# Homeless immigrant with no money to her name spends $50 on pizzas, what? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2018, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856 "2018-05-09T11:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/41 "2018-05-09T21:58:44Z")
Honestly. I’m really confused here. She went to fucking _Domino_’s, where you can, apparently, get a _large_ pizza for $5. I mean, holy shit that is some good money management. Around here, a large single ingredient pizza costs about $15-$20. She clearly had money left over if all she got was three pizzas, some fries, and wings. That seems like a very responsible way to spend that money: she gets a lot of food, she makes her family happy, win win. What, do you want her to buy a sack of rice and dry beans, and where the fuck is she going to store and cook that up anyway? Five bucks for an entire pizza is great bang-for-buck calorically. I don’t know how efficient you want her to be with her money. Now, if she went out and bought a dry-aged prime ribeye at $40/lb, then, while I can understand the splurge, I could also understand the :dubious:, but this? Really? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/42 "2018-05-09T23:01:07Z")
Considering she’s a homeless immigrant, she might not have known just how expensive it would be? That and they were probably mega-starving. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/43 "2018-05-10T01:13:19Z")
It’s only 3 pizzas and wings. They say fries but they aren’t pictured in the photo or on their menu. The website lists these items at $6.00 each for a grand total of $24.00. Not sure what the ride costs. People are also failing to mention that she shared this meal with another mother and her children. But hey, maybe she should buy bootstraps with the leftover money? ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/44 "2018-05-10T01:52:45Z")
Asuka: The lady with the pizzas may or may not have used questionable judgment. She will learn. However, you’re a judgmental asshole, and as far as I can tell that condition is lifelong. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/45 "2018-05-10T02:00:39Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Considering she’s a homeless immigrant, she might not have known just how expensive it would be? That and they were probably mega-starving. But that’s the thing. It’s not expensive _at all_ for the amount of prepared food she got! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/46 "2018-05-10T02:15:15Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Maybe they hoped that type of stuff would continue and there was no need to ration, a matter of faith. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Do people really behave in such a manna? You go to your room this instant, young man, and _think_ about what you did. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/47 "2018-05-10T02:33:05Z")
Warning Issued: Directly insulting posters is not allowed in this forum. Use the Pit if you must. > [@DavidwithanR](#): > > Asuka: > > The lady with the pizzas may or may not have used questionable judgment. > > She will learn. However, you’re a judgmental asshole, and as far as I can tell that condition is lifelong. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/48 "2018-05-10T02:53:42Z")
I started a thread about the poverty mentality and there was a lot of strong feelings in that one too. The difference is when you have someone who lives in poverty and is constantly making bad financial decisions\* and think the world owes them a handout because they’re poor. That is completely NOT this lady AFAIK. A one-time windfall and being in a tough situation and she spends money on food for her kids as a treat? I’m the one who disparages the poor that will regularly spend 3X on food rather than cooking at home but you’ll have to give me more to get outraged over this. \*If you read my threads on my SIL, she finally got an nice one-time windfall. I’m speaking about thousands. Did she spend it on the down payment on a house with lower mortgage payments than her rent? No. Did she hire an attorney to get custody of her daughter back? No. She gave it to her husband on two years to buy cars that didn’t work. When he lost money on one car he’d flip it and buy another car that didn’t work. Lather, rinse, repeat and now they don’t know how they’ll come up with the rent money. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/49 "2018-05-10T03:02:40Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > When did this start? _“You can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning.”_ Or what I fall back on:\* “You can’t accuse me of drinking all day if I didn’t start in the morning.” \* 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/50 "2018-05-10T06:34:16Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > _“You can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning.”_ > > Or what I fall back on:\* “You can’t accuse me of drinking all day if I didn’t start in the morning.” > \* > > 😉 It’s Noon somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/51 "2018-05-10T06:39:59Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > How many calories do these 5 people possibly need? Considering they’re homeless, walking hundreds of miles, the mother is pregnant, and the kids are 6 and 2? I’d say they’ll need quite a lot. We’re not talking about some greasy neckbeard sitting in his basement playing video games. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/52 "2018-05-10T07:00:08Z")
When you’ve always lived in poverty, you look at a windfall differently than do people who’ve seldom or never lived in poverty. The hunger and deprivation will always be there. The next windfall, though, is probably going to be a long time in coming. I worked with a lot of poor kids and their families, both in social work and education. I strongly recommend Ruby Payne’s “A Framework for Understanding Poverty.” The mindset of people who’ve been raised in poverty is by necessity very different than those of us who were lucky enough not to be. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/53 "2018-05-10T10:27:54Z")
One thing I have noticed as a teacher is that almost all students, however poor, have one nice thing. It’s often a pair of shoes or a decent cell phone. Sometimes it’s a laptop or a bag. Sometimes it’s a $1 for the vending machine every day, or $350 to go on a class trip. But parents, however poor, will almost invariably scrimp and save or do whatever it takes to make sure their kids have something that’s nice, that excites them. The urge to please your children is pretty hardwired. And poor kids who work to support their families (I have too many of these) also often buy one nice thing with that money. This is also why you hear stories about kids going apeshit when someone in authority tries to take up their phone; that phone is the only nice thing they have and it’s their consolation and their pride. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/54 "2018-05-10T23:41:15Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > 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? We don’t actually know the size of the ham and cheese or indeed how many portions of wings. Let’s err on the side of caution though and say it was a large, plus two portions of each. Large pepperoni: 2,370 (x2) Large Cheese & ham: 2290 French fries - 450 (x2) Wings - 200cal per 4 wings (x4) 8730 calories. Split 5 ways between hungry people, one of them pregnant, and assuming they didn’t save any of it for their supper. 1746 calories. You think this is excessive? As per all the other requests, would you please outline what you think she should have done with the money? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/55 "2018-05-13T04:05:19Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > When you’ve always lived in poverty, you look at a windfall differently than do people who’ve seldom or never lived in poverty. The hunger and deprivation will always be there. The next windfall, though, is probably going to be a long time in coming. > > I worked with a lot of poor kids and their families, both in social work and education. I strongly recommend Ruby Payne’s “A Framework for Understanding Poverty.” The mindset of people who’ve been raised in poverty is by necessity very different than those of us who were lucky enough not to be. John Cheese at [cracked.com](http://cracked.com) has written several essays about being poor: [http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-stupidest-habits-you-develop-growing-up-poor/](http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-stupidest-habits-you-develop-growing-up-poor/) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/56 "2018-05-13T04:42:25Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Considering her situation, it’s a bit of a use it or lose it. She may be able to hold onto it, but it would be easy to steal it from her in those conditions. > > I suppose, maybe the OP is surprised that she didn’t use the money to take them to see them to see Avengers. This is how I felt about it too. Why shouldn’t she give her kids (and herself) something they want? And if she HAD taken her kids to see a movie, she would also have been criticized for that. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![skyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@skyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skyr)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/57 "2018-05-13T15:15:58Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Sometimes you just want to do something nice for your kids or your family after they have been through much hardship. What business is it of anyone else’s? You make it other people’s business how you spend money when you are using other people’s money to fund your lifestyle. If I was like, “Hey, Shoeless, I really need you to give me some money so I don’t get evicted this month” and you wrote me a check with the understanding that I needed it to avoid homelessness, you’d have a right to be pissed off if you saw me at the Apple store buying an iPhone Plus with maximum storage capacity the next day. Even if you yourself would be like, “Hey, being poor is really stressful, so who am I to judge if you want to have the biggest screen on your iPhone to decompress by watching streaming video?” well, I don’t think you should be surprised a lot of other people would object (also, you should definitely send me a check, because I could use some extra cash if you don’t care if the people you give money to actually deserve it or not). Yes, having little luxuries like a nice birthday cake are great, but the point of food stamps is not to make sure you are fully self-actualized and fulfilled in all ways - it is to allow you **to survive**. If your biggest worry is making sure your kid has a happy birthday and not making sure your kid doesn’t literally fucking starve to death, you’re actually doing pretty damn well. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/58 "2018-05-13T15:20:01Z")
> [@skyr](#): > > You make it other people’s business how you spend money when you are using other people’s money to fund your lifestyle. Buying a birthday cake is a lifestyle? When i was growing up, those only happened once a year. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/59 "2018-05-13T16:19:46Z")
> [@skyr](#): > > You make it other people’s business how you spend money when you are using other people’s money to fund your lifestyle. The person who gave the lady in question the money might thus make a legitimate critique. Judgmental busybodies who weren’t involved in that transaction, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856/60 "2018-05-13T16:34:27Z")
There wasn’t any stipulation on what she did with the fifty dollars. She and her children probably hadn’t eaten much of anything for days. For the record, **skyr** , as someone who pays into the food stamps program, if someone on food stamps wants to buy their kid a birthday cake, it’s ok with me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeless-immigrant-with-no-money-to-her-name-spends-50-on-pizzas-what/813856.md?page=4)