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Meanness

(48 Posts)
petra Thu 24-Jan-13 21:58:27

I knew my BIL was mean, but the other day he took the biscuit. My OH met up with his 3 brothers as they had come in to an inheritance. This was about £10,000 each.
They met at a cafe near the solicitor. The said BIL was there first and bought the teas. When the others arrived he ASKED THEM FOR THE MONEY FOR THE TEAS.

celebgran Mon 28-Jan-13 16:49:09

was funny wasn`t I without meaning to be!! grin at least I raised a smile on a dreary Monday!!

Butty Mon 28-Jan-13 16:36:23

grin celeb - Just teasing!

Butty Mon 28-Jan-13 16:35:43

Having lived in France for nearly 10 years, I can categorically state that there IS a lot of wind in French supermarkets.........all of it unacceptable! grin

celebgran Mon 28-Jan-13 16:32:11

grin obviously I meant wine!! was talking about uk supermarkets actually have no experience of french ones. grin

absent Mon 28-Jan-13 16:31:42

Not even the Mistral. grin

Marelli Mon 28-Jan-13 16:28:12

grin! There's NO acceptable wind, Elegran!

Elegran Mon 28-Jan-13 16:25:19

Celebgran I must ask about the cheap and acceptable wind in the French supermarkets. Was it on the shelf beside the beans, or with the vol au vents?

celebgran Mon 28-Jan-13 15:47:14

grannyactivist how brave of your friend to comment, I dont think I could have, but you must be very close, and admire how you sorted it without any upset!!

celebgran Mon 28-Jan-13 15:46:31

agree glassortwo, just can`t abide petty meaness, is different if someone is hard up, but they are very very well off couple.

still c`est la vie or something like that.

gosh agree Bags - I hope so too, but try to be positive, however in my hear know very unlikely to be a result. our dear elderly neighbour wrote to her before Xmas not even a card back.

I suppose I expect too much from people, so OH RECKONS, I did not do pudding as bothered to find out he finds it indigestible but loves cheese, oh dear I had to have some too!!
just hope not scuppered my diet too badly.

Wind can be obtained quite cheaply from supermarket and most of it acceptable, this was stuff he had bought on trip to France, may be delicious for all I know, think I am in moaning mood!!!!!!!!

Movedalot Mon 28-Jan-13 12:05:54

I went to stay with a friend and we went to lunch with one of he friends and enjoyed a nice bottle of wine. When her DH came home he was most upset because we had drunk something really wonderful that he was keeping for a special occassion. He was a real wine buff and was not upset because we had drunk it but because we didn't appreciate what we had drunk! grin

grannyactivist Mon 28-Jan-13 11:25:49

I have no idea what constitutes a 'good' wine, but a very dear friend of mine who does once declined to drink the wine I offered on the grounds that she only drinks good wine. I simply explained that I had no idea about wine, so we agreed that if she was coming round for anything that involved wine, she would supply it. And she does. Quite happily. Result: two happy people. grin

Bags Mon 28-Jan-13 11:20:17

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Bags Mon 28-Jan-13 11:19:28

Use it in cooking. The alcohol evaporates. I always buy the cheapest white wine for cooking purposes. For a wine and cream sauce it's better than lemon juice.

glassortwo Mon 28-Jan-13 11:17:59

celeb he was generous enough to acknowledge you with a gift, and its the thought that counts. He seems very genuine to be helping you by writing a letter to your DD.

absent Mon 28-Jan-13 11:11:05

I don't think you can have expensive plonk as surely the definition of the word is cheap wine. Then again, if it were undrinkable, even spending a small amount of money on it would be an unnecessary expense. hmm

Movedalot Mon 28-Jan-13 11:10:59

I had a boss who was really mean and not short of money. He boasted that when he was at uni he bought the cheapest coffee he sould find so that his friends wouldn't drink it. He only drank tea and we ahd to buy him Earl Grey for work. He asked me to do the lottery on behalf of him and the senior staff but in the end I told him I wouldn't do it any more as he kept 'not having any change'. He was not the least bit embarraased.

This same man took a group of us out for dinner at the Oxo Tower and got one of the staff to pay the bill so he could approve the expenses. If he had paid the bill he would have to go to the Board for sign off and knew they would object to such an expensive restaurant.

Marelli Mon 28-Jan-13 11:08:12

I don't think that I ever work out who might owe what to whom when it concerns my friends. hmm Perhaps 'Richard' feels that the letter he's going to write for your daughter makes up for the cheap plonk. (I buy very good cheap wine from Aldi, as does the connoisseur next doorgrin)!

Bags Mon 28-Jan-13 10:54:04

What a shame someone gave you a present you wouldn't like or aren't allowed to enjoy, celeb. It suggests he doesn't know your preferences very well. Kind of him to bring a present though. I hope some good comes of the letter he is writing for you. He sounds like a nice chap.

celebgran Mon 28-Jan-13 10:38:13

not tried it yet Bags - I was not going spoil my meal with it!

we not keen on fizz to be honest, still got bottle champagne left over from xmas and we will have that at some point!!

affect my tummy sometimes.

chocolates do look good but they are off limits!!

To be fair Richard is nice bloke, quite kind really, just tight!! he is in process of writing letter to our daughter as he feels so for us, so must not be unkind.
sadly his wife is not bothered really about her 2 grand children, thinks more about her dogs, it is him that spends all the time with him.
Strange I would give so much to have ours in our life!!

Bags Sun 27-Jan-13 20:41:40

Was the plonk good plonk, celeb? Hope so smile

Mey Sun 27-Jan-13 16:18:48

Oh petra thats terrible. I know My Gran was quite mean with her money and I think sometimes its like an illness, My Gran was tight with money,according to her, because when she was young she had nothing and did not want to end up with nothing ever again.

I think it becomes a kind of fear with some people that they will end up pennyless. But of course there are some that are just naturally mean with no psyhcological reasons.

glammanana Sun 27-Jan-13 12:54:16

celebgran maybe thats why they are rich grin

celebgran Sun 27-Jan-13 11:54:03

very tricky we meet up with nice couple ex colleague of OH FOR meals 2 or3 times a year, last Xmas, we had lovely meal I had paid deposit £5 head, OH forgot tell them so we were£10 down.

This year did same meal I mean and they handed over deposit, then as I had glass of wine and friends wife didnt they took that off their half bill, I felt that was petty!! Made me feel like saying how about deposit for last year?
they are nice couple though so of course I couldnt.

Other friends mainly of my OH HE went to school with chap, they are very very well off due to inheritance, and they came for dinner last night, complete with cheap bottle plonk and chocs they got when went to France, that sort thing rankles with me!! Especially given the trouble I went to for meal! However we tend find it it our richer friends who are the meanest!!strange that??!!!

glammanana Sun 27-Jan-13 11:22:33

PRINTMISS my dad had a fab expression for a bloke who always disappeared when it was his turn for the round of drinks he was discribed as "being tighter than two coats of paint" and earned the nickname "Dulux"

PRINTMISS Sun 27-Jan-13 10:33:56

The wife of the friend who was a bit mean, had a lovely expression for him - short arms and deep pockets, so she was aware that he looked after his pennies, but she never 'wanted' for anything. Strange relationship though, they got divorced, he went to work abroad. He came home after a couple of years, and the next thing we hear is they have married again! We never asked what went wrong the first time, although I believe she found someone else for a short time, but we remained friends wth them both during the separation, and were so pleased when they got back together again He died about 18 months ago, an old school friend of my other half. - sorry, going off track there.