Water Cooler #2
Hey Im not here to judge anyone. In fact, I'm pretty impartial when it comes to peoples opinions at work. Its not that I dont care because that would be insensitive and no one likes a person who is mute to everyones fuzzy feelings. But I'll vent my 2 cents here on this. A guy that I sit next to at work, lets call him "Jim" was so excited about his new car. He told me and another coworker that he was relaxing watching tv on his break in his 2006 Cherry Red Nissan -. He was saying how loaded it is and comes with the built in navigation and programmable seats and coffee/ breakfast maker (ok may have exaggerated a bit), but it was "cool". I nodded along while they were discussing the horsepower or whatever. I burst in with "How much was your interest rate?" They both stared at me and Jim started laughing... "who cares, the payments are $400 a month". The other coworker says, "wow thats great, where did you get it from?". "---- Nissan, one of the guys I know gave me a great deal." "How much did you put down?", I chimed. "ummm nothing... which is great because now I can put a new set of rims and get it tinted this weekend"
At this point, I didnt even want to be around the garbling of 20 inches vs. 22 inch rims. In fact.... I didnt care. "I'll see you guys later, I have to finish this paperwork" as I patted their backs and left.
I walked away and heres my reasoning as to WHY he purchased it. 1. they gave him a no down deal, 2. the percentage rate he got was HIGH and Jim probably got the maximum years to pay it (7yr) so he thought $400 a month was nothing, 3. he had a "friend" at the dealership, 4. he wanted to impress his coworkers/family/kids.
Do I have an obligation to educate Jim or should he make his own mistakes? I cant look at him without thinking man youre ridiculous for getting that car, when in fact his semi new 2004 Toyota Camry ran just fine.
4 Comments:
Let him make his own mistakes because he won't listen to you right now anyway. He'll start feeling the pain when:
1) he loses his job and can't afford the $400 payment anymore
2) the car needs repairs in about 4 yrs while he's still making those $400 payments
3) he tries to trade it in 2 more years for another 'newer' car and realizes the old loan must be tacked on to the new loan because he owes more than its worth, or
4) he wrecks it and the insurance won't cover the total balance owed and he's stuck with a car payment for a car he can no longer drive.
Then and only then can you say, hmm what was your interest rate and how much did you put down again? LOL
don't fight it. i gave up a long time ago trying to understand why some people do the things they do. personally, i know that my debt has taught me a lot and it is something that i will never forget. maybe he'll learn from it, and maybe he won't. either way, he will be the one who has to face the consequences for his decisions, not you.
Its so hard to ignore peoples bad decisions with their money because it happens so frequently. This guy is a couple years younger than me so I guess he'll have time to hopefully grow up.
Sweet blog dud.
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