ever, plan on doing it again.

and, hell, while i'm at it, another rationalization you're going to hate... ever gone through the drive-thru and not got what you ordered and not rectified the situation?

making it black and white, as tony_p did, and saying it's the same as outright stealing a car (or whatever he said) is absolutely ******ed. do you feel horrible if you take a paper clip from work and leave it at your house? have you ever punched your friend's shoulder, playfully? assault.

i am rationalizing it, but it's at the side of the argument that i believe rationalization isn't inappropriate. and, again, it's not some where-does-it-end bs where zomg i'm going to rationalize stealing the deep fryer.

How does soda which has no nourishment value have even a semi-moral argument for someone that can't afford it vs water which does and they give for free?

I'm a valet at a 4 star hotel, and sometimes when guests are leaving they also want their bags loaded up in the car as well(bellman bring bags down to storage, we take them from storage to their car), and this guest had 2 full carts of bags, and also a mercedes, hands me a 5 after bringing the car around and unloading, and asks for 4 back...I told him I didn't have any change(obv did)

did you have to give the whole fiver back then?

yeah basically said keep it, i dont have change... he kept it

First time posting in OOT. Have a couple not exactly stingy but wtf stories.

Went to McDonald's one time w/ one of my college roommates. We got the drive-thru and went back to the apt. to eat. He ordered a plain double cheeseburger, small fries, and a drink. We get back to the apartment, and he finds ketchup on his cheeseburger, so he drives back to McDonalds so they can fix his order. He gets back, takes a bite out of his new cheeseburger, and again they messed it up. So he drives back to McDonalds again. Gets back to the apt. a third time, and of course they ****ed up his order again.

Needless to say, the rest of us are laughing our asses off as he drives back to McDonald's for a third time (he ended up getting a receipt or something saying he was entitled to a free double cheeseburger b/c he said he wasn't hungry anymore but was really just afraid they'd spit in his burger). I have no idea why it didn't occur to him to make sure they got his order right before driving back after they messed up his order the first two times...



As a part of our meal plans at school, we also had flex dollars that could be spent on extra meals or sodas/chips/whatever in addition to our meals for the week. At the end of one year we all had like $100 each left over in flex, and if you don't spend it you lose it, so we bought a ton of junk food and soda and basically just gave it away to whoever stopped by. One of my roommates (not the same guy), though, kept his stash hidden under his bed and didn't share w/ anyone. He graduated that semester, and when he moved out he packed up all his food and everything as well -- peanut butter, saltines, stuff you just wouldn't think anyone would really care about -- but he finds an old jar of peanuts in the back of the cupboard and says, "You guys can keep this."

We didn't really care. We just thought it was funny. Fwiw, he's a really cool guy and on numerous occasions he's ran up massive bar tabs buying shots for anyone and everyone. The guy from the first story is just cheap, though.

rivetting tales, chap

My roommate and I went to dinner and a movie one time and he tried to screw me by offering to pay for dinner if I got the movie. I said yes b/c I didn't really care but thought it was weird. The look on his face was priceless though when dinner came out to be more than he expected and he ended up paying more than me (it was a pizza buffet so not like I ordered something expensive to get one over on him).

my brother will put like 5 dollars in gas in his car at a time to get better mileage
yet he works in jersey and lives in ny
gas is about 50 cents a gallon cheaper in jersey, so you would think he would just load up in jersey but no hell buy 5 dollars there too

one time he parked on a hill by my dads house and the car wouldnt start because it didnt have enough gas
my dad drove him to a gas station but he was too cheap to buy a gas can so he used an empty pepsi bottle (2 l)
however that wasnt enough gas to get the car going, so he asked my dad to drive him back to the gas station
my dad told him to go **** himself

My girlfriend's Grandpa told her Grandma she's using too much toilet paper and should only need 2 squares. He's pretty well off, but he was really poor during the great depression and had to eat mayonnaise sandwiches to get buy. Actually he still eats them b/c he likes the taste...

my stupid **** (c word)of a mother also used to dry her hands on the actual roll of paper towels and then let the roll dry
when she did use paper towels she would only tear off a small piece (her parents were loaded and also cheap)

my dads family was broke, he never had much money but he always spent it as fast as he could get it

my brother also used to play basketball a lot and hated when people would drink his gatorade
so one time he pissed in a bottle of gatorade and put a label on it saying it was his and for nobody to drink it

sure as **** while he was playing somebody tried to drink it lol

he also doubles up on the expass lanes and has gotten tickets for it that have totaled way more than he has ever saved in tolls



he also works for an airline and is a very smoothe talker
he usually has his airport id on and when he goes into a store he almost always manages to get an employee dicount by promising the people who work there cheap plane tickets

one guy he met at sports authority actually took him up on his offer
he ended up getting that guy fried from 3 differerent jobs for giving him free ****

90 pct of his food plates cups etc in his house is from the airline
he even drinks minute maid orange juice which tastes worse than the gatorade he pissed in because he gets it for free even though he loves tropicana (but when he comes to my house he will drink my tropicana and fill up his water bottle with liquor if hes going out later that day)

he plugs his air conditionor into the hallway to save on electricity
he got pissed that his landlord tried to evict him for this so sometimes he will have pilot friends of his mail his rent it from asian countries so theyre post marked on time (no late fee) but it takes the landlord forever to get them

im not sure if i understand ur complex language, but do you really wanna say, that it doesnt matter if i play 1 hand of poker, or 1 million that it works out the same ?

I have some cheap stories that all involve me. FWIW, I have plenty of money but get joy on saving money.

-I save all of the yellow bubble mailers I get. When I mail stuff out, I can just tape paper over the previous address and not have to pay for the bubble mailer. (this started when I used to trade Phish bootlegs via snail mail before the internet was big and I was really broke)

-I bring a water bottle to the poker room and make crystal light instead paying for drinks.

-Office Max had a black friday special for $0.01 glue (limit 3 per customer), so our entire family and spouses (8 people) went down and each got 3 glues from 2 different registers so my sister's art class would be stocked up on the cheap.

-In college, I moved into an apartment but it did not have a bed. One of my old roommates was staying in an on-campus apartment that had 4 beds provided but only had 3 people living there. I drove his spare mattress over to my apartment so I wouldn't have to buy a bed. About a week before he moved out (and I would have to return the mattress), I found a mattress in the garbage that I ended using for another year before I decided to spring for a comfy mattress.

it's ok man, you don't have to answer to me. i'm just a dude on the internet like everyone else

He said best strategy, not equilibrium strategy.

can people please stop game theory tarding up this thread?

hahaha this thread has gone onto so many tangents that you would only find i n oot. love it

+1


Great thread. There's nothing more annoying to me than cheap people.


My story is pretty tame compared to most of the others but whatever:

I used to work with a girl who was always angle shooting for this that and the other. For info, she's in her mid 30's and has a very good salary.

One day, we go on a lunch-break together. The plan was to go to the local mall, buy lunch and bring it back and eat in the office.

We go to the same store and I'm choosing my sandwiches, and after about 5 minutes she comes up to me and says

"I'm going to get a quiche lorraine, but they come in packs of 2, do you want the other one ?"

Me: "Sure if you want"


When we got back to the office, she opened up the pack, took hers, gave me other one and promptly asked me for the 2 euros that I owed her. WTF ?! I wasn't bothered about paying for my share of something, but the way she asked me in the store made it out she was offering me the second quiche because she didn't want it, and she knew it. It was just her way of ensuring she saved 2 euros (about $2) I paid her with no complaints but made a mental note never to let it happen again.


Another of her favourite tricks was on people's birthdays at work. It was a work custom to buy a card for someone and to put a few euros in an envelope passed around the office to everyone with which we all bought a small gift. It was a small company so this wasn't a big deal and everyone took part. I was watching her one time and saw her pretending to put money in the envelope but never actually doing it, but still signing the card and attending the after work drink / party (paid for by the person whose birthday it was) and accepting the thanks for the gift.

Not putting money in the envelope would be fine obv. What was wrong was that she pretended to put money in and accepted credit and thanks for doing so.

On her birthday, she sent out an invitation to everyone at the company for a party at her house. Everyone thought this was great and nearly everyone accepted. She then proceeded to send a second email out asking everyone to bring a bottle and she put a PS on the bottom of the email:

"PS If you are looking for gift ideas, I need a new digital camera"

And yes, she was serious.

When we got to the party, she had provided just a couple of her own bottles of alcohol and a few peanuts and chips in a bowl. And that was it. At the end of the night, she wouldn't let anyone leave until we had all helped with tidying and cleaning up. She put all the unused bottles in her fridge and cupboards.

So hang on, what do the guests get out of this party again ?! WTF ?! Holding birthday "parties" was just a great way of stocking up her fridge with drinks and getting presents.


Another time, she was moving house and asked me for help. I went along. It was 90°F that day and I helped for 6 hours. She didn't provide anything to eat, just gave me a glass of water when I asked for one, and not even a word of thanks when I left.

Shortly after, I totally deleted her off my friends list.

soundsl ike you wanted to bang her and failed

helping work colleagues who are idiots to move house, wtf? agree with mused.

Don't worry guys he showed her. He totally unfriended her.

Back in the days before EasyPass some people used to throw their quarters into the toll basket one at a time and wait between each one to see if the light would turn green. I guess the hope was the person in front of them put in too many.

LOL, sorry to disappoint, but err no, she wasn't my type at all, both physically and personality wise. Yuck.


But hey this is 2+2, so if someone mentions a girl, that always mean he wants to bang her.......