It seems that I spoke too soon about feeling sympathy for Farmer H. After our conversation Saturday evening, he's on his own. He revealed that he's like the scorpion in The Scorpion and the Frog. He cannot change his nature, just like a leopard cannot change its spots.
On my way home from town, I was thinking how, even if I won a big jackpot on my scratchers, Farmer H would probably claim it for himself. Under the guise of saying it's for US. Even though his Storage Unit Store earnings are only for HIM.
I broached the subject when he came in from his Storage Unit Store at 5:15.
"I just started scratching. I was thinking about how you always wish I would hit a big jackpot. I bet you would think that's OUR money."
"Well, it would be! Why would you need all that money?"
"It's money I'd make with my hobby of playing scratchers. You use YOUR weekly allowance for auctions and stuff for your store."
"I never asked for your $10,000."
"What $10,000?"
"That you won at the casino."
"That was $8,600. And I only got $6,400 after taxes. It's still in the safe."
"I don't ask you how much you spend on scratchers."
"As you shouldn't. It's MY allowance that I'm playing on."
"Well, if you won a million dollars, you wouldn't need all that money."
"But still, it would be money I won playing on my weekly allowance."
"That's stupid. It should be OUR money."
"You don't share your Storage Unit Store money with us."
"I go down there and work for that money!"
"I go to town and decide where to buy my scratchers with my money!"
"I spend it on stuff for the flip house!"
"And you get your money back IN FULL every month! You always get reimbursed from OUR money. I do all your bill-paying and record-keeping, and I don't ask for money."
"I do all the work on the flip houses, and I don't get paid nothin'."
"I raised the kids for 18 years, while you sat in front of the TV at night after I made your supper and cleaned up, got the kids homework done, saw that they had a bath, and made sure they had clean clothes every day. THEN I had time to do the grading and planning part of my job. And took them with me everywhere, so you could build your little sheds, and a giant Freight Container Garage we didn't need, and have two tractors, and buy a lawnmower without telling me. I didn't get paid for any of those hours and chores for 18 years. So don't tell me how much you deserve my hobby money if I win big!
It's not like I will let us be hauled off to the poorhouse. If we need to use my potential fortune, we will. But right now we don't need it. And I'll be darned if I put that as-yet-unwon amount into a joint account for Farmer H to spend at will!!!
Sweet Gummi Mary! You can agree with me or disagree. I don't care. I just needed to get that out. What's his is his, what's ours is his, and now apparently what might futurely be mine is his!!!
Sounds a lot like my first ex, it was all his, no matter what the "all" was, he was the one working and bringing in the money, yet I was the one raising the kids and keeping the house clean and making sure the bills were paid. With HIS money of course, but because he never learned to budget, when I eventually went back to work I still kept paying all the bills while he then kept his earnings to himself. Yet somehow he was always broke! Anyway, unless Farmer H chips in for the cost of scratchers, you don't have to tell him what you win or share it. If I was to win a big lotto jackpot, I'd share with my kids, but my ex wouldn't get one red cent.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's like they have to be in charge of everything, with our purpose to serve them, rather than have a life. If I won a big jackpot, I would share with the kids, and even give some to Farmer H. But the bulk of it would be put into a CD to earn interest. Farmer H would see it as FREE MONEY to go out and spend on a third tractor, or or new truck, or something else we don't NEED.
I must have trained HeWho loves to sit all day to know that whats mine is mine and whats his is also half mine! I ould hve to adit that even though he is lazy, he is generous with me and I buy whatever I want. I am more careful with money than he is!
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteI would need a shock collar for training Farmer H. The size to bring down a large bull, since he is so bull-headed. He doesn't object to me buying things, as far as I can tell. I don't buy much, other than groceries and a printer, and occasional work clothes for The Pony. Farmer H has always felt that NEW MONEY should be spent, not saved. Like tax refunds. I gave up telling him what it would be, because he'd be scheming on how to spend it. Once it hit the bank account, I'd tell if he asked. Then explain that it needed to stay in the account to cover my health insurance all year.