So I've been friends with this guy for several years now, and he's like a brother to me at this point. Some of you might remember about a year ago (holy fuck, really?) I married him to his wife.
I remember shortly after I first became friends with him he ran into a little bit of trouble. He was short one one of his bills or something. Another of my friends and I decided to kick in and help him pay it. No harm, no foul. Shit happens. Just a few weeks after this we were working on putting some pallets away and he said something along the lines of "Yeah I don't even know what I'm gonna eat, I don't have any money until payday." The fuck? We just gave you like a hundred bucks to get back on track. His reason was "Scarlet and I bought something that I guess didn't clear immediately, it just now went through."
Another example: his electric bill is structured like mine. Instead of receiving a monthly bill based on usage, it works like a pike pass. I put money on the account, say 25 bucks, and a certain amount comes out every day at 11 in the morning, based on my usage. The first time he and his wife moved into their current apartment and switched to that plan, I told my roommate "I give it three months until their electric gets shut off."
Nearly three months to the fucking DAY I get a phone call. "Hey bro, can I borrow 25 dollars to get the electric turned back on? I'll give you money on payday."
/facepalm
I could go on and on about times that things "just now went through" or "We had to go negative to pay this" or phone calls I've received "Fuck! Our electric's off!"
I try not to be too judgmental, because he reminds me of me when I was 18 or 19 (though he's 25), but what the hell can I do? I'm obviously not gonna parent him and lecture him on shit he already knows to begin with. Also, he's a dear friend to me, so I'm not going to not give him the money if I have it.
Here's the kicker: this whole thread was prompted by him texting me today asking if he could borrow 40 bucks to make his car payment tomorrow. They have a baby due in three months. They've been approved for SNAP and other benefits, but damn... they are NOT ready for a kid. They can't even handle themselves because they spend so irresponsibly.
Another example that made me want to punch him in the throat: He works at Sam's Club and, depending on the store performance, employees get a bonus every year based on the store's profit. I think his was around 600 or so. He told me about that and I told him "Great! Bro you should use that to get a month or two ahead on some of your bills so things aren't so tight."
Nope. He bought a fucking 50 inch LG TV. He swore up and down he needed his upgrade sooo bad. He could barely see his old TV, he has to sit on the floor to do so, doing that hurts his back, yada yada yada.
ANYway. Sorry this is so fragmented and kind of random. I'm just typing my thoughts as they come out. I try not to be too hard on him because I've been there in that position. Almost identical situation, financially. I even hung out with an older, wiser friend who told me to cut that shit out. I didn't listen and it took years for me to get my act together.
I think I'm going to talk to him about it. I guess. I don't hate giving him money, but I hate that I have to, if that makes sense.