A Blatant Disregard for Debt


A former coworker would constantly get calls from collection agencies while at work. He’d answer sometimes and pretend he didn’t speak any English. Whether he answered or not he’d always complain about x bank or y company calling to try and collect money from him. At first I felt a little bad for him, after all he’d been unemployed for a while before starting at the job where I met him. It didn’t take long for me to change my mind though.

Every day he’d go out to eat, even though our employer offered free lunch materials in the break room. Every time he got a bonus or any extra money on his paycheck he’d take himself out to sushi or to buy something for himself. After seeing this and listening as the collection calls kept coming I realized that he wasn’t complaining because the collectors were relentless and he wasn’t complaining because he just couldn’t afford to pay anything toward his debts. He was complaining because he didn’t feel any obligation to pay his debtors off and he just wished they would forgive his debts and leave him alone.

I’ve never thought this way. I’ve always felt if I owe somebody something that it’s my duty and my responsibility to take care of the debt (whether monetary or not). This was an eyeopening experience for me because there’s no way my former coworker is the only person like this. In fact, what’s more likely is people like me are quickly becoming the minority.

Have you had any experience with friends or family with this sort of attitude toward debt, or have you found yourself now or in the past like this? I’d love to hear from all of you, so leave a comment below. I won’t bite 🙂


One response to “A Blatant Disregard for Debt”

  1. I used to be really horrible at not paying debts. I didn’t have any “extra” money but now I realize that I did–I just chose to spend it on stuff I didn’t need. Then I was honestly struggling to make ends meet after I lost my job (no efund sadly) and wasn’t able to find a new one quickly. Now I’m trying to pay them off–it’s just hard to realize that I could be a lot less in debt if I had paid them or not even incurred them in the first place.

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