Too Broke To Wet The Bed

[dldip360]

Well I just paid this month's rent and my bank account is a lot closer to zero than I'd like it to be. So unfortunately that means giving up some frivolous items, diapers included, for the next couple of weeks. I'm too broke to wet the bed. Anybody else have the too broke for diapers blues this week? Or last week? Or ANY week?

[Eir]

Yeeah, I have been out of work for 5 months once. I used cloth diapers, but I had to stop because I could not afford the laundry expense. Food is more important.

[Kari]

Yea, just make your own cloth diapers.

IDK if you can still get fabric @ Wal-Mart, but I like getting 2 yrds. of flannel in all kinds of cute patterns.

Just need one pair of plastic pants and rinse them (cloth diapers) off in the tub/sink/shower. Or wear them while taking a shower to save on water.

[sarah_ab]

buying material at wal mart and palstic pants and paying for laundry are all expenses.

[square_duck]

This is again the reason wearing cloth, they are recyclable! I think the laundry expense is a lot less then a pack of disposables that you just toss out., but thats just me This also reminds me of an incident that happened last Monday. It was about 10:30 pm at work, and we close at 11pm. A new customer called and ordered a delivery and charged on his card. It was a slow night and I had almost all my other work done, and was standing by my manager as she took the order and her last comments to the customer were that the credit card had to be available for the driver (me) with the holder of the card...then she hung up. I should mention that she said that was a difficult order because the customer apologized saying that they were "really high" (we get a lot of these late at night) so anyways, we processed the order and packed it up and I left for the delivery. fortunately it was close by and I didn't have to go far. I get to the apartment and knock on the door and a girl answers. Cute little blond thing...in her 20's...eyes the size of pie plates (stoned) and I do my usual schpeel and ask for the card so I can do a verification and imprint as required by my employer and requested by my manager....well, she asked if the card had to be there..I said "yes' those were the instructions that were relayed at the end of the order. She said her Boyfriend had the card and he left.....and was probably 30 miles away (nice) So I had to do soemthing that I hate to do, I told her I couldn't do the delivery with out the card I asked if she had any cash or a card to transfer the charge to and she said no, she had no plastic and $1 in cash....then she handed the pizza back to me and said "I guess I won't be able to eat tonight" this did 2 things....1 it pissed me off that they weren't prepared for the delivery, and her stupid boyfriend left her in a situation and didn't hold up his end of the stick (he placed the order) and it wasted food and my trip and I didn't get credit for the delivery....much less a tip Also I just felt bad that someone had chosen to buy drugs and get high and not have anything to back them up to feed themselves....to me this is stupid. Taking care of yourself is a higher priority than anything else....always cover your butt! I left, pissed off at their stupidity and her "boyfriends' neglect, and her inability to take care of herself...and the wasted trip (short) I went back to the store, explained what happened and my manager was pissed, she had to cancel the order and that counts against store operations (profit / loss etc) We finished up and left. I thought about this girl for about an hour. It had been a slow night and I made a whopping $13 in tips (not good after a 6 hour shift) but still felt that I should do something, so I went up to the closest 7/11 to buy her a sandwich and chips or something....I mulled this and wandered around looking at prices. It would have cost me about 1/2 what I made that night to feed this negligent person....help take care of someone who obviously can't (or wont) take care of herself. She needs to learn an important lesson, and it's part of being an adult. Then I left, after thinking more that it's not my responsibility to feed this chick. So she has to go hungry / suffer with the munchies, after she put herself in this position. She also has to have a good chat with her supposed "boyfriend". I figured this was more powerful than me feeding her and chewing her out about not being responsible or letting her 'boyfriend' neglect her / abandon her after he was informed that he and the card both need to be at the delivery address. Anyways, Sorry this is long, but it illustrates the above that part of being an adult is having to make hard choices and making sacrifices. She needed to know she needs to take care of herself, just in case and have a back up, and kick her idiot boyfriend in the butt for not following through (part of a relationship) I too had to make a hard choice also...spend (sacrifice) almost 1/2 what I worked 6 hours for to feed someone, or let them learn a lesson that they need to be taught. Maybe I'm wrong and I should have done it.... or maybe she will learn and it will make her a stronger person *shrug* I don't know, and really it's non of my business. I viewed it as an opportunity to help someone who can't /wont help themselves, but I didn't want to be an enabler, had I bought her dinner, maybe she wouldn't learn anything.. It may sound selfish but you can't fix stupid. They chose to put pleasure first, and not take care of the consequences of their choices knowing what will happen later when they get 'hungry'. It also sounded like she trusted the wrong person to 'take care of her' Anyways, this stuff happens all the time somewhere, people making wrong choices or not thinking things through for consequences and such. Diapers aren't a complete 'necessity' though they do offer and provide 'psychological and emotional' support / relief...but food water and shelter are far more important. Stick with the basics first, and when thats covered, you can move on from there. Just always make sure your basic needs take priority. It sucks being cold and hungry etc (been there) you can always improvise with a diaper issue. use a couple of towels and a trash bag or whatnot if that helps. But always make sure your basics come first. no one will take care of you except YOU. It sounds harsh, but it's true, and there are tens of thousands of people wandering the streets looking for someone to take care of them as proof. Sad but true

[Honu]

Sarah,

[Khoraz]

I am in the same boat as you my friend! I lost my roommate and best friend to a car accident a month ago and

[Bettypooh]

As someone who needs diapers my priorities are different by necessity. I can go a day without food but I cannot go a day without diapers

[dldip360]

Thanks everyone. It's not life changing for me, I've been without before. I'll be getting a sizable paycheck in two weeks so I'll be fine. It's just a bummer for now is all. I'm fortunate enough to not need diapers for medical reasons. It's been a while since I've been completely out of diapers so I'll just have to adjust and remember that I can't just empty my bladder when I feel the urge during the course of the night. Luckily I also can't afford enough beer to have a "too much beer before bed episode"

[Bettypooh]

When you get that nice check in a couple weeks, don't buy a case of beer- buy a case of diapers first After all, without somewhere nice and comfy to put it, all that beer will just be wasted when your body is done with it

[whisko]

o quadrilateral, equilateral, fuliguline friend:

i suspect that girl was lying to you about that credit card. good job not beig a schmuck.

are you in a position to create a policy where you ask your customers "will you be able to hand that card to your delivery driver upon his/her arrival" and require a positive answer? it seems like your requirement was tacked on like the fine print in a car commercial.

[MoMoMo]

LOL Whisko...this is random but

[whisko]

thanks momomomomo! ;-)

[square_duck]

o quadrilateral, equilateral, fuliguline friend:

i suspect that girl was lying to you about that credit card. good job not beig a schmuck.

are you in a position to create a policy where you ask your customers "will you be able to hand that card to your delivery driver upon his/her arrival" and require a positive answer? it seems like your requirement was tacked on like the fine print in a car commercial.

It's company policy to get an imprint of the card at the point of delivery, and we always ask that the card and holder be present at the delivery site. She was told this, as I was there when the order was placed with my manager. If I don't get an imprint, and there is a problem, I can kiss my job good bye

In thinking back on it, I remember my manager saying after she hung up that she can't believe some people and that the customer (she) took so long to order what she wanted and said "sorry I'm just really high" :rollseyes: also in thinking on it a bit I think that, since the credit card amount went through, that she had her boyfriends credit card number, but he wasn't there, but allowed her to use it, but not the card. Not having it on site forced me to have to take the order back....something that I have never had to do before...and it sucked.

So either her boyfriend called in the order, which I doubt since my manager said that it was a female who called, and she was using her boyfriends card. Or he was there and she called in the order using the card and didn't bother to relay the info that he had to stay around to sign for the order, and being that she was stoned out of her %$#@! blond mind....it's possible that she just forgot to mention that to her boyfriend and he left not knowing...because she didn't say anything because she was high...oh well..Luckily this doesn't happen very often, so I don't have to deal with this kind of crap. 99.9999% of my customers are decent people who pay their bill and just want to get on with dinner and what ever they are doing, so it's no issue. But now and then there is someone who has issues that we have to deal with...I move on.

The moral of the whole thing is that you have to take care of and provide for all your basic needs FIRST....then move on to your wants. You NEED food, water and shelter, and that is your responsibility, no one else's. Take care of those and stick with the basics and live will be a lot easier. if you don't do this then life gets a lot more complicated.