Tips How Not To Live Without Ripoff
Saturday, May 1, 2010, 7:31 AM | 1 Comment
The title of the blog is screwy at best. I wrote it but I have a hard time understanding it.
What I mean to say is there are some obvious rip-offs in today’s life that we just have to live with.
On the contrary, we must be proud of ourselves to fall into the financial trap whether at the time we can afford it or not.
Affordability part of the rip-off hits you later when you look for a $10 bill in your pocket and you can’t find it. But at the time of spending that money, knowing it’s a rip-off, we all feel good about it.
In the presence of someone important in our lives no matter how temporary that relationship turns out to be – I call it Temporary Significant Other (TSO)], we just let ourselves fall into the money trap. At the time, we must feel good about it. And that’s the whole purpose of letting others con us.
If you can’t beat them, keep quiet. And you know why we must keep quiet? Because we are the consumers.
The American consumers
Third world
Imagine a third world country. If you are ripped-off, who the f*** gives a shit. Nobody gives a damn. The government officials who hear the complaint are the ones who would rip you off of whatever you are left with and there is not a whole lot left with you. You go to bed at night with no feeling of the rip-off but the feeling that what the family is gonna eat the next day.
Back to the American Consumers
For one thing, most of the American consumers are richer compared to people in the third world, a lot richer. Here, people can afford to be ripped off. You don’t have to go to bed at night without “possessing nothing”, except that feeling [of being ripped-off]. You still would be able to buy food the next day.
CNN online has an article about
9 Rip-Offs that happen on a daily basis whether the consumers can do anything about them or not. We usually don’t and for a variety of reasons.
Text messages – 6,500% markup
Do you think for a minute the American people gives a f*** about that. We all know it’s shit in our lives. But if your TSO don’t answer back [families and emergencies – who gives a shit? Besides all of a sudden you can’t get a signal], the big question is not who can or cannot afford it. The big question is would the TSO stay together for long? I don’t think so.
Movie theater popcorn – 900% markup
The same argument here. Both TSOs go inside – I mean inside the theater, and your TSO asks for popcorn (especially with the line “I will do anything for a bucket of popcorn”), nobody in his (it’s almost always a he) right mind would care about how much he would pay for that popcorn.
Free credit reports that will cost you
Now this is a genuine rip-off that you can easily live without. You are under no pressure from your TSO. It’s nobody’s business but yours. There’s nothing free about forking over $179 a year for information at Freecreditreport.com. Now it can be considered a scam that sooner or later sees the day of light. The hidden fee is the scam and you know about it after your face is hit with a cold lump of ice wrapped around the $179 charge.
Name-brand painkillers – 60% markup
You can feel the pressure from your partner. But your TSO might not have the headache. You get headache by buying that bucket of popcorn and send your TSO the instantaneous text messages.
Wine at restaurants – 500% markup
Hey! Man. You don’t wanna look cheap by bringing your own bottle. That’s a NO-No in front of your TSO sitting right beside you. Do you care how expensive the wine is? And why did you go to that restaurant in the first place? To impress your TSO? In that case, it’s not a rip-off. Learn to live with it.
College textbooks – $900 a year!
Now that’s a rip-off, a scam of the utmost, playing with kids’ future. But it has been going on for ages. Has anyone done anything about it? Nope! Nope! Nope! We might all complain but doing something about it, hey man! it’s not my yob [job].
Super gasoline – 15% markup
Well, that’s your choice. You create the choice by being f***ing ignorant about it. Case closed.
Hotel mini-bars – 1,300% markup
Hey! Nobody is forcing you to buy from the mini-bar. Go outside the hotel, walk a little, stretch your legs and buy a big bucket of the munchies with 1/1300 of the price at the mini-bar.
Hotel in-room movies – 200% markup
That’s not a rip-off. That’s the hotel hospitality that happens to be extremely expensive, especially the movies with a lot of moaning and groaning. Is it worth the money? Maybe. If your TSO gets in the mood. Hey! why not? What the f*** is a few bucks?
In a Nutshell
They are but a few “so-called” rip-offs that you can or cannot live without. It’s like in a marriage. You think you will live with it but once in it, you might regret it. That’s understandable for what it’s worth.
That’s how the society works in America. Why do you think people buy things they don’t need? My neighbor bought it, so I must also. Our society does not live on needs but on wishes. When companies know and realize it, they will be out of their f***ing mind if they don’t take advantage of it.
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