“Can I get $300 for my cable bill?”
Translation: Are you dumb enough to pay for my foolish financial mistakes by handing me the hard-earned fruits of your labor?
This type of shamelessness reminds me of a high school classmate I had back in the day – I called her the serpentine swindler.
She slithered around the cafeteria, putting on her best Oscar-winning “Help me! I’m poor” performance and swayed a slew of suckers to surrender their lunch money. She did this every day, collecting cash from chump to chump, ‘til she got $4.50 to buy herself a ham and cheese sandwich, fries, and Pepsi.
Little did these victims know that this serpentine swindler received a $500 allowance – every damn month – from her wealthy father. One day, this spoiled brat forgot she told me this little tidbit of info and asked me for money.
“You’ve got a $500 monthly allowance! Use that,” I exclaimed.
“Girl! Don’t you know that you’re never supposed to spend your own money?” she replied nonchalantly.
To this day, this shameless statement still echoes in the back of my mind, and seems to be the motto many money-askers follow.
Every single dollar I have sitting pretty in my bank account was earned through my own blood, sweat, and tears. They are the fruits borne from grueling hours of exhaustion, stress, and drudgery that I’ve endured to pay the bills.
Knowing the true essence of money – a currency that often represents our valuable, precious time in exchange for a salary – there is no way in hell that I could ever have the heart to ask someone for their money.
And yet there are people – able-bodied, healthy, employed people – shamelessly asking us to lend them our hard-earned cash for things they don’t even need. In my case, it was a friend asking me to shell out $300 for an outstanding cable bill.
What?
So let me get this straight. You want me to give you my hard-won earnings so you can kick your feet up to indulge your Game of Thrones pleasures? I wouldn’t spare a penny – not a red cent – to fund a budget-averse couch potato!
I can’t even ask someone for a favor – even if there’s no monetary expense required – without growing hot with embarrassment in feeling like a beggar. And here we have people asking for money without batting an eye.
Where is the shame?
If one wants to pay their bills on “CP time” and drown in late fees, why should I have to pay for it? What ever happened to being accountable for your own financial flubs and accept that maybe – just maybe – you can’t afford that FiOS package and it’s time for a downgrade?
Sink your feet into financial quicksand all you want, but to put the onus on me is absurd. You are the one who has to make the sacrifice. You are the one that has to swap Netflix for HBO. You are the one who has to tighten your expenses.
Handing over $300 isn’t going to fix the source of the problem, which is your financial negligence. The next person who dares ask me for money, I’m going say, “First, let me see that monthly budget.”
Watch ’em scurry away real quick ‘cause – in my DJ Khaled voice – they don’t want you see that they splurge on QVC shopping and UberEats!
It’s that serpentine swindler’s mentality – they don’t want to spend their own money. But they’d love to spend yours.
How do you feel about people shamelessly asking you to lend them money for luxuries like cable?
Kimberly Gedeon is a content creator with nearly 2,000 professional articles published online about everything from beauty and business to social issues and pop culture. Say hello to her on Twitter @sweetenedcafe or Instagram @kimmiexsweetie. She doesn’t bite.
