Any phone call that begins with..."Hello Daddy!"..

oldfart · Thu May 29, 2008 10:13 am

Well now folks sit back and fill yer pipe and grab a beer. This tale might take a while to tell. An no..I'm not airin' any dirty laundry....I'm just sharin' some thoughts on what parents go thru with kids....even when their children are 27yrs. old!! I thought the whole episode funny in an odd sort of "Parental Way." Got a call on the answering machine today from my beloved daughter. "Hi! Daddy!" Mind ye folks..that's a tip-off right away that yer about to git gigged for money/cash/frogskins! "Hi! Daddy!" means...."How much cash do you have on hand..right now..and can I borrow it??"..in parental language. If they say..."Hi! Dad!"...or "Hello Dad!"... it means their freezer is empty, the car is broke, they need to borrow..(HAW!HAW!HAW!....yeah right!!!)...something. Also...."borrow/loan/lend/let-me-use" is a non-sensical term. To adults the previous phrases mean "at some point to return." To our children it means..."give me!" Hmmm? And so on to our phone message. "Hello Daddy....I need to borrow (a small chuckle)...$250 to "catch up on some bills" and I'll call you right back as soon as I'm done text-messaging...whoever!" "LOVE YOU!".....!! &*$#!&%#!!*....I know I'm gonn'a git gammahooched...I'm just waitin' for the total amount of the gammahoochin'!! Ahhh yes..more to come..and my reply! Audie..the tightfisted frugal pennypinchin'....Oldfart!

oldfart · Thu May 29, 2008 10:43 am

Well now folks..here it comes. Dear daughter needs $250 to "catch up on some bills" and I'm sittin' here steamin' and I pick up the phone and leave the following message. "Donna...got your message on the answering machine and here's the deal. You and your boyfriend make $100K a year and I make $25K a year...and you need to borry $250 to make it thru the week! Hmmmm? I live inn'a a 38yr. old trailer and ya'll live inn'a a $250,000 home..and I have money in the bank...do I see a problem here? I don't owe a soul..you can't make it thru next week! His car is setting down in Hagerstown (broke down) and yet ya'll are heading to Baltimore for a Pool Shooting Tournement this weekend...right?? Can ya see where I'm going with this Donna?? Do we have a priority problem here Donna? Call me crazy..but...no problem. The cash is out in the grill in an envelope. Daddy can just walk to work on account of he cain't afford gas to drive his van. It's only 6 miles...I'll leave 2 hours early and wear sneakers! If it's cold I'll just wrap my feet in rags and use the walker to git me the last few miles! If the rags wear out...I'll wrap my tattered feet in leaves and beer-cans and CRAWL the last few miles on my hands and knees to work...no problem!" Love....Dad! Ahhh yes...recieved a return message..."Thanks Daddy!" And some folks wonder why some animals eat their young at birth......Audie..the Oldfart...

Thu May 29, 2008 11:34 am

We're planting the seeds early in our 10-year-old son. He's already talking of driving and owning a car. By the time that happens at age 16, we'll have it well beaten into his head that he'll only own a car if he has a job and can pay the expenses. Be a good life lesson there!

Even now at age 10, he only gets money if he's done his chores or brings homes A's (money is also subtracted for bad grades, which luckily don' t happen very often).

So hopefully we're planting some good seeds for later in life as for sure I don't want no 27-year-old living at home or calling for money! Heck, by then, he better be making enough money that I should be calling him. LOL.

Mark

mokehillannie · Thu May 29, 2008 1:09 pm

Audie,
You are too funny, but how true.

Mark,
I hope your early training works, but they learn such bad things from their peers.

Harry · Thu May 29, 2008 1:29 pm

Yo

And I thought I was the only one who got those calls!!

Harry

Greg · Thu May 29, 2008 8:12 pm

Mine finally gave up asking for money. If they need help doing something, I'll lend a hand, beyond that, sorry! Greg

Barb P · Fri May 30, 2008 5:12 pm

Ahh yes, I remember well, those phone calls. I hope them days is gone forever, but one should never say never, should one?

Once again Audie, you gave me my laugh for the day. ( I was allowed to laugh, wasn't I?)

Jim from Canada · Sat May 31, 2008 3:43 pm

The same goes for email. I just got one that cost $100. lol

Jim

oldfart · Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:25 am

Aye Barb..of course you're allowed to laugh! That was the intent of the post! HAW!HAW!HAW! As hard-hearted and tightfisted an old hermit as I claim to be...somebody always finds a chink in my armor. In this case my daughter. And Mark...I thought I brought her up better than this. I never gave her an allowance. If she wanted a few sheckles..she pulled weeds or mowed the grass. Harrumph! Ohh yeah I might have bought a few pairs of over-priced sneakers or jeans. But not many I kin tell ye! And she bought her own first car! Me and her great Grandfather chipped in a leetle bit..but not much! (o.k....we payed half..she payed half) But I never payed for her car insurance!! I told her..."You can't pay..you can't play...simple as that!" And she larned to do the maintenance on her car. Time to change the oil..(every 3000mi.) she brought it home and pulled it up on the ramps and got dirty. "Daddy ain't doin' it..every 2 months!"...I hollered! Taught her where the air-filter was..showed her how to change it. Check&fill the windsheild washer fluid weekly. "Check the air-pressure in the tires every time ya change oil!!"...I ranted! "There's 3 dipsticks in every car..the yellow one if for the oil..the red one is fer the transmission...the other one is behind the wheel. Pull them out often and make sure they're where they ought to be!"....I growled! Don't know where I went wrong. She's good on auto-maintenence...usually. Don't know squat about finances. Audie..the dumb-founded Oldfart...

Yanita · Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:03 pm

Audie, ROFLMAO...

The kids of today huh, go figger! Mine were raised not unlike yours, and not unlike yours when they over spend their budget they certainly want to over spend mine as well.

In all honesty, yup in the past year I got about 3500.00 in credit card debt for there vehicle repairs. I'll pay you back every pay day Mom...well neither one has a job at the moment and of course I am paying the bill...so really, who didn't learn the lesson...them or me!

Nope never co signed a loan, never paid their insurance and they can't use my car... again...let one of the boys borrow the car and it cost me a 489.00 rim! Of course nobody did it, it was fine when they brought it back, blah blah blah...

Live and learn, and in my case pay the bill! But never again...

Yanita

lonestar1947 · Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:45 pm

Audie! I was stationed at Fort Ritchie, MD in 1987-1991! We were close to Waynesboro, PA so I spent most of my off time there! I remember seeing mobilehomes around the area, but never thought I'd own one; I never considered living in something that once had wheels on it.

Fast forward a decade.

I've owned a mobile since 2001, and yes, it still has the wheels on it! I love it, and look for mobilehome parks and mobilehomes whenever I travel!

readysetgo · Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:34 pm

Hi everybody, its been awhile. I just had to reply to this one. I think children just want to confuse us sometimes. Our son, now 29, is so different than when we were raising him. We had an on going struggle with him over the simplest chores the entire time we were raising him. I mean it disrupted our entire life just trying to get him to take out the garbage. We did give him an undeserved allowance that he spent as soon as we went to a store. Yet when he left home(18) he totally changed. He went to work and then went to school, paid for by himself, works and works overtime. He's never ask us for a dime. His father and I just can't figure it out. Sometimes I think they're just born that way. We never did get him to (on his own) do any chore without a fuss. Go figure