Smart Money Happy Hour with Rachel Cruze and George Kamel - Settling the Debate on Your Financial Faux Pas (We’re Divided)

Episode Date: December 5, 2024

💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! So, you booked all the Airbnbs for the group hiking trip, but that was two months ago, and Becky still hasn’t responded to your Venmo request? Awkward. In this episode, Rachel and George are responding to cringy financial faux pas you’ve experienced with friends. Next Steps: 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour  📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it.   Connect With Our Sponsors: 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. 🌿 Get up to 40% off at Cozy Earth with code SMART MONEY.   Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🍹 Division Bell Recipe: Difford’s Guide   Ingredients: 1 ounce mescal 1/2 ounce Maraschino liqueur 3/4 ounce lime juice 3/4 ounce Aperol   Instructions: Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass, then enjoy!   Listen to More From Ramsey Network: 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights   🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💼 The Ken Coleman Show 📈 EntreLeadership   Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey guys, I'm Rachel. I'm George. And this is Smart Money Happy Hour. Cheers, George. Oh, wonderful. That'll cure almost anything. Well, this is the show. We're two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about.

So everything from pop culture, current events, and money. And we're kicking off today's episode with a public debate. Yeah, it's not political. So don't worry, you guys. Don't get scared off. But it is crazy. And it has to do what you. George. That's all I'll say.

Don't pin it on me. Okay. Well, before we get to that, what are we sipping on, Rachel? We've got a division bell. You can taste the divisive. That's funny, actually. The cocktail name fits really well. I actually think out of all the things in this episode, we'll agree that this is a good drink. So good.

So stick around until the end. We'll give you the cost per glass. We'll give you our rating. And the recipe is in the show notes. Okay, so this all started when I heard about something that went on at Mia, who is George's daughter, who just turned one. George's daughter's birthday. But you said that you did something at this party.

I'll let you explain to the people. And I thought... You act like this is public indecency. What a tease. And I thought it was a joke. And I was like, oh, that's funny, George. Or you did it as a joke. And then I learned later on that afternoon that like, no, no, no, no.

He did this, like, it was being serious about it. And I was like, oh, my gosh, George Campbell. You are tacky. So... Tacky. This is an episode about financial faux pause, and apparently I committed one. Big one.

While just trying to prepare for my daughter's future. Like, what a noble way to be tacky. On the backs of friends. Okay, here's what happens. And this is not a joke. Like, I thought this was like a, oh, George, you're funny. What you guys need to know is that I'm tired of crap. And babies just get a lot of stuff.

And people just think, I bet they want more stuff. And so we keep getting stuff. And so I thought for the party, which, by the way, was just family and close friends. I decided to... Close friends. Loud and clear. To be honest, I wanted nothing to do with the invite list,

and it was just like winning about your best girlfriends. I don't have friends. Guys don't want to go to first birthday parties. Can we just say that? That's fair. That's fair. So anyways, I decided, you know what? Instead of making everyone like, hey, bring a gift, bring more stuff.

What if I did a little QR code? and if you so chose, you could give to her future college fund. So I made a cute, it was really cute. It said like, cowgirls, blah, blah, blah, support cowgirls college fund with a QR code to go scan and donate directly to the fund. This was not like my then-mell. So I then posted on social media,

like I'm posting the picture as a joke, like when you give people financial advice and you're the girl that, whatever, as a funny joke, then people thought, wow, he's soliciting donations from social media now. Oh, they thought it was tacky that I was on social trying to get money for my daughter's college fund. Which was not your intent of that.

Which was not the intent. It was supposed to be a funny joke like, this is classic George behavior that amidst all the gifts, George is like, hey, you could donate to the college fund because it will, at a 12% rate of return, it'll turn it, you know, nerding out. Yeah, but it's funny that you would do that

because you would just do that because it's funny, not because you were serious, though. And to be fair, not a single person donated to the college fund. So, but I did get really good at Canva. I became an expert in Canva just making this. Just to make the poster for it. I was very proud of my work. Oh my gosh.

Were you expecting people to donate? I didn't, but if it was me, I would personally rather give to my friend's kids college fund than to like buy them another thing that will likely be thrown away or returned. Did they know this was an option? No, it was a last minute thing. So it wasn't like an adon. Like how you came to the party. Yeah, Whitney already said you by it.

If you happen to want to donate here after you bought a gift, here's this too. Pretty much. Again, Hail Mary. But Rachel thought, I cannot believe you did that. I can't. And so we decided we'd do a whole episode on other financial fauxpaws. That's how we got here. So I want to know in the comments, am I in the wrong?

Am I a terrible dad? Actually, I would love to know. Here's the deal. Anyways. We polled you guys on social media to share more real-life financial dilemmas and faux-paws with friends and finances. And so today we're going to hear your case. As the judge and jury, we're going to share our thoughts. And if QR code gate is any indication,

there might be some friendly debate among Rachel and I. Yeah, this could be good. Okay, before we dive in, do you have any just social pet peeves that come to mind? Ooh, like financial faux paws. I think that, like, you've said this, but the nitpicking of like a Venmo, like, well, it was $4.28 cents per, so we're going to...

Yes. Like amongst friends. Right. You know I don't like the, let's just split it evenly. I think under, like, for sure, under 15 in my book. You're like, don't worry about it. And then you could go a little higher too if you wanted, but like, yeah, like, got you covered. Don't worry.

I'll grab the coffee or whatever, you know. There was one that really grinded my gears, and it's not from a person. It's from a place. Ooh. But I got a to go order from one of my favorite burger places. Yeah. And they started a mandatory tip on to go orders, which I was like, okay, fine. I get it.

They're putting a lot of work into this. They want to chart. Now it went from a 10%. mandatory tip to a 15% automatic gratuity on a takeout order, I grabbed the bag and I leave. And I thought, this is a little bit over the top. Yep. To force my hand into a 15% tip for showing up to your restaurant and grabbing an order. And grabbing an order.

No one waited on me. That's the thing. 15% is when someone waits on you for an hour and pours drinks and brings you food and you add more stuff. I might as well have just enjoyed the meal. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally.

So that one was a real gear grinder for me, a financial faux pa for a small business. owners. Okay, how about this one? Electric car friend to electric car friend. This may be snobby. We went and stayed at a place and it was like this like resort kind of, you know, place. And it was nice. And every hotel that we've stayed in, we'll take the Tesla.

Like we went to Memphis for weddings. We took the Tesla. Like we'll take the Tesla. Like a shorter drive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like within four hours thing. And almost every hotel or place we've been, they'll like, they have charging stations in the parking lot.

This one was a pay. Oh. You had to pay for it. Wow. I know, and I just thought, really? Like, you're trying to make money? Who was making the money, the hotel, or is it like a... No, it was like a company.

Like charge point, runs out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I was like, oh, man, hotel. He could have, like, I don't know. So I thought about that recently, too. Here are the listener submissions. Marie Matthew said, drove to Florida with a friend 600 miles round trip,

but they never offered to pay for gas. Ooh, tacky. Tacky. Now, I want to know the context. Like, they drove in apparently her car. She was driving, I assume, in her car. I mean, 600 miles, I mean, yeah. Was the trip for her?

Were they helping her move? Oh, okay. You know what I mean? Like, I need to know the context in which they decided to go on this road trip. Wow, like a matlock of today. Just really. I prefer wishbone to get into the bar in this case. Or Mary Kate and Ashley, solving any crime by dinner time.

Yeah, you're very Mary Kate right now, Ashley. So, yeah, overall fauxpaw without knowing any more context. And we got Laura Jeremiah, and she's, I bought an air fryer from a co-worker and he charged me an extra $5 just for bringing it into work for me. What? Like a delivery fee? If anything, it's like, thank you for taking my air fryer

and buying it from me. My guess is the next thing was like turn around the phone, like, hey, just going to ask you a few questions. What do you want to tip me? What do you want to tip me? Oh, my gosh. I don't understand. Did he explain it?

He must have and said, hey, it'll be an extra five bucks since I brought it. versus you driving to me and picking it up. You're going to work anyways. Same place. Yeah, that's cheap. That's cheap right there. Don't love that one.

Here's one from Kyla Penner. Forgot to bring a bridal shower gift. Two days later, she called me asking where I dropped off my card. Oh, man. This is giving some Bridezilla McKenzieley energy with a G.H. McKinsey. You know, you know the type. Oh, McKinsey.

Calm down. There's a lot going on here. So you forget to bring the gift. Okay, now my question would be... Did you actually get a gift? Can I go devil's advocate on this one? Sure. What if Kayla said, oh, shoot, I forgot the gift.

I'm so sorry, I'll drop it off later. Right? And, like, makes up an excuse. Hey, where'd you drop off the card? And then, so if someone says that to me, and then I don't see it, I could see a day where you're like, oh, hey, I just want to make sure, like...

I didn't lose it or something. Yeah, that it didn't, like, get, like, blown away if you left out the front door, or like, did you, I don't know. You were the matlock of kindness and benefit of a doubt. Could there be that? Could there be that? You know what I will do?

I will follow up on gifts nowadays, which is so great. Thank you, technology, that, like, you can ship gifts to people directly. Yeah. So, like, for weddings or baby showers. And I do that a lot now. And if I don't hear from them, it's not that I need to thank you, but I do follow up like a week later. And I'm like, hey, did it come?

Like, I want to make sure you got it because I paid for it, making sure you actually got the gift. So I will do a follow-up text. I'm not looking for a thank you, but it's just a... What is your... This is another built-in financial faux-paude. Do you feel like it's a faux-paugh to not send a thank you after getting a gift for a, you know, a baby shower, bridal, a birthday?

I... Written cards. I don't, like, get one and be like, oh, thank God they wrote me a card. Like, I'm like, oh, that's nice. I don't... I'm very, like, neutral to them. That was once a nice first fight. Did you know this?

We were married for eight days or whatever. we were. And it was January duck hunting season or whatever it was. And I know it well. And because I probably had a little Sharon. Love you, Sharon. How a little Sharon in the back of my head. I'm like, I have to write all these thank you cards for our wedding. And we kind of had a big wedding. Like, we, you know. Not that I was invited. And I was like, I didn't know you George 15 years ago. And I remember being like, I must have to get these thank you cards out. And I'm like, gosh, gosh, gosh. And like, I was very overwhelmed. And I remember being like, Winston, will you help me? And he was like, oh, Carson. invited me to go duck hunting this weekend.

Carson, not Carson. And I was like, what? And I cried. Y'all, I cried. I was like, is this what marriage is? Like, where you... He's going to choose Carson over me? We're going to do everything. Oh, yeah, y'all, it was like a first, like,

how do we, you know, and you look back now. I'm like, oh, dear God. I was like, Rachel, geez. Why I felt like this made up expectation of a timeline, number one, and number two, go hunt. I'm like, yeah, it would be a different situation. How could you choose duck hunting over writing thank you guys? I know, right?

Wow, glad that's over. But two weeks in, man, it's like, I don't know. Soul crushing. Is this our life? Is this our life? I'm glad you guys have made it 15 years now. Congrats. Thank you.

Despite the incident. So, yeah, so thank you cards, and I'm terrible at them. I'll say that. And my kids, I make the list at the birthday parties of who brought what gift, and do we send out thank you cards off that list. I just think a text. is enough. Like, hey, thanks so much for the gift. Love seeing you. Me too.

Maybe say what the gift is that you want to go extra. But, like, writing a letter and mailing it, it feels like that's a lot. Maybe a wedding. Do you feel like a wedding in a shower? Maybe is a different level of... There's a formality with weddings that I feel like is there. There's something there. Okay. Anywho. All right. Here's another submission from Neo Teruya.

My friend offered her guest room to me while I was in town. Charge me $15 per night plus an energy bill fee on Venmo. Y'all, who are these people real? People. Like 15 per night is almost, like don't even, why even do it? Why? No. How many nights were you there?

Were you there for a month? It said while you were in town. We don't know how long. Oh my gosh. I could not, I could imagine. But the energy, energy bill fee. I mean, I'm not friends with those people. Like, that's terrible.

If we went and stayed with people, we did that. We recently went to stay with some friends of Chattanooga. They thin moated us friends. People stay at our friends. house. I'm like, no, no, no, we're not doing that. Wow. I cannot imagine charging friends when they stay. Like, if you're going to invite someone over it, like, hey, just stay at our place. Do not charge them money. Yeah, we don't need that. Okay, how about this? Katie Perez says, I've heard moms charging other moms after playdates because their kids ate some of the family snacks.

This actually went viral on, I say Instagram. You may say TikTok. Because I saw it first on TikTok. You saw it a month later on Instagram. Probably. And think you're better than us TikTokers. And, yeah, and this mom was the one charging people. And she's like, can we just normalize, like, charging? Because, like, all the supplies and the snacks and all of this. And I was like, oh, my gosh. What is this?

This is crazy. I feel like I would just send my daughter with all the supplies she needed and say, don't take anything from these people. Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't use their water. We're not going to get dead mode after this. Don't do anything. Don't flush the toilet. Can't use anything.

They're going to charge us for that, too. Man. That's overkill. Why are the moms? Are moms that, I feel like, they're real and mom. that are that petty out there? Like, I understand if they're going to go do an adventure. Hey, we're going to take them to Chuck E. Cheese.

Great. I'm going to give her money. Yeah, yeah. That's right. That's right. Yeah, yeah. If you're going out somewhere and there's like an omission, a movie or something, for sure. What if your kids are going over to a friend's house?

And it's like, hey, we're getting a bunch of pizzas. And you're like, hey, look, I'd love to, like, chip in to. You know what? I don't chip in for pizzas. Okay. Yeah. And no one's chipped in for me. Like, I think that's a...

Unspoken rule. If you have friends when they're over, we'll cover it when... Yeah, that is funny, though, because then, like, I'll take a bunch of girls to, like, Sonic or something after school. We've done that, and, like, the moms will Venmo me. And I'm like, I didn't ask for it, but they will. But people don't do pizza. So that's an interesting... I'm thinking about my own childhood now, because I was always over our friend's houses,

and we'd just, like, eat whatever they were having for dinner. Yeah. Uh-huh. And I don't think there was any money exchanged for any of this. You know, it's funny, though, I had Denise and my sister over and her family, and we ordered a bunch of pizzas to our house. and Denise Venmoed me after for the pizza. Sweet Denise.

For the pizza. I know. And I was like, I mean, I think some people are just more conscious of that stuff, I guess. And it's more for them. If it's like if that's what they want to do, then fine.

It's not going to hurt you. Like it's not what you didn't ask for it. It was almost like a generosity thing. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. It's so funny. Way to go, Denise.

All right, this next one, George. S. Chodis said, Our church friends stopped talking to us when we wouldn't buy an MLM product from them. Good. They weren't, here's a thing. You think they were friends. This was all a lead-up to get you to buy the product.

They don't actually like you, probably. Okay, George, do you feel like MLMs have died out? Because I just don't hear about them as much anymore. I think people caught on to it, and some of them have gone under. I mean, beauty counter had a pretty famous blow up. And so all the people in the downline lost their income. And Tupperware just filed bankruptcy. Wait, beauty counter's done?

I don't think they're coming back. I think they were like, hey, we're going to just disappear for a little while. And I think people kind of see the writing on the wall. I'm not in the like MLM scoop community. Sure. Someone can prove me wrong that it's coming back with a vengeance. But I think overall MLMs have sort of, it was almost like a trend and it's hopefully dying out. Some will stick around.

Sure. The ones with better products and services will stick around. But overall, I don't think the model is. But they stopped talking to you because you didn't buy their products. But that to me says this was not a true friendship. Any true friendship that ends because you didn't buy a thing is not a friendship. It was transactional. That is crazy.

And they faked it really well up until then. All right. We got Sam Martinez. And he says, if you're out to dinner at Bucco de Beppo and everyone orders wine, but you're sober, you shouldn't have to spill it the bill, right? Wow. This one goes back to my thing. I like everyone gets the apps and the drinks and I got one thing in a water.

I feel like it's not fair to then charge me the same. same. Yeah, I agree. Don't put that socialism on me. So no, I equal. All equals. Not a faux pa here to say... Well, Bucco de Bepo is hard because it is family style. So it's not like everyone gets their own individual entree. Wow. Look at you defending Bucca

de Beppo. Well, in their defense, it's a family style. It's authentic Italian experience. You don't eat. It's not like, oh, I'm ordering my, you know, salad and water here. It is a shared. So that is a harder

a restaurant to divvy up checks. Agreed. But also, it's, I get that it's a lot of work to get, like, the waiter to split it, but it's also, they're used to it. So I don't buy when someone's like, well, it's just easier to just do it all together so the waiter doesn't have to. And if the waiter comes over with one big bill, I go, hey, I know it's a pain. Would you mind splitting it up? And they go, okay, and they go split it up. But I think calling it out, like, hey, if you guys are going to get alcoholic, would you mind if I'm just on a separate tab? Just calling it out early on. Okay, because I would say, the appetizer, I would say the alcohol is for sure the difference,

because it is expensive, right? And if you get- Especially in Tennessee, because there's a liquor tax. Did you know this? 15% on top of everything else. On top of your normal tax, on top of tip, extra 15%. Because we don't have income tax. They get us.

That's how they get us. But if there's like a spinach dip in the middle of the table. I mean, you're going to get a bite. I don't know. I don't know, right? That's a good one. What do you think about people who, this happens? happens to me often, someone who sneaks up and gets the waiter their card and sneakily pays for

the table. It's great. No faux pauses there. Is there a good way to do it? Is there a bad way to do it? Like if you're the one like paying for the dinner? Yeah. I mean, I would just tell the waiter, hey, it's all just going to be able to check. Oh. Yeah, we'll do that. And then I'll say this, on the end of like wanting to be generous, this just happened like last week. And it's like, yeah, we'll treat them. And then the people that fight it. No, split it. Oh, yeah. I'll split it, you know. Like, I get it, but I don't know. Yep.

That's a very, also coming from Middle Eastern culture, that every single time. Like, the dads at the table are fighting. You can't, like, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, okay, can we just be done with this charade? Totally, totally, totally, totally. Yep. But my brother is the, he is the king of, I'm going to, he's going to sneakily get it.

He did it yesterday. He was in town. And we're with a big group, and he's, I'm like, how did you even get your card to the waiter? Like, I didn't even see you get up. It's like a magic trick. He's like David Blaine of generosity. See, that's so much. But he is very generous.

Yeah. And I think people that's like they're like... They're love language almost. Yeah, it's what they do. Yeah, I love it. It's great. It's very, very nice. All right.

Next, Nicolette. Nicolette. Nicolette. Galvin? Govonne. Govonne. Govon. She said, my friend always gives me extravagant birthday and Christmas gifts, but I can't afford to do the same for her.

Aw. That's fine. No faux pa here, but I do think some communication might be helped. in this relationship. I don't think, here's the thing, when people give extravagant gifts, I don't think they expect the same level of extravagance in return.

I think they're just naturally gift givers. Yeah. But in our minds, we go, I need to return the fate. Now I've got to get them a really nice gift. And the truth is, if you get them, whatever you want to get them,

it's going to be great. Yes, that's right. And I'll be honest, to get birthday gifts from other friends as an adult is always shocking to me. I got some orders to cancel. Do you...

Never mind, I thought. Do you feel like that, though? I went out to lunch with a bunch of my girlfriends for my birthday and like two of them brought me a gift. And I'm like, I just don't expect, I do not expect. That's true. I have maybe one or two friends that still want to do like a birthday gifts. I mean, it's really nice.

Exactly. I accept it with. It's very fun. But I just, yeah, I just have zero. I'd rather do like, hey, we're going out to this Mexican restaurant, come join us for my birthday. Yeah. That kind of thing.

Yep. All right, Jesse 618 says, my work friend says I still owe $25 for a group gift that she put together for our boss, but I never agreed to that. I will say group gifts are the bane of my existence. And we've done them here, so it's not like... I know it happens a lot.

So traditional etiquette says that you never gift up at work. It's like giving your boss a gift. That's just traditional etiquette. Not saying it doesn't happen, not saying it's not okay, but just the proper way to do it is peers or people that are like kind of down, maybe your team members. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, if a leader gets a gift for their team versus a team,

remember getting a gift for their leader. That makes sense. But I'm not a fan of group gifts where it's like, hey, we're all going in, here's what you owe. I don't like that. You don't. Not a fan. I do it because I'm just like, whatever, I will assimilate and not be the squeaky wheel. Who's like, I'm not doing it.

I'm principal. Just, it's fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. See, group gifts for me, because I think about teacher gifts here at work, there's some of these that happen. And it's more convenient for me. To just be like someone else is dealing with it. They've thought of it. Kind of.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can just send a Venmo and be done. Yeah. That's fair. So you think that you're happy to pay because of the convenience. I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I don't think it's with people that are outside of like a situation that I'm like,

why would I get them like a gift? Because, like, I don't even talk to them or whatever, you know. Yeah. There's usually something there. I don't know. The group gift I like. I want to make it clear. No one has ever gotten me a group gift.

We'll make sure to Venmo and get some money after the shoot, George, for you. This is a good one. Barbara B got invited to a holiday party and was asked to Venmo my portion. Oh, my gosh. Barbara B. Barbara Bush? We don't know. It could be.

This sounds like something she would get herself into. Unless it's a casual potluck style, this is the question. Should the host cover everything if they're hosting a dinner party? Or is it okay to say, hey, are you guys cool chipping in? I think if you're catering in food. Oh. I think a text could be like, hey, we're going to bring in this. What if I buy filet mignon steaks from the grocery store?

Yeah, that feels cheaper to me for some reason. I don't know why. Wow. I don't know why. If someone's cooking steak and you're like... Yeah, it depends on the experience. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because our friend, mixologist Michael Reddish,

he throws these very elaborate Halloween parties. We're talking swag and catering. And so there is a ticket fee. Like I go on, he makes it like a full event registration, and you pay a fee because it covers, it helps cover the cost of the event. It's not a money-making scheme. They're not making money at all.

But it's a very expensive thing to put on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. So that's the only time I think it makes sense to pay a fee to attend a party. But if it's just like a friend's hosting at their house. But if someone's like I'm having a Christmas party, we all please come and then they ask you to Venmo.

I do always try to bring a gift. Like maybe a bottle of something or, you know. Yeah, yeah, totally don't. Or if I just say, is there anything I can bring? I think it's a nice thing to ask. Always. Yes. Yeah, I agree. I'm with you.

All right. Hey, we finally agreed on something. Oh, that's good, George. I'm glad we're on the same page. I cannot wait for you to read this next one. Oh, my gosh. Is this real? This is funny. This is real. Allison Ramsey.

My sister-in-law, she answered this. So when you're a Ramsey and someone goes to pay for something, it is like, oh, so sorry about my credit card. The apologetic nature. Happens all the time. Of a non-raint, like, oh, they always pointed out. Do you deal with that with your friends? Yes.

Like if we all throw our cards in, everyone's like, sorry, Rach, you know. Like, I'm putting on the Capital One, don't be upset. Or they'll be like, overt your eyes. We'll probably get a free flight out of this, Southwest. You know, like, they'll always like rub it in. Rub in the points in the airline miles. That's happened to dinner before. People really, like cornered me.

Friends were like, no, but really, like you have a credit card, right? I was like, this is my entire wallet. It's just a license and a debit card. Oh, yeah. And they're shocked. It's like a magic trick. No, yeah. People know me, George.

They know you. They know you don't secretly got nothing. Yeah. No, but that, yeah, yeah, people, or people that we don't, I mean, our good friends don't do that anymore, but, like, if we don't really know the couple and they're like, they think it's a joke, like. Very funny.

Like, I remember growing up, going out to dinner with Mom and Dad and the waiter, this happened a lot. Hope this isn't a credit card. Oh, because I see Dave. Always, and Dave's like, it's a debit card. That happened to me at Costco once. The lady didn't even stop. She just walked right past me and said,

hope you're paying cash for that. And I was like, yep, kept walking our separate ways. Just kept on going. Just a quick little aside. And that's accountable, public. Appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right.

This one comes from It's Zach Ford. I believe that's a friend of ours. Yes. One of my high school buddy sends his child support via Venmo every month for the world to see. Sometimes it's labeled passive aggressively like, didn't have to be this way. Wow. Is it a faux pa? That's funny.

That's really funny. I see more humor in it than I see faux pawness. Oh, that's funny. Did it have to be this way? It didn't have to be this way. It's such a dark joke, but I'm here for it. Oh my gosh. I love it.

I think people are putting anything publicly on Venmo. Like my Venmo is set to private for everything. Yeah, mine is too. There's not a single payment that I'm like, I think people should know about this one. You know what? I don't even know. How do you know if it is?

Oh, I need to check Rachel's Venmo. No, hold on, hold on. She's been public all this time. How do I know? There'll be a little lock next to the transaction. Lock, lock, lock, lock, lock, lock. I am. I am zipped up, y'all. This is great.

It's an easy setting. Got it. I do, like, my only social media that I really enjoy is the Venmo transaction feed. It's amazing. Do a lot of people keep it public? Yeah. And they're like, you're deciphering what happened. Yeah.

Like, I tell myself the story of what I think is being paid for. Lunch. And it's like $400 or something. And you're like, what happened? What is just like weird emojis or like cryptic words? I'm like, what happened here? What does this really mean? That is good entertainment.

That's a good one. Okay. Oh my gosh. Out of all the submissions, which one really stuck with you? I'd say a guest room. That one stuck out for sure. I mean, the hospitality, I'm reading a John Mark Comer book right now, and part of it's about hospitality.

And that just goes in the face of like, just be a good person. And like open your hands and your life to people. And like, that's terrible. I'm going to say that. That's a really good one. I'm going to go with the air fryer delivery fee. That one I think is actually creative and petty, which I appreciate the creativity.

If you're going to charge someone a feed just to bring it to work where they already go every day, that's sad. And just for fun, because it's been a while since we have role played and people loved Rick and the Boat situation, we have one last listener submission that we're going to act out.

So here's what Jennifer sent in. I do freelance photography on the side and people always ask if I can, quote, take a few picks free of charge. This conversation never gets easier. How do I tell them that this is my work and I deserve to be paid for it? Oh, man.

So you're going to be the frugal. freelancer. I'm going to be the socially unaware friend slash customer. Okay. Jen, girl, oh my gosh, I saw that y'all are going to Destin and we're going to be there at the same time. Oh my God, no way. Are you guys, what part of the same? Yeah, we'll be on 30A right there. So great. I know y'all stay there with your family. Is there any way like, we should like meet up maybe for drinks and maybe we can just grab a few like family picks if you don't mind? Just like just kind of a quick, like real quick, free, like not a big shoot.

Oh, Patrice. This is easy, Patrice. You just threw me a softball. I don't work on vacation. I'm so sorry. Oh, no, no, girl, it wouldn't be like work. Like, obviously you're going to have your camera, taking picks your own family.

Like, we'll just, like, jump in for a quick pick. Like, quick pick, all white, against the Dune, like, just really classic. It'll be so fun. We can hang. I'll bring some drinks. It'll be a good time. Sound good?

Okay. Okay. Yes. Awesome. You're the best. Your photos are like so good. Like I don't know what filter you're using or if it's your camera,

but it's clearly not you. It's the filter of the camera. My favorite disc to a photographer. What camera do you use? Because your photos are so good. That's a tough one. Because I made it so like, it's like not even a work.

It's so not a big deal. I'm basically giving you something. I think photographers get the short in the stick all the time. People that are like starting a photography business. It's like, hey, do you care to come shoot a couple of pictures with my family? Let's be in our backyard.

It's not a big deal. And you're like, no, but it takes so much time to edit. I don't think people know the time and effort it puts in for that kind of thing. 100%. Can I say, we did this yesterday with our friend Cody. He took family picks and we pay him. We don't expect anything for free. I'm like, hey, man, like how much do we need to Venmo you?

And it was great. So great. Because I want to make sure that he knows, like I respect his talent, his time. Yes. And the fact that he would do this for us. And what they do. Pay your friends. I get, like if you want to.

Don't beat Patrice. If you want to be like, like, hey, like, I've done like, hey, you got like a friend discount, you know. Yep. And usually like, yeah, we'll take, you know, 50 bucks off or whatever. I'm not trying to. Totally. Really, like, take him to the cleaners on this.

Yes. But it's always a kind gesture to do for a friend. For sure, for sure. So that's a good one. And you failed. Wow, you threw out the beach aspect. That was hard. I would.

The vacation went quick. I mean, I would be like, oh my gosh, girl. Like, I would, but, you know, with the in-laws, like, I don't know where we're going to be. So, like, I feel like vacation. There's a lot of ways to get out of it. But if it's like, hey, do you guys, do you mind coming to, I think it would be harder to say, I'm going to charge you for it than to say, oh, my gosh, the kid's schedule's crazy.

I don't have time. Like, right, the excuse is more on the time and effort standpoint versus like, I need to be paid for this. You know what I mean? Yeah. I think a good friend wouldn't put you in that position if we're going to be really honest. Yeah, let's hope not. Let's hope not. Okay.

So what's the takeaways here? All right. So, listen, some expenses are uncontrollable. right, they're going to happen, which is why you want to create margin with your money, because things are going to come up that you may be like, oh, I need to chip in on the gift that's coming or whatever it may be that you don't realize. And so having a budget is so key. So if you have not done a budget, you guys, every dollar is the best tool to use.

So you can actually do a free budget. We'll leave a link in the description, but make sure to do that because it gives you peace of mind when things do come up that you're like, oh yeah, I do actually need to VINMO someone or pay for this thing, you have the margin to do it. And it gives you the margin to be generous. If you just want to spontaneously cover it and go, listen, it's not worth the relational transaction, awkward tension. Let's just cover it and be done.

You can do that when you budget for it. Yeah, I'd also say communicate, right? The road trip stuff on here, dinners out. Like, if there's a thing, you know, and if you're on a tight budget, you're like, nope, I'm not going to be paying for everyone's fillets, right? I'm not going to split a filet with everyone. Then say it out loud and be okay with that, right?

Maybe you don't plan to get filet mignon for everyone at your party. Yeah, that's right, too. Yeah, for sure. Make good decisions. And again, communicating and setting the boundaries ahead of time is important. Don't do it on the back end and blindside people because that's not fair to them. That's actually on you. That's right.

That's right. So good. I learned a lot. Thank you for all your submissions. That was a lot of fun. I know. It was so wonderful. All right, you guys, it's almost the end of the episode.

And we close out every episode with Guilty as charged. And this is where our producer Kelly gives us a new guilty-as-charge question every week. If we're guilty, we take a sip. Kelly. All right. Have you ever stalked someone on social media? And if so, did you ever get found out? Oh, that got dark real quick. Yes, yes. Define stalking.

Like, if I just go to the profile casually once in a while, is that considered a stock? Yeah, you're looking at what they're doing. Oh, I did a deep stock on someone I didn't even know. Are you ready for this? So we were going on this trip, this was like a few years ago, to this new place. You can go on Instagram where people tag photos of the place. You know what I mean? Like if they're somewhere and they like take a picture and they tag the-

Like a resort. The location. You can go to the resort page and see all the posts. Yeah, because I look at those more when we travel versus like what the website shows. Yes, because you get more of the real like, okay. Instagram versus reality. Except it's Instagram. And when I just couldn't sleep, y'all.

And we were going to this place. I was like, and I looked it up on Instagram. I was like, oh. And I looked at the tags and there was this wedding. Like crazy. Over the top? over-the-top wedding, and I was like, who are these people? Y'all, for about an hour and a half at, like, one in the morning.

I found out every, and I Googled, like, the dentistry, the dad owned. I mean, I, like, knew everything about this family. I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop. Yeah, no, that's sociopath level of manipulation, Rachel. I'm proud of you. I thought about it, though. I was like, oh, my gosh, this is, and it scared me for myself of, like, wow.

Like, what are you capable of? What kind of breaking bad situation could you find yourself? What do people know about me that they could like weasel their way in, right? That's a good point. I'll have to stalk tonight and see what I can find out.

I'll report back. But yeah, I did some, that was my deepest stalking. And I went like in-laws, I mean, I knew everything about this thing. Like, oh, call me crazy. Okay, I just realized as you were saying that, I'm very guilty of this.

It was someone in our neighborhood and we're always like, what do they do? Like, how are people always over their house? Like 9 a.m., 10 p.m., people overhanging. She finds them out. And I was like, is she deep in an MLM? Like, are there always, and so I did some

Googling. Yeah. Way too deep. I had people in all. I had a team. Figuring out who this people were. And it was the most boring. I was like, I have no, I'm no further. Yeah. To the truth. Yeah. But I know way too much about them.

I'm like, I know maiden names. I know kids' names. I know the dog name. I'm like, this is, I need to go to bed. Yes. This is too much. I know. And if you're wondering, no, I don't have hobbies. Thanks for asking. If you're a good stalker online, though, there's some people in my life that if I was like, hey, will you find this person and they know how to do it? They're like the...

It's a good skill to have. Investigator. Not a helpful skill, but a good one. Investigator, yep. Wow. All right. You creeped. Happened before.

I know y'all, but I don't know why I remember that one, but I do. And I was like, and if I see them... What if you befriend her? Well, no, I didn't... Is she a celebrity or no, can you say? No, no, no. No, nope. Just family from South Carolina.

I just wanted to have a great wedding. Cool. Wow. Okay. Let's talk about this drink. It was the division bell. Delicious. Who finished first?

You were closer rating? I'm going 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10. You cannot improve on this drink. This drink costs... It was so good. It's only $2.83. Really?

Which is on the low side for these cocktails. It's got mescal, maraschina liqueur. Oh. Lime and aporal. It's like really easy. Yeah, yeah. Very balanced. while remaining complex, which is what I look for in a cocktail.

So good. You can find the recipe in the show notes. I highly suggest you give it a try this weekend if that's what you're into. I love it. Well, you guys, it's closing time. So make sure to leave us a review if you enjoyed this episode. And if you want to hear more crazy financial faux pauses, make sure to check out our conversation we had with actually my mom, Sharon Ramsey.

One of the best episodes. It's a good one. And make sure to follow, subscribe. so you don't miss an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.