No Free Lunch
17th February 2008
Everyone at work knows I save my money religiously. They know I’m probably not going to out to lunch with them, and if I do, it must be a special occasion; someone is going away, etc.
Here’s a common conversation:
Some guy in the office (SGITO): Hey, Brooke, we’re going to lunch at X restaurant….wanna come?
Brooke: Oh, thanks so much for inviting me! I brought my lunch and I can’t throw it away, so I’m just going to eat here. Thanks.
SGITO: Oh, you’re just trying to save money, I know you. How about if I spot you lunch?
Brooke: I can’t, sorry. I’ve got a lot of work to do here.
SGITO: You’re so crazy. You’re all caught up on all your projects. That’s just a front. Come with us!
These guys are very nice and just want everyone to come along to lunch, but I absolutely cannot go against my ethics and go out for lunch. I know guys that are limited by their budgets and still will accept the offer of “free lunch” from his buddies.
And notice I never lie and say I can’t afford it. These guys know I can afford it, and that is not a valid excuse anyway. I can “afford it” much better than most people in my office. But it doesn’t matter. I never accept these offers of free lunch, because then I will owe lunch to that guy in my mind, and then I will have to pay for double lunch sometime…I shouldn’t pay anything for lunch beyond my groceries!
February 18th, 2008 at 11:15 am
This is probably my biggest pitfall. I can afford lunch, but I could more easily afford other things if I didn’t lunch out so often. I just enjoy the socialization portion, as I don’t get much of it during my regular work day. Not an excuse…just the truth. I’ve really got to work on this more.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:43 am
[…] Dollar Frugal thinks that going out to lunch on anything but special occasions is out of the question. Saving for retirement is much easier if you’re able to stick to your guns like this. […]
February 19th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I can’t agree more. I end up having similar conversations with coworkers. I do my best to not let on that I can afford things or talk about money in general other than ways to save and even then it’s normally a topic started by someone else.
I enjoy my leftovers for lunch. My wife and I work hard and the day doesn’t end at “quitting time”. The extra work it takes to make a tasty dinner offers the reward of the meal itself and the cost savings of the leftovers. Granted I normally try to take the more questionable lunch combinations, so my wife can have a better lunch. Today I had leftover tomato soup, sliced potatoes, green beans, and a flavored rice. These left overs came from 3 different meals.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
@Kaye - you can try bringing your lunch to work and just ordering an appetizer or a salad at the restaurant. Even a drink, if you’re comfortable with that. I only work with a few girls and “the girls and I” will sometimes go to the park across the way and eat a picnic lunch that we bring. This is really just our brown bag lunch, but it seems so much nicer in the park!
@Ralph - that’s a good point about the money, and something I could work on. I need to not talk about my money situation. It’s hard when I have a nicer house than people at work that majorly outrank me. I need to work on recipes, too…it seems like we have a lot of “old standbys” that we don’t deviate from.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
@Brooke - I just try to avoid money topics because I was raised by parents who never talked about money with anyone outside of the immediate family. So, it’s in my nature to avoid those topics. I actually only know of one reason why my parents didn’t talk about money with others and it’s because we have other more distant family members who were/are always trying to get them to “loan” them some money. Other than that I don’t know all of my parents reasons for avoiding money topics with others, but I suspect they’re the same as mine.
First, it’s just simply no one else’s business, but more specifically I would hate someone to take it as bragging, or for people to feel bad that they don’t have as much saved. Sometimes I think it’s easier for people to focus on the “hey, he has money” rather than seeing the day to day sacrifices, (maybe that’s too strong of a word because I don’t feel like I sacrifice)…
Nonetheless I never eat out for lunch, don’t wear trendy, expensive, brand name clothes, and generally don’t talk about how I want “insert expensive unnecessary thing here” all the time. I would also prefer for the general consensus among my coworkers to be that I am in need of money of much as they are as it can potentially impact how much you receive for raises and/or perks…
On the contrary it is very hard for me to just sit back and listen to coworkers, and in some cases friends, who are digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole. At some point there has to be some give when you have concerns about good people who just make bad choices. If that “give” is simply a conversation about how I think they could benefit from making a few better financial choices than I wouldn’t and don’t hold back.
February 21st, 2008 at 8:20 am
[…] Yesterday, I was enjoying a strange day off today in a sunny location with excellent weather. I had just gotten done commenting back to Mrs. Nespy at my post about No Free Lunch, about how “the girls (a whole two of us)” in my office occasionally take our brown bag lunches to the park and “eat out” for lunch. These are the same peanut butter sandwiches that I eat for lunch every day, but there’s something special about a sunny day with fresh air. […]
February 29th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Tell dude that you don’t want to feel obligated to him. He can’t tell you that you won’t feel obligated, because he doesn’t know your soul.