I read this article and was immediately thrown for a loop when I came to this passage. I can’t be the only one confused by this.
Note, that has to be $50 US since the numbers wouldn’t match peso currency conversation rates at all (and fits with the $5 pizza thing). So basically a woman and a friend immediately spent all the money they had just been given for 3 pizzas, french fries and buffalo wings (along with a cab ride to and from) for about 5 people. And then later they’re seen to be begging for blankets and supplies.
Why would they get wings and french fries with their pizzas first of all? Shouldn’t those 3 pizzas be enough? The article doesn’t mention them sharing the pizzas with others besides the initial 5 people (and if they had shared the food among others the article would have most likely mentioned it to show how good of a person she is) I can understand getting pizzas since they’re relatively cheap for already prepared food but it seems like 2 large pizzas by themselves should have filled everyone up. Plus those wings had to be about $7 American (since Dominos wings aren’t cheap) for so much less food so why not just get another pizza if you really need that much food? And why french fries on top?! How many calories do these 5 people possibly need?
Reading the article they apparently weren’t starving, they hadn’t eaten much but they were still getting 2 meals a day each on their journey so it’s not like they needed to bulk up fast. It just seems like the worlds dumbest move when you know you’re going to face more hardship in the future and you don’t even save any for later.
I actually went and shared this article with a relative who was a Mexican undocumented immigrant who went through a similar journey with children and even he was completely flabbergasted at the woman’s sheer waste of money. When he came over he saved every single peso and penny he found because he knew he would desperately need them later on. This woman is buying $40 in pizzas and then giving her kids money for crane games as well.
This may sound like a rant but I’m curious if anyone else had a similar reaction upon reading this.
Not every person spends their money in an optimally efficient way. This is true for the poor and rich alike. I’m not sure why you’re so bewildered. Have you never noticed this fact before?
Lots of possibilities. Maybe the person who gave her the money muttered something like “go feed your kids something solid”, and it’s considered rude in her culture to spend it on something else?
I totally fail to be bewildered, shocked or even surprised by this. You talk like eating a serving of fries would be indulging in rare luxuries.
I doubt there are that many people who would be able to not spend any money on anything apart from absolute bare necessities if they were destitute (the absolutely cheapest food they can find, the absolutely cheapest place they can rent, the absolutely cheapest clothes they can wear, etc…) for any lenght of time, especially if they have children. I doubt the OP would be able to.
I’m trying to think of the last time I went to an actual pizza place and only ate pizza, and failing. Best thing about pizza places is the garlic bread.
Are people allowed to have soda with their pizza, or only if above a certain income level?
Maybe the fries were for immediate consumption, but the wings were for later? Fried chicken keeps well for a few hours - even with sauce - and it’s possible this woman had the foresight to plan ahead, for the inevitable hunger that would return to her family.
Last time I ate pizza was last Friday. Let’s see… 16 people, 20 pizzas (plus the penne in tomato sauce that came before), and one of the people didn’t eat pizza because it wasn’t acceptable for his diet. We didn’t finish the fifth round of pizzas but did finish the previous four (the gig is, they keep bringing out pizzas so long as you keep cleaning them).
So yeah, it did boil down to over one pizza per person. Didn’t drink 2 liters of soda each, though.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody eat pizza in moderation. It’s the kind of food you don’t so much eat as assault.
PS: I didn’t count it as “a pizza place” because this was an Italian restaurant, i.e., the menu didn’t consist of “90% pizzas plus some sides and maybe one other main dish”.
Are you also going to ask me what had I had for lunch, and what did I eat over the weekend? I don’t eat like that at every meal, but when I do eat pizza I bloody well do eat pizza. Today’s lunch has been one slice of roasted ham and a bowl of salad about the size of my cupped hands (lettuce, carrot, no sauce). Dinner is going to be a really big bowl of tomato salad (tomato, tuna preserved in vinegar, salt, spinach). Diet is supposed to be equilibrated through time, you don’t have to make every single meal be equilibrated, or each the same size.
Why, if she were a responsible homeless mother, she would have walked 5 miles to the nearest market, used that $50 to buy 50 pounds of rice and beans, walked back with 50 pounds of rice and beans, found an industrial 100 gallon cooking retort in the trash, found 300 pounds of burnable matter and carefully situated it somewhere that posed no fire risk and no risk of being run off by cops, tended the cooking fire for 5 hours, and been able to feed her kids for the next week!
Or until the stuff went bad due to no refrigeration or storage receptacles. Whichever came first.
It’s a sad world indeed when homeless mothers need resort to the bourgeoise decadence of $5 pizzas to feed their kids!
Reading the story, “begging for blankets” in context seems to be asking for more blankets from the refugee center as they waited to be processed. She wasn’t keeping the blankets, she was just trying to stay warm while forced to wait outside with her children in the cold night.
But, as others said, sometimes people just don’t spend money at peak efficiency. Or they get some money and figure “better spend this now before I’m robbed or shaken down” and a belly full of warm food is a basic human want. Or they want to treat their kids after a long and unpleasant experience. Is the person who gave the $50 insulted? Why are you worried about it?