Background: I own and operate a small dealership.
I was finishing up a deal, and collected the customer's insurance info (he's 19 or 20). $300/mo insurance for a vehicle with a payment of $370/mo. "Have you shopped this around?!" I was shocked.
The mom chimes in: "It's part of being an adult. He's not old enough yet, so they hit you hard with insurance. I told him to just pay his dues"
Good recommendation, mom. Because there's no other choices available, like buy a car off Craigslist for $2k and just have liability... OR SHOP THE QUOTE.
Anyway, we finish up the deal. As I always do, I ask: "How do you feel? Are you excited?" (I genuinely care about my customers feeling like they were in 100% control of the buying decision, and feeling good about that decision). "Yeah, I love the truck.. just never had any debt before. I'm just thinking about how much money this is going to cost me between insurance and payments" (duh...)
Mom chimes in again, ever helpful: "Welcome to the adult world, son (in an all-knowing slightly condescending way) your father and I didn't get out of debt until we were 50. Time for you to be an adult and take on the responsibility".
So if I got that right, debt=adulthood, debt=responsibility. Oh yeah, you got debt free at 50 but you're still working full time now (I guess she was probably late 50's early 60's). So how did that work out for you?
I've been reading UNSCRIPTED at work, so this exchange happened to be perfectly timed. My antennae were up and I was in tune to the SCRIPT and it's seeders.
I thought you all might get a kick out of that story, for one, but for two I also wanted to just comment how interesting it is to have your eyes opened to something. Reading the book just brings things to light that you may have believed instinctively, but hadn't formed into your head consciously. My eyes and ears are ULTRA sensitive to the "SCRIPT" in the wild. It helps me avoid the trappings and pitfalls of our crazy culture.
Another example:
The popular website RANKER promotes these lists on facebook. Mostly clickbait crap that, yes, I do get sucked into sometimes. Well, this morning I saw one that was actually pertinent: "15 tv characters who could never afford their lifestyles in real life" It went on to analyze fictitious characters lifestyles and spending habits on the show, and then how much they would make on average at the job they had on the show. It's ridiculous. Pretty much every sitcom on television is pushing bull. You can't be a waitress and make enough money to live in a huge apartment in NYC and go out for drinks every night! Just doesn't add up. It normalizes consumption and makes people who have no business "treating themselves" go out and rack up debt. #sidewalk
In music:
I like all kinds of music, including country (not sure if I'll get some flak for that. Maybe I will, I don't care). Anyway, Brantley Gilbert has a big hit right now called "the weekend". You can guess what it's about.
Jason Aldean "When the Lights Go Up" has some line talking about how you're a hard working, country strong, blah blah, pour everything you got into a paycheck friday night. HELLO SCRIPT.
Thanks MJ for opening our eyes. Hopefully some people will wake up and see the wool that's being thrown over all of us. This stuff is like subliminal messaging - it's everywhere! And even if you find yourself in the middle of the hustle trying to do everything right, with the right mindset... this crap will sneak in. It's like they say, garbage in garbage out. Be careful what you consume.
Feel free to share SCRIPTED crap you see in the wild. It's everywhere once you're looking for it.
I was finishing up a deal, and collected the customer's insurance info (he's 19 or 20). $300/mo insurance for a vehicle with a payment of $370/mo. "Have you shopped this around?!" I was shocked.
The mom chimes in: "It's part of being an adult. He's not old enough yet, so they hit you hard with insurance. I told him to just pay his dues"
Good recommendation, mom. Because there's no other choices available, like buy a car off Craigslist for $2k and just have liability... OR SHOP THE QUOTE.
Anyway, we finish up the deal. As I always do, I ask: "How do you feel? Are you excited?" (I genuinely care about my customers feeling like they were in 100% control of the buying decision, and feeling good about that decision). "Yeah, I love the truck.. just never had any debt before. I'm just thinking about how much money this is going to cost me between insurance and payments" (duh...)
Mom chimes in again, ever helpful: "Welcome to the adult world, son (in an all-knowing slightly condescending way) your father and I didn't get out of debt until we were 50. Time for you to be an adult and take on the responsibility".
So if I got that right, debt=adulthood, debt=responsibility. Oh yeah, you got debt free at 50 but you're still working full time now (I guess she was probably late 50's early 60's). So how did that work out for you?
I've been reading UNSCRIPTED at work, so this exchange happened to be perfectly timed. My antennae were up and I was in tune to the SCRIPT and it's seeders.
I thought you all might get a kick out of that story, for one, but for two I also wanted to just comment how interesting it is to have your eyes opened to something. Reading the book just brings things to light that you may have believed instinctively, but hadn't formed into your head consciously. My eyes and ears are ULTRA sensitive to the "SCRIPT" in the wild. It helps me avoid the trappings and pitfalls of our crazy culture.
Another example:
The popular website RANKER promotes these lists on facebook. Mostly clickbait crap that, yes, I do get sucked into sometimes. Well, this morning I saw one that was actually pertinent: "15 tv characters who could never afford their lifestyles in real life" It went on to analyze fictitious characters lifestyles and spending habits on the show, and then how much they would make on average at the job they had on the show. It's ridiculous. Pretty much every sitcom on television is pushing bull. You can't be a waitress and make enough money to live in a huge apartment in NYC and go out for drinks every night! Just doesn't add up. It normalizes consumption and makes people who have no business "treating themselves" go out and rack up debt. #sidewalk
In music:
I like all kinds of music, including country (not sure if I'll get some flak for that. Maybe I will, I don't care). Anyway, Brantley Gilbert has a big hit right now called "the weekend". You can guess what it's about.
Jason Aldean "When the Lights Go Up" has some line talking about how you're a hard working, country strong, blah blah, pour everything you got into a paycheck friday night. HELLO SCRIPT.
Thanks MJ for opening our eyes. Hopefully some people will wake up and see the wool that's being thrown over all of us. This stuff is like subliminal messaging - it's everywhere! And even if you find yourself in the middle of the hustle trying to do everything right, with the right mindset... this crap will sneak in. It's like they say, garbage in garbage out. Be careful what you consume.
Feel free to share SCRIPTED crap you see in the wild. It's everywhere once you're looking for it.
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