We all have had an encounter with stingy people in life, they seem to be everywhere, the same as greedy people. I have come across a lot of these sets of people all my life and at one point, I even had one as a roommate at the university! He is the major reason why I'm no longer a very generous person as I used to be when I was younger. What happened? Well, let's start from the top.
Right from childhood, I have always been a generous and selfless person, even to the point where I can give out something I know won't be enough for me. In high school, I had 4 very close friends and whenever I buy something (mostly snacks and drinks) for myself during recess, I usually buy for each of them, or during days when I don't have enough money, I buy just a few and they share it.
I didn't bother much about running out of cash because back then, my parents were my supplier 馃槅 but things changed when I got into the university; I no longer have access to the kind of lifestyle I had in high school and I suddenly realized I need to learn how to manage my resources. Despite that, I was still generous and won't hesitate to share the little I have with everyone around me, and that included my roommate.
There was a period when my roommate haven't gotten his allowance from his parents because of some delay, so he depended on my allowance to survive that week. My plan was that we can use my allowance and when his parents give him his own, we can then use that. My money finished in the blink of an eye and with that, I became broke.
I kept asking my roommate if he haven't received his allowance and he kept saying no, but I kept seeing him buying food from restaurants and when I asked him about it, he gives some flimsy excuse like he bought it on credit or he borrowed money from someone. I believed him until I met his sister and jokingly asked her why his brother still haven't gotten any money from their parents and she replied "they sent him some money a few days ago".
When I confronted my roommate, the only thing he said was that the money was too small and he had no option but to manage it till the next one. Wow, I guess I was the fool that chose to share my allowance with him. I told my mom about the whole thing and after some advice which I was expecting, she sent me some money. From that day, things between me and my roommate changed drastically.
I made sure there was an equal contribution to anything we want to do in the house; from cooking to cleaning the house. Whenever we want to cook, I calculate the amount of everything we are going to buy and split it equally. Sometimes, he will refuse to bring any money even when he has a lot and I will just ignore him and go ahead to cook for only myself.
It even got to a point where I bought some padlocks for my wardrobe and started locking my foodstuffs in there. I'm a big believer in reciprocated energy; if I'm putting in 100%, then you should do the same. One of the things I hate in life is a parasitic relationship; where one person will always want to take without giving anything back, and that's how I see a stingy or greedy person.
After I discovered crypto blogging and started making money from hive and readcash, things became much more convenient for me and it became easier to deal with my stingy roommate. I barely cooked at home and ate outside most of the time. I was now the one that had to wait for him to bring up the idea of cooking and if he doesn't, I just go out and buy food from one of my favorite restaurants.
Did I forget to mention he is a very lazy person too? I don't know but it seems being stingy comes with laziness as a bonus package 馃槅 I was the one that did most of the cooking and when I stopped doing that, this roommate of mine had to rely on snacks and soft drinks. After staying with this roommate for 3 years, I got fed up and moved out. I rented another apartment and got a new roommate who's much better than the last one.
Sometimes I don't even bother to tell this new roommate to bring money so we can cook; I can decide to foot all the expenses myself because I know he will do the same next time. That's how it's supposed to be among friends and it's how any relationship should be; everyone involved should be able to put in some effort to make things work, instead of one person giving while the other person only takes.
These days, I have become more conscious of stingy and greedy people. I still openly share things with everyone I meet but once I realize a person is stingy, I immediately cut them off and focus only on people I can rely on. I see no reason why you will have lots of money and refuse to give some to someone in need who has helped you a lot in the past, it's kinda diabolical if you think about it.
Thanks for reading
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