Scenes From The Mall

I have noticed that people determined to get into financial trouble refuse to be dissuaded by common sense or the facts before their eyes. Take car buying for instance. I have been watching the A&E series, The King of Cars, lately. I am fascinated by the dynamics of car buying. More often than not a sale is made not on the total price of the car but on the monthly payment. The number of payments seems irrelevant. Customers will tell the salesman that they want to spend $300 per month, for a $20,000 auto that they have their eye on. Plus they only want a 5 year loan. The saleman will run the numbers and find that the payment is $395 or so. They need to pony up $5000 in down payment to get to $300. Rather than doing it they extend the loan to 72 months, simple. That is no way to buy anything. Most people fall for the "I will always have a car payment trap". The problem with this thinking is that in 2 years when they want the next new car they will find out that they are upside down and will roll they shortage into the new deal. On to saner stuff. On Saturday, the lovely Mrs. Sneed and daughter Sneed decided that they needed to go to the mall to shop for clothes. The lovely Mrs. Sneed also discovered that I still have a shirt and a pair of jeans hanging in our closet, so she figured that there is room for her to get another item or two. I will be getting my own armoire as soon as the Uhaul store gets the large wardrobe boxes back in stock. I'm guessing it will look real nice next to our garden shed. Although the sight of me in my skivvies getting dressed in the yard could startle the neighbors. The lovely Mrs. Sneed and daughter Sneed have some sort of ongoing deal with a national women's clothing retailer. They get these 30% off coupons, good on purchases of $100 or so. They go in together, as near as I can tell, and buy a bunch of sale merchandise, apply the coupon and walk out with bags full of stuff for cheap. The Sneeds, mother and daughter, like to look chic. While they bag their limit of loot, Sneedlet and I look for ways to entertain ourselves. We ride the escalator, look at the puppies at the pet store, play in the playground and, of course, have a ton-o-snacks. You know that you eat too much candy when the candy store manager knows you by name. I am also vigilant for photo ops. I snapped this photo of three adolescent girls in the mall. Evidently plaid is in among the alternative crowd. Black from head to toe is sooooo over. Daughter Sneed entitled it "parochial school goes bad". I cropped the faces to insure privacy, but the crowning touch (pun intended) in the ensembles was the 3-point pirate hat the girl in the middle was wearing. Also note one fishnet stocking up and one down. That's a classy look, no matter what the occasion. Later, at lunch I found quite a surprise in my bowl of chips, the chip of a lifetime. I read that someone found the image of Jesus in a grilled cheese sandwich and another the face of the Virgin in a painted wall. Me? I found a chip that looks just like the bottom of a bikini bathing suit. I have overlayed the chip on an original drawing called "Woman in Ball Point on Napkin" so that viewers get the full effect. I am offering it on Ebay and the reserve price is $100,000. Act now before the bidding gets out of hand and before hoards of hillbillies begin lining up at my place for a look see. If you buy the chip I am throwing in a pair of fishnets, gratis. Merle Tag: Daily Life Personal Finance Humor