Dear So and So

[emily_in_nc]

Wow, Blueberry, I am surprised and saddened to hear this. Very surprising a good, established med school would do this to you.

That sucks!

[Pax]

Wow, Blueberry, I am surprised and saddened to hear this. Very surprising a good, established med school would do this to you.

That sucks!

Agreed, and to eschew responsibility so thoroughly, that truly sucks!

[emily_in_nc]

That would bother me too, Sheila! Seems to me that an awful lot of people are relying on gofundme (and similar) these days. In the "old days", families would help out financially if one in the extended family was having a tough time, but in this age of social networking, it seems that some are taking advantage of their social networks for things they should be able to handle on their own or within their families.

Perhaps it sounds cold and heartless, but in many of these cases, I think it's going a bit overboard to expect your friends to pitch in -- especially for something optional like a new bicycle. Hey...we want kayaks, perhaps I should set up a gofundme page!

[Crankin]

We stopped speaking to my BIL and family, when he set up a Go Fund Me page supposedly for his daughter who had leukemia. He had insurance and a good job. They wanted a new house... his daughter is fine after a bone marrow transplant (so we hear), but she got a Make a Wish Trip to "go shopping."
I think that's wrong. Her parents could take her shopping.

[ny biker]

This reminds me of a situation years ago with some friends (who are now ex-friends). They had two young children at the time. They believed that vacations were supposed to be for adults only, not children. So they planned elaborate trips to Europe just for the two of them. And expected their family and friends to take care of the kids while they were away. So grandfather took the kids for a couple of days, one friend took them for a weekend, another friend took them for a few days. I was appalled. When we were growing up, sometimes my parents would go away for a weekend on their own, but real vacations included all of us. And we never had much money so the trips were to visit relatives, or to go camping someplace close to a historic site. Anyway. What really got me about these (ex-)friends was when the wife looked me in the eye and asked me, "what days will you be taking our children while we're on vacation?" Not "can you please help out" but "when will you take them." So I said "none." I'm sure the look on my face said much more than that.

(This actually was not the reason they became ex-friends. But that's a story for another day.)

[Blueberry]

What really got me about these (ex-)friends was when the wife looked me in the eye and asked me, "what days will you be taking our children while we're on vacation?" Not "can you please help out" but "when will you take them." So I said "none." I'm sure the look on my face said much more than that.

On my. That's some entitlement. Don't blame you one bit. We're expecting we'll get a similar request from the BIL one day. He has one, they want more - and they are travel obsessed (while we're been saving money for retirement, etc.). Hopefully her mom will take them (they bought a gigantic house with an extra wing for her) - but nothing would surprise me.

I've also become frustrated by the many, many go fund me pages out there. It seems like half of our local news stories have funding pages attached to them. I realize there's a lot of hurt and need in the world, but at some point, it gets excessive.

Thanks also for the sympathies on the medical school situation. There's not really much we can do - graduate, get the MD, and move on. Doubt I will have forgotten when they ask for donations, though (actually, they already are). Trying to keep the debt down so that I don't have to make a decision based on earning potential - as some of my classmates who will be 200-300k in debt (for a state school) will have to.

[Crankin]

NY, that story is terrible. If you want to travel without your kids, then hire a babysitter, like I did, or ASK the grandparents. I was lucky that I had several people who I hired, some relatives, some co-workers, as well as the family of our teenaged babysitter.

[azfiddle]

Dear 7th grade student who shared the test answers: I don't know who you are but you got at least three other kids in trouble with me and the office and now everyone in all four classes will have their test score thrown out and have to take a new and harder version of the very easy quiz I gave you.

And thank you for the opportunity to stay an hour late after school on a Friday afternoon to rewrite the test for Monday.

Sincerely, your extremely annoyed teacher.

[emily_in_nc]

We stopped speaking to my BIL and family, when he set up a Go Fund Me page supposedly for his daughter who had leukemia. He had insurance and a good job. They wanted a new house... his daughter is fine after a bone marrow transplant (so we hear), but she got a Make a Wish Trip to "go shopping."
I think that's wrong. Her parents could take her shopping.

Wow. I knew people were taking advantage of it, but that's ridiculous. Don't blame you for cutting them out of your lives. Some people have zero ethical compass and feel no shame!

[Crankin]

The neeve of people. I saw this on FB, your reply was perfect.

[Crankin]

Sorry for the typo. I was at work, on my phone.