Mate from Uni.
At uni, I was living with a mate who was REAL tight. An ebayer through and through. No matter what you buy, he will say he can get it cheaper. Try explaining you'd rather get a new game at full price then waiting a years to nock £10 off the price and he'd shake his head.

This was all fine, until he was tasked with getting a freeview box for the house.

Now bare in mind, 9 people were going in on this, you can afford to splash out right? Try the £20 one, which hardly worked. It lost sound for a second or so every so often. Always either at the punch line to a joke, or during top gear. Needless to say, this angered me.

In the next year, the box came with me and another house mate, and continued to ruin all our fun. We complained to the cheapskate, he asks if he can have it back next year, to fix it up and avoid spending any more.

One night, my house mate randomly snaps. "RIGHT! That's it!" he shouts before jumping up and twating the box. I lose it too, take a turn, we unplug it and i run upstairs to throw it out the window. Outside, he picks it up, starts swinging it onto the ground by its power cable. I run out, jump on it, punch it more. Then I fetch the hammer. A video on facebook shows me hitting said box with the hammer, spraying airfreshner into the holes I made. (I was blood drunk, I don’t know why) Video ran out before the real strength was released. Shards of plastic went flying, I exposed the innards. I smashed as much as I could, using the pointy end of the hammer to send transistors flying. Video is sent to cheapskate, he visits a few days later, looks at the ruins and says "Don't break it any more, i can sell the transistors for 50p each. "Not a cunting chance! Nothing will be salvaged from that monster!" I shout, hammer in hand. I then smash every single transistor, anything that is whole is reduced to dented, cracked or flattened waste. I then spit on it and throw it in the bin.

He didn't complain, but I was holding a hammer and had several small, bleeding cuts and a very angry look on my face.

Length? About 12 inches and able to smash electronic in seconds.
(Mong goose, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 21:47, 5 replies)

Brilliant!
There's a reason why it's worth spending more on decent quality stuff, best explained by the The Samuel Vimes 'Boots' Theory Of Socio-Economic Injustice.

Vimes reflects that he can only afford ten-dollar boots with thin soles which don't keep out the damp and wear out in a season or two. A pair of good boots, which cost fifty dollars, would last for years and years - which means that over the long run, the man with cheap boots has spent much more money and still has wet feet. This thought leads to the general realization that one of the reasons rich people remain rich is because they don't actually have to spend as much money as poor people; in many situations, they buy high-quality items (such as clothing, housing, and other necessities) which are made to last. In the long run, they actually use much less of their disposable income.


Ergo, a better Digi-box would have negeated the cost of a replacement.
(Potty Jag har smör i min rumpspringa, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 21:55, closed)

indeed
I asked him if he had ever been told the phrase "Buy cheap, buy twice" He responded by asking me if I'd heard "Buy cheap, fix it.".

Hence he bought a broken moniter off eBay, and is currently "Fixing it".
(Mong goose, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 22:08, closed)

i love you for posting this.
Vimes is a creation of pure genius
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 22:51, closed)

Odd.
Why didn't you either:

1: Take it back to the shop to exchange/refund as faulty.
2: Buy a replacement, instead of putting up with it for ages? Surely even a student could afford one.
(Musuko, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 17:22, closed)

true
well, the shop he got it from was over an hour away. travle would have been more expensive.

didnt get a replacment as he refused to put in for it, and it was secretly better to dead arm him if we missed somthing that got a good reaction from the audience on anything.
(Mong goose, Sat 25 Oct 2008, 21:32, closed)