Gambling - a RANT!

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HappyDaze
Posts: 4186
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:11 am

Gambling - a RANT!

Post by HappyDaze »

The backstory is that back in December, my sister (age 52 going on TWELVE) asked my parents if she could "come spend a couple of days" at their country house (not "country house" in the nice sense of the word - it's an unlivable dump) and bring her dogs. They said yes. She is STILL there, rent free, not paying for utilities or anything, living on the $300 per week unemployment that the federal government gives.

The real story, we have pieced together, is that she was living with someone somewhere and they got fed up with her and kicked her to the curb.

How does she spend her time? Glad you asked, LOL. Let's see, she posts on facebook that she can't work because she can't take less than $20 per hour (ahem....WHAT???), she drives 120 miles round trip to get her nails done and hair coiffed, she has packages delivered to my parents house almost on the daily - a Northface rain coat, $100 sandals, a new dining room rug for one of her grandchildren's baby mama...nothing practical. She posts on facebook that she can't find an apartment - she hasn't looked for one.

She takes her dogs to multiple fast food restaurants to "get them a cheeseburger." She takes herself out for a fish fry every Friday, on a mission to try every one in a 3-county area. And (I'm getting to the point), she drives 300 miles round trip about once a week to gamble at a casino. She was taking my aunt with her but now she is on the outs with the aunt.

So yesterday, she dropped my daughter off here. Daughter and her bf had been at my parents helping them (while sister sat and watched - and one day last week my daughter was BITTEN by one of my sister's dogs) and I called and said one of them needed to get back here because their dog would not stop her constant barking so the bf came back to be with the dog.

So dd comes into the house and says that my sister has asked her to go to the casino and wanted it to be today but my daughter said NO but maybe some other time. I told my daughter (bent my story a bit and I DON"T CARE) that she can't go to the casino because she hasn't been vaccinated and I would have to work from home for two weeks even though I HAVE been vaccinated. NOT TRUE, DO NOT CARE.

This makes me angrier than a wet hen. The LAST thing my daughter needs to do is to be taking off for a casino and blowing money. YES she is on the back side of 35 and can do what she wants but OH HECK NO. Yes, a lot of my personal opinion and judgement is coming into play here - and again, DON'T care. I do not gamble. I will not so much as buy a raffle ticket at work.

I have NEVER purchased a lottery ticket in my life except for the one dd and I plan to get with the dollar that came out of our money soap. I guess in my family when you don't work for your money it's okay to mooch off others, get manicured and pedicured, gamble and buy expensive designer clothing. Fine, whatever, but leave me and the members of my household OUT of your whackiness.

I know where my money comes from and it is my choice to hold onto as much of it as possible and YES, I am judging but I can't respect gambling of any kind, ESPECIALLY when you are robbing other people blind and, might I add, she is driving my parents up the wall.

Apparently though, I will stretch the truth to keep my kid from going gambling - I'm fine with THAT. Hypocrite?
"All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. After all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog."

Charles M. Schultz
floridacatlover
Posts: 8056
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:21 am

Re: Gambling - a RANT!

Post by floridacatlover »

My favorite uncle, who would have been 90 yesterday, gambled to the point that my mom and later I had to take control of his money (SS and SSI) because he would not pay his rent, utilities or even buy food. My mom was tougher with him than I could have been but her hard line was the right move. (He had been asking to “borrow” money from mom so she had leverage with him.) He was a good person and I loved him as did mom but the gambling was an illness. (The only good thing about my uncle‘s gambling is that it didn’t leave enough $ to buy cigarettes on a regular basis. He lived to be 85!)

As for living on the $300, I think I’m getting conservative in my old age. It has gone on too long and I AGREE with the GOP governors who are opting out. It surprised me that my Dutch friend (very liberal) said at our lunch two weeks ago that even she was against the unemployment extension. Her son is a Walgreens manager and they can’t hire employees. No one wants to work for the $11-$12/hour (not a lot I know).

Easy for me to say, but I think your parents should insist that your sister find her own place - hopefully far enough away that she has little contact with your daughter. You are not a hypocrite. You are doing what is best for your daughter.
SandiSAHM
Posts: 2263
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:46 am
Location: Oklahoma

Re: Gambling - a RANT!

Post by SandiSAHM »

So if I understand correctly, HappyDaze... you're anti-gambling ;)

Yeah, me too. Casinos (Native American establishments) abound here, I'm not sure but I think there's some law against non-NA, or casinos on land that's not NA land (Sandy is probably straight on the rule, I think she's always lived here) but the last time I gambled was a slot machine in Vegas's airport 21 years ago. Had some spare quarters and was child-free back then, no sense of those quarters adding up to dollars. I don't do the casino or lottery thing, neither has done diddly to earn my $.

Re Floridacatlover's unemployment $ comments: it's time to taper it off. Take it down to $250 for 6 weeks, $200 for four, $100 for two... bet the next employment report would look better. Add some requirement 3 weeks in that says you have to prove you're seeking employment. If the pandemic takes another uptick here it can be re-evaluated at that time.

DD took a $12/hr job; well over Oklahoma's minimum wage and waaay over the hourly for my first job back in *cough* 1983.
icfrugal1
Posts: 2952
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:54 am

Re: Gambling - a RANT!

Post by icfrugal1 »

HappyDaze wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 11:33 am The backstory is that back in December, my sister (age 52 going on TWELVE) asked my parents if she could "come spend a couple of days" at their country house (not "country house" in the nice sense of the word - it's an unlivable dump) and bring her dogs. They said yes. She is STILL there, rent free, not paying for utilities or anything, living on the $300 per week unemployment that the federal government gives.

The real story, we have pieced together, is that she was living with someone somewhere and they got fed up with her and kicked her to the curb.

How does she spend her time? Glad you asked, LOL. Let's see, she posts on facebook that she can't work because she can't take less than $20 per hour (ahem....WHAT???), she drives 120 miles round trip to get her nails done and hair coiffed, she has packages delivered to my parents house almost on the daily - a Northface rain coat, $100 sandals, a new dining room rug for one of her grandchildren's baby mama...nothing practical. She posts on facebook that she can't find an apartment - she hasn't looked for one.

She takes her dogs to multiple fast food restaurants to "get them a cheeseburger." She takes herself out for a fish fry every Friday, on a mission to try every one in a 3-county area. And (I'm getting to the point), she drives 300 miles round trip about once a week to gamble at a casino. She was taking my aunt with her but now she is on the outs with the aunt.

So yesterday, she dropped my daughter off here. Daughter and her bf had been at my parents helping them (while sister sat and watched - and one day last week my daughter was BITTEN by one of my sister's dogs) and I called and said one of them needed to get back here because their dog would not stop her constant barking so the bf came back to be with the dog.

So dd comes into the house and says that my sister has asked her to go to the casino and wanted it to be today but my daughter said NO but maybe some other time. I told my daughter (bent my story a bit and I DON"T CARE) that she can't go to the casino because she hasn't been vaccinated and I would have to work from home for two weeks even though I HAVE been vaccinated. NOT TRUE, DO NOT CARE.

This makes me angrier than a wet hen. The LAST thing my daughter needs to do is to be taking off for a casino and blowing money. YES she is on the back side of 35 and can do what she wants but OH HECK NO. Yes, a lot of my personal opinion and judgement is coming into play here - and again, DON'T care. I do not gamble. I will not so much as buy a raffle ticket at work.

I have NEVER purchased a lottery ticket in my life except for the one dd and I plan to get with the dollar that came out of our money soap. I guess in my family when you don't work for your money it's okay to mooch off others, get manicured and pedicured, gamble and buy expensive designer clothing. Fine, whatever, but leave me and the members of my household OUT of your whackiness.

I know where my money comes from and it is my choice to hold onto as much of it as possible and YES, I am judging but I can't respect gambling of any kind, ESPECIALLY when you are robbing other people blind and, might I add, she is driving my parents up the wall.

Apparently though, I will stretch the truth to keep my kid from going gambling - I'm fine with THAT. Hypocrite?

You are a great mama!!!!

Long story short, you are right gambling is an illness and it can create much family hardship.

MY SIL has been taking care of her mother (age 90) for over 3 years now, as MIL slips more and more into dementia.

The resentment is because MIL gambled away every penny that she could get her hands on, She did pay her household bills but NOTHING put away.

Now, even with MIL's SS and pension there is no money to hire someone to help SIL out, and the moble home needs lots of work.

MIL is awake 24/7, even with meds. she is bed bound, 24/7 care depends ect.

Lots of anger and resentment.

MIL is kept very clean, the hospice nurses ect are amazed at the care that she is getting .

IC
HappyDaze
Posts: 4186
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:11 am

Re: Gambling - a RANT!

Post by HappyDaze »

Agreed that it's time to taper off on the unemployment. Part of my job is "hiring" - and ohhhhhh my goodness is there ever a labor shortage!

Floridacat, it is also NOT a coincidence that my sister asked dd to go gambling on Mother's Day - her kids won't have anything to do with her so she thought she would take mine - I know it as sure as I'm breathing.
"All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. After all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog."

Charles M. Schultz
icfrugal1
Posts: 2952
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:54 am

Re: Gambling - a RANT!

Post by icfrugal1 »

SandiSAHM wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 12:31 pm So if I understand correctly, HappyDaze... you're anti-gambling ;)

Yeah, me too. Casinos (Native American establishments) abound here, I'm not sure but I think there's some law against non-NA, or casinos on land that's not NA land (Sandy is probably straight on the rule, I think she's always lived here) but the last time I gambled was a slot machine in Vegas's airport 21 years ago. Had some spare quarters and was child-free back then, no sense of those quarters adding up to dollars. I don't do the casino or lottery thing, neither has done diddly to earn my $.

Re Floridacatlover's unemployment $ comments: it's time to taper it off. Take it down to $250 for 6 weeks, $200 for four, $100 for two... bet the next employment report would look better. Add some requirement 3 weeks in that says you have to prove you're seeking employment. If the pandemic takes another uptick here it can be re-evaluated at that time.

DD took a $12/hr job; well over Oklahoma's minimum wage and waaay over the hourly for my first job back in *cough* 1983.
1969 minimum wage $1.35 under 18 $1.50 over 18. I was over 18 , but was paid $1.35 because I was still in HS !

Minimum wage should be much more then $15.00

IC
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