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2k is a very small amount to learn the lessons of skepticism and cynicism. But yeah this is a very strange story in general. He "cries out of happiness" that he has 2k because he's so hard up and then he goes and spends it on stupid poo poo for lots of people that aren't him. At least if he had bought all this dumb crap for himself he could take it back and at least cover 50-60% of what he spent and get that card balance under 1k, but nope. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 18:42 on Jan 26, 2015 |
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Jan 26, 2015 18:39
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Renegret posted:Since it's not aligned with any of the major credit card companies, they tend to get much more generous credit limits. This may be a dumb question, but I've never had a store credit card. Does the non-alignment mean that you can pretty much only use your card at the retailer it's tied to?
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Jan 26, 2015 18:58
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pig slut lisa posted:This may be a dumb question, but I've never had a store credit card. Does the non-alignment mean that you can pretty much only use your card at the retailer it's tied to? Yes. If it doesn't have a visa/mastercard/ etc logo then the only store it will be good for is the one you got it in.
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Jan 26, 2015 19:17
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Then is that how they get away with saying it's not a credit card, since you can't use it anywhere else? Again, remember that this person is a child, you can't expect him to know everything about everything. They were saying "not a credit card" and "$2000 credit". Isn't that how bank accounts work? Credit and debit? One means you add money, the other means you subtract it. I really doubt they said credit limit.
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Jan 26, 2015 19:27
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Old Fart posted:Then is that how they get away with saying it's not a credit card, since you can't use it anywhere else? They got away with saying it because they lied.
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Jan 26, 2015 20:05
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The Devil Tesla posted:They got away with saying it because they lied. One thought that keeps coming to mind is that the Best Buy cashier might just be equally as ignorant and used bad language to describe it. It's not that forgivable or anything, but I tend to prescribe most behavior as stupid, not malicious when it looks like both could be possible. Manager coming out and agree'ing? Probably more malicious.
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Jan 26, 2015 20:12
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Maybe if they were new, but if they've worked there for any amount of time they would know better.
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Jan 26, 2015 20:20
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Christmastime, so possibly a temporary worker. She may have been grinning because she felt getting signups got her closer to maybe possibly hopefully be brought on to permanent part-time status in January. Corporate leans heavy on GMs, who lean heavily on managers, who lean heavily on front line.
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Jan 26, 2015 20:55
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Scenty posted:Is it just me, or does 2k seem like a lot of credit to offer an 18 year old, presumably with no credit history, on an assumed 25k salary? Don't know about the US, but barclaycard is giving 18 year old college students with 0 salary credit cards with a €2000 limit.
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Jan 26, 2015 20:57
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Old Fart posted:Christmastime, so possibly a temporary worker. She may have been grinning because she felt getting signups got her closer to maybe possibly hopefully be brought on to permanent part-time status in January. Corporate leans heavy on GMs, who lean heavily on managers, who lean heavily on front line. Or she was smiling because she works in customer service and that's what you do when you're working with customers.
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Jan 26, 2015 21:31
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Found in I am 15 and live as the 1% (wealthy) in America, AMA: 40s single parent living paycheck to paycheck but dropping probably $1,500+ annually on gaming when you factor in his likely software purchases 
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Jan 26, 2015 23:25
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pig slut lisa posted:Found in I am 15 and live as the 1% (wealthy) in America, AMA: That's a real stretch. Poor people are allowed to have hobbies and it sounds like he upgrades rarely. I'm more mad at the kid getting an A6 at age 15.
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Jan 27, 2015 01:11
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HonorableTB posted:I...I don't understand. Did he think that "winning" $2000 in store credit was like getting a $2000 gift card? I honestly can't comprehend this. That's honestly what it would sound like to me, if I have store credit with a place then I basically have money that is only good at that particular store. Is that not what that means? Assuming the guy isn't lying blind through his teeth, he sounds like he's had some exploitative lying bullshit pulled on him.
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Jan 27, 2015 01:33
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SuccinctAndPunchy posted:That's honestly what it would sound like to me, if I have store credit with a place then I basically have money that is only good at that particular store. Is that not what that means? Assuming the guy isn't lying blind through his teeth, he sounds like he's had some exploitative lying bullshit pulled on him. If someone told me I won $2000 store credit, that's what I would think. If someone told me I was extended $2000 store credit, that's another story.
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Jan 27, 2015 02:05
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Magic Underwear posted:I'm more mad at the kid getting an A6 at age 15. At least it's not an RS6.
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Jan 27, 2015 02:22
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Rick Rickshaw posted:It would bring a $500 home theatre system to $1100~ Super Bowl LII 
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Jan 27, 2015 02:22
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I don't know, if you're not paying close attention and you're relatively naive, it seems like a reasonable mistake to make. If a store told me I had up to $2000 store credit, I'd think they wanted me to think it was free money (ex: rewards points or something). I'd be suspicious, of course, because I'm not a teenager, but I can see how he'd get confused and I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out he'd been lied to.
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Jan 27, 2015 03:26
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Magic Underwear posted:That's a real stretch. Poor people are allowed to have hobbies and it sounds like he upgrades rarely. I'm more mad at the kid getting an A6 at age 15. Is it though? I'm not familiar with dedicated gaming hardware, but it looks like $2,500 is near the top end of the price range for the company he purchased from. It's also super expensive for Alienware, which is a gaming hardware company I understand is fairly top of the line. I don't begrudge the guy a gaming hobby, even one that costs a decent amount of money. But it seems like he has traded having even a bare shred of financial security for enjoying the bleeding forward edge of his particular hobby. If you literally can't save a cent from month to month, maybe you should buy the middle-of-the-road stuff instead of the high end poo poo? e: Nah I'm not even gonna hedge on this. If you're in the highly precarious financial situation of "paycheck to paycheck single parent" then it's bad with money to buy a $2,500 gaming computer when by all accounts you can buy or build a great one for half that much. pig slut lisa fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 03:37
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pig slut lisa posted:Is it though? I'm not familiar with dedicated gaming hardware, but it looks like $2,500 is near the top end of the price range for the company he purchased from. It's also super expensive for Alienware, which is a gaming hardware company I understand is fairly top of the line. $2,500 is too much for any gaming computer, high end or otherwise and I will fight over this until the end of time. You can build one that will play any game in existence on the highest or close to highest settings for under a thousand. And if you don't like part picking or don't feel comfortable working inside a computer, that's fine too, it shouldn't be too hard to find someone to do it for you. I've part picked and built machines for friends and family for free because I enjoy doing it and think it's fun. For some pocket change I'd do it for a stranger. Considering steam sales though, the actual software is super cheap as long as you're not buying every big release on release day. If you wait, you won't be playing the big games the day it comes out, but wait 6-12 months and you can get it for half off, if not better. Unless he says otherwise, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt on this since most gamers wait for sales.
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Jan 27, 2015 13:05
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$2,500 future-proofs your computer for maybe another 6 months, at the very best. It's incredibly bad with money. The sad part is, if he's dropping $2,500 on a gaming PC, it's a pretty easy guess that he buys a lot of expensive games as well to justify the purchase. Does not bode well for the kid being raised in that house.
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Jan 27, 2015 13:13
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Renegret posted:Unless he says otherwise, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt on this since most gamers wait for sales. Some gamers, yes. MOST gamers... I dunno. If that were the case, preorders wouldn't exist and we wouldn't have had so much hoopla over the server and buginess issues when Destiny and Battlefield 4 launched. A teacher I volunteer with took a day off when the latest WoW expansion came out just so she could play it uninterrupted. And some of these same people ALSO load up during sales with games they'll never play. I on the other hand have been way less into gaming over the past few years for some reason and have bought maybe 2 major games per year tops, and spent around $30/yr in Steam sales. It's SO liberating to care less when my coworkers complain about their impulse control for Steam sales and Humble Bundles. Still not sure when I'll get around to some of mine, though.
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Jan 27, 2015 13:46
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pig slut lisa posted:e: Nah I'm not even gonna hedge on this. If you're in the highly precarious financial situation of "paycheck to paycheck single parent" then it's bad with money to buy a $2,500 gaming computer when by all accounts you can buy or build a great one for half that much. Especially "every couple of years." A $1k computer every five would be more reasonable in his situation. That's an extra $10k to support his kid. Buying a 2.5k machine every two years as a paycheck to paycheck single parent is unconscionable.
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Jan 27, 2015 14:42
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$2500 doesn't sound too terrible, even on a limited income (although a few dollars into his kids' 529 plans would be better). Maybe I'm just old, but I remember my parents and their peers spending astronomical sums on hobbies and pursuits. 4k on a 386 computer, 1k on a console TV, huge sums on audio receivers or speakers, and many thousands of dollars on film and developing costs. And this was all like 1980's dollars, so probably 50% higher in 2015 dollars. Hobbies today seem almost quaint in comparison.
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Jan 27, 2015 16:37
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Depending on where you live, or parents also spent nearly nothing on housing compared to today.
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Jan 27, 2015 16:41
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Krispy Kareem posted:$2500 doesn't sound too terrible, even on a limited income (although a few dollars into his kids' 529 plans would be better). But they likely had better job security, higher (relative to inflation) wages and defined-benefit pension plans so they didn't have to worry so much. They also didn't usually have large student loan debt, and paying for their kids' college tuition wasn't a herculean task. If you're living paycheck to paycheck(one of the key things in this scenario), $2500 every couple of years is a huge sum of money. That averages out to over $100 a month and comes out to 12.5k over ten years; for a lot of people that's a down payment on a loving house. If he were to get a computer for half that every five years, he'd have enough left over to buy a ~5k used car, spend $150 on his kid every birthday and christmas, and still have over 2k in reserve to deal with an emergency or the kid needing braces or wanting to play an expensive sport or something. Nail Rat fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 16:42
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There's a completely 100% find for most gaming needs Alienware (which is not a great value by any stretch, but is from a super huge company with a warranty) desktop for $1000 on Dell.com right now, no coupons or research. Even the next step up is 50% of the price of what he paid. If he built it himself (which is like putting together a lego set) he could shave a few $$$ off the price easily. But even saving $1250 on it could be a month or two's rent.
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Jan 27, 2015 16:42
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Nail Rat posted:But they likely had better job security, higher (relative to inflation) wages and defined-benefit pension plans so they didn't have to worry so much. They also didn't usually have large student loan debt, and paying for their kids' college tuition wasn't a herculean task. It'd be interesting to compare what things cost in, say 1980, versus now. I found a chart that implies median income has increased by about 5k when adjusted for inflation. Housing is probably more expensive. Few people paid for TV or radio and no one had cell phones or Internet. Cars are more expensive now, but significantly more reliable. Electronics are far cheaper, but you have more of them. Health care is more expensive, but you can actually survive cancer now or get a boner when you need it. College is probably the one thing that's vastly more expensive, but no better than it was 30 years ago.
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Jan 27, 2015 17:00
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xie posted:There's a completely 100% find for most gaming needs Alienware (which is not a great value by any stretch, but is from a super huge company with a warranty) desktop for $1000 on Dell.com right now, no coupons or research. Even the next step up is 50% of the price of what he paid. Anyone could self-assemble, but what about the peace of mind for warranty?!?  For $2500 I hope he's getting a rad monitor every time too. I just went to Digital Storm's website and saw what $2500 gets you. quote:Apollo So, a $650 video card, $350 processor, and somehow another $1200 in that build. That's really bad with money. And  you can buy a $1500 system there with an AMD processor in the year 2015
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Jan 27, 2015 17:10
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canyoneer posted:Anyone could self-assemble, but what about the peace of mind for warranty?!?
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Jan 27, 2015 17:21
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Krispy Kareem posted:$2500 doesn't sound too terrible, even on a limited income (although a few dollars into his kids' 529 plans would be better). You might not know which thread you're in. This is the thread where people come to throw their hands up and decry the disgusting wastefulness of a man who saves $20 per week for his one entertainment indulgence. Then they work out on their Bowflex machines so they have the upper-body strength to crank the spinning rims on their cars before they roll out for their twenty-third consecutive restaurant meal. You can't spend a dime on anything but second-hand shoes and day-old bread unless you have thirty-six months of living expenses saved up, fully-funded college accounts for all of your present children, as well as any theoretical children you may or may not have in the future, and enough retirement savings to found a dynasty. If you do have all of that, you'd better not spend more than some arbitrary $X number of dollars on [thing], because I don't need to spend more than $X on [thing]. THIS IS BFC! [Places foot on chest of confused man he just witnessed purchasing a "gaming" mouse, and shoves him through the plate-glass window in front of Best Buy]
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Jan 27, 2015 17:29
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Centripetal Horse posted:You might not know which thread you're in. This is the thread where people come to throw their hands up and decry the disgusting wastefulness of a man who saves $20 per week for his one entertainment indulgence. Then they work out on their Bowflex machines so they have the upper-body strength to crank the spinning rims on their cars before they roll out for their twenty-third consecutive restaurant meal. Stop being retarded. This man is living paycheck to paycheck and he's definitely spending more than $20 a week on entertainment indulgences (the computer is already $24 a week and I guarantee you he is buying a lot of games). This thread is dumb when people attack people for spending money without knowing their situation here, but we know this dude's situation. Paycheck to paycheck. You don't need a loving 2.5k gaming machine every two years in that situation (or any, really, but if he were in good financial shape more power to him). If this doesn't qualify as bad with money you may as well shut down this thread because it is horrible with money.
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Jan 27, 2015 17:33
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Not a Children posted:$2,500 future-proofs your computer for maybe another 6 months, at the very best. It's incredibly bad with money. I spent $800ish on mine 4 years ago. Last year I upgraded the video card, and the performance increase was so minor I felt like I wasted my money. The hardware isn't really advancing all that quickly anymore, but that also means that system requirements aren't increasing much either. When I built it, I planned on expecting to have to replace it after 4 years, but I have no reason to at this point. At this rate I'll get another 4 out of it. SpelledBackwards posted:Some gamers, yes. MOST gamers... I dunno. If that were the case, preorders wouldn't exist and we wouldn't have had so much hoopla over the server and buginess issues when Destiny and Battlefield 4 launched. A teacher I volunteer with took a day off when the latest WoW expansion came out just so she could play it uninterrupted. And some of these same people ALSO load up during sales with games they'll never play. Big titles tend to get a bit more leeway with this because people will buy them expecting to get their money's worth. It's mostly the average B title lineup that makes up the vast majority of the sale benefits. I think you're right though, I think I give too many people credit since I'll personally buy 1 or 2 games on release a year at most and I forget I'm not an average...person...who enjoys video games because I'll be damned if I ever refer to myself as a "gamer". e: In other news, my Coworker who wanted to buy the $1600 Burburry coat was asking me if it was a good idea buying a $3600 Alienware and I lost my poo poo. I'm pretty sure he's just trolling me at this point but I lose my poo poo every time anyway, but with that guy you never know. Renegret fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 17:34
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Nail Rat posted:$24 Oh. Nevermind, then. $20 is reasonable in my opinion, but $24 is just over the loving line. Your weird anger is justified. Nail Rat posted:he's definitely spending more than $20 a week on entertainment Oh. I didn't know you knew so much about his personal spending habits. Nail Rat posted:we know this dude's situation. Paycheck to paycheck Oh. Good point. A two-sentence summary definitely tells us everything we need to know to judge that I am bad at BFC. P.S. 99.6% of poors have refrigerators. Edit: Barry posted:Congratulations, this is probably the dumbest strawman this thread has ever seen. I am certain I didn't even crack the top 50. Centripetal Horse fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 17:52
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I'll also point out that what makes the guy "feel like the 1%" is Owning A Thing, rather than Having Any Financial Security.
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Jan 27, 2015 17:53
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Centripetal Horse posted:You might not know which thread you're in. This is the thread where people come to throw their hands up and decry the disgusting wastefulness of a man who saves $20 per week for his one entertainment indulgence. Then they work out on their Bowflex machines so they have the upper-body strength to crank the spinning rims on their cars before they roll out for their twenty-third consecutive restaurant meal. Congratulations, this is probably the dumbest strawman this thread has ever seen. A single parent living paycheck to paycheck that purchases a $2500 gaming PC (and the associated titles to play on it, most certainly) is shameful.
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Jan 27, 2015 17:53
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Centripetal Horse posted:You might not know which thread you're in. This is the thread where people come to throw their hands up and decry the disgusting wastefulness of a man who saves $20 per week for his one entertainment indulgence. Then they work out on their Bowflex machines so they have the upper-body strength to crank the spinning rims on their cars before they roll out for their twenty-third consecutive restaurant meal. Gaming's not a cheap hobby(I'm a gamer, so I know that damned well), but it's very easy to make it a shitload more expensive than it has to be. Spending too much on hardware, and replacing it too often, is pissing money out the window for no real gain. This dude is living paycheck to paycheck - his words - and supporting a child, so he can't really afford the added expense. I doubt people would be objecting as much if he got a mid-range gaming PC for $800 or so and spread out the replacement schedule a bit more. Poor people are allowed to have entertainment and hobbies, but they can't justify extravagant bullshit like $2500 gaming PCs the same way someone making $100k can. (And I'd still make fun of the $100k earner for spending that much, because you're barely gaining anything by spending that much on a premade PC) Haifisch fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 17:55
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Centripetal Horse posted:Oh. Nevermind, then. $20 is reasonable in my opinion, but $24 is just over the loving line. Your weird anger is justified. It's no more weird than your stupid white knighting for a dude who spends double what a top end PC should cost every couple of years but doesn't have any money in the bank for if his kid needs something badly. I assume he has no money in the bank since he says he lives paycheck to paycheck. And if he buys no games, why the hell would he need to buy such expensive gaming machines all the time? Note I'm not even advocating he buys NO gaming PCs. I'm saying the difference in quality of life for just buying one for 1.2k - which is still an incredible gaming machine - and putting a couple more years in between purchases - would be huge for someone who claims to live paycheck to paycheck. But soldier on I guess.
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Jan 27, 2015 17:57
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Nail Rat posted:And if he buys no games, why the hell would he need to buy such expensive gaming machines all the time? Maybe he pirates them? Which I guess is good with money, at least until you get caught.
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Jan 27, 2015 18:00
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If you've ever been at that level, you'd know $24/week is a huge chunk of your budget. Like your entire grocery budget.
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Jan 27, 2015 18:01
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i like nice words
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This is why I buy consoles halfway through their life cycle and games on Amazon or SA mart for under $20.
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