The worst/naughtiest thing you've done to survive whilst at rock bottom

mwa

No Choice Now - wow that is some story!!!

kittiej

NCN that was a fantastic account, thanks for sharing - poor kittie lol

mandz1

Well think i need confess, please dont hate me.

The worst thing i have ever done was a few years back now, i have two sons and i was living with my partner aat the time. unfortunately he had problems (of the drug variety and drink), He spent nearly every penny we had on his addictions, i had to feed 4 people on about a tenner a week. my youngest was still a baby and one day, i went to make bottles to find that i only had enough to make about 1 bottle and pay day was about 3 days away. So i had to get a tin of milk from somewhere. I am ashamed that i did it, but i could not let my 4 month old go without milk, so yes i took without paying. I felt really bad and as soon as i got paid i went back and left the right amount of money on the customer service desk and walked away.

Needless to say, i am no longer with the pathetic excuse of the man. And i have never done it since. i am now soo much better of without him.

NCN ur story is really funny.

Gingernutty

I have to say some of these posts have me sitting here with tears in my eyes and some of them have me laughing too.

Can I join the Loo Roll Pilferers' Club? :j

Where I worked previously, the cleaners got quite casual about leaving a trolley full of packets of rolls, hand towels and soap bars (that nasty institution-style 'Buttermilk') out in the corridors while they mopped out the cramped toilets. Packets of rolls and the odd bar of soap came our way.

I also nicked the remnant rolls from my current employer untill they changed the paper delivery system. They still use the huge 'cartwheel' rolls but feed them, one sheet at a time from the centre instead of pulling the paper off the roll spinning from a central spindle.

I bought what looked like a pair of brand new pristine Clark's shoes from British Heart Foundation and when the soles started to disintegrate (because they weren't brand new, they were in storage in the back of someone's wardrobe for years) brought them to the local Clark's shop for a refund. :embarasse

I got £10 off another pair of shoes. I don't enjoy wearing them, even though I need them for work. :embarasse

I have wandered round the streets looking for another 5p so that I can buy a reduced salad in Boots - and found it under one of the shelves near a till.

I have had to walk to work the day before one pay day because I didn't have enough money to manage the £3.60 for a Day Saver and my bus pass had run out too. :mad:

I've returned DVDs to my local supermarket "because I don't have a television and they won't play on my computer".......:embarasse

At one job, for meetings, they used to make enough rolls to fill a massive charger and added crisps, sausage rolls, orange juice, black pudding (:eek:) and sweet treats. We'd get the leftovers when the meeting adjourned. I wouldn't have tea those days.

At another job, I used to hang back and wash the glassware in the lab, because if there was a meeting, the trolley with the leftover food would be left in the corridor by the cleaners - crisps and orange juice for tea. :embarasse

I haven't switched my heating on all of last winter. I really do have a house coat (and blanket for my knees when I'm sitting here). :snow_grin

When I was a student in Barnsley (mid 1990s), I sold my jewellery (all of it bought for me by my parents) and only got £10 for it.

And like Tebheag, I used 'the pill' continuously to avoid paying for sanitary products. Sorry, TMI?

toadyfrog

I don't think things were as bad for us when i was a kid, or maybe my parents were good at sheilding us from it. But our sunday family trip out was a walk to the local council tip for a good rummage. Just thinking about it now my OH will cross the road if he sees a skip because he knows I'll have to have a look in it.

I am also going to show this thread to my son so he will think next time he looks in the cupboard and moans there is nothing to eat.

no_choice_now

toadyfrog wrote: »

I am also going to show this thread to my son so he will think next time he looks in the cupboard and moans there is nothing to eat.

Either that or he'll be hanging around the local shop waiting for some desperate lady to hawk her booze to any kids willing to pay

toadyfrog

no_choice_now wrote: »

Either that or he'll be hanging around the local shop waiting for some desperate lady to hawk her booze to any kids willing to pay

He's 21 so maybe just looking for a desperate lady

miggy

NCN, thank you for an amazing story. Must admit I'm glad you're not going to do it again though!

Do you still like cats?

pinkduvetdiva

no_choice_now wrote: »

Oh gosh, here goes. I know I'm gonna get told off for this one

Several years ago in my village I was having a fairly poor month and misery loves company. My friend came over to cheer me up and she was also a bit down because at the weekend she was supposed to go to a cat show but her cat had caught flees and it was itching, scratching and nibbling itself. That sort of restless behaviour doesn't win a cat show, and the cat was quite grumpy and couldn't be handled. Hissing, clawing and biting a judge isn't a winner! Because she'd already sent a picture of her cat in with the application form she couldn't take any of her other cats at the last minute.

As the flea treatment was taking time to work there was no way the cat would have been able to have gone, so reluctantly she had to resign to the fact she wasn't attending (cats and cat shows are her main passion in life).

Anyway we were having some drinks and we were talking about cats, and she was showing me some pics of hers on her phone. I noticed that one of them, the one she was supposed to be taking to the show, looked remarkably similar to the next door neighbours cat.

When I mentioned this to her we just kind of looked at each other without saying a word for several moments. Gingerly I asked her how much the prize money was.

£100 first, £50 second, £25 third she told me.

Although she did it for the love of showing her cats, the money was more appealing to me. I wrestled with my conscience for several moments and thought to myself there's no way I can do this, it's wrong.

When my friend said the cat would be fine and we would split the money equally, all my doubt and worry went straight out the window.

I went in to the garden to look for the neighbours cat and sure enough he came over quite quickly (I gave him scraps of food every now and again and he often came to visit me in the garden). I picked him up and brought him inside desperately hoping the neighbours didn't see me doing it.

My friend said he was beautiful and could do very well in the cat show so at this point we had the cat and had the will to go for it. My friend was going to take him home and bath, groom and prepare him for the show the next day (apparently she spends several hours doing this and she would have to work through the night to prepare him :eek::eek::eek:).

Because it would have been a bit suspicious if my neighbours saw their cat disappearing in my cat carrier in to a strangers car, we eventually decided to wrap him up in a blanket and despite his initial protests, my friend soon had him safely tucked up and made a hasty exit to the car, put him in and drove off at great haste. I later found out when she got around the corner out of sight she let him out the blanket where he jumped in to the back seat and spent the next 10 minutes hissing and growling lol

Anyway I was in a bit of shock at what I did but I knew my friend would take great care of him because she's totally cat mad. Some point later on in the evening I could hear my neighbour outside calling the cat and I thought oh god. I felt really awful, but I couldn't resist going out there to say hi to her because I wasn't sure if they'd seen me or not and I was wracked with guilt.

I was making pleasant conversation and they asked if they'd seen the cat. I said no, not since yesterday. My heart was racing and I expected her to say "but I saw you taking him in to yours earlier today". I would of died if she said that but I was very relieved when she just said "Oh I'm really worried it's not like him not to come for his dinner". Feeling so awful and overcome with guilt I offered to help her look for him, and I walked around the gardens calling for him and the whole time thinking to myself Oh my god, what on earth have I done!

Needless to say, the cat didn't turn up and I told her I would let her know the moment I saw him and she went back inside. I didn't have any credit to call my friend so just went to bed and read but it's all I could think about.

The next day dragged on and on, I was waiting for my friend to come back with the cat, and twice I'd see the neighbours outside calling him, each time with more and more concern in their voices.

I remember it being such an awful tense day filled with regret and somewhat disgust at myself. I vowed not to make such silly decisions on a few glasses of wine ever again.

Imagine my relief at about 4pm when my friends car pulled up. I jumped out the chair and opened the front door ready to usher her in without the neighbours seeing. From the boot she pulled out a large cardboard box and came inside. Inside the box was a cat carrier, and inside the cat carrier was, I might dare say, a very handsome and well groomed cat.

I was so happy to have the cat back I was getting him out the cat carrier ready to let him go back outside that I didn't even bother to ask how the competition had gone.

I totally forgot about it until my friend held out a crisp twenty and five note. "Second", she said.

I was dumbfounded. Utterly dumbfounded. I let the cat out the back door and it ran straight out and in to the neighbours garden. I hoped it was going to get all dirty first because it was clear that it had been well groomed. It sat on their patio and meowed loudly for no more than 20 seconds until I could hear my neighbours had let it in.

My friend stayed for a while to talk about the competition and we were in stitches at the whole thing. Never again, I promised. It dawned on me the bad thing I'd done. Nothing short of stealing the neighbours cat to win prize money at a competition.

It was even worse that my neighbour obviously never had any idea that her missing moggy was a hundred miles away winning prizes whilst she was worried sick for it wondering if it had been run over or something.

The guilt was awful, the whole time I thought my neighbours knew I was lying about something. I will never do anything like this again because I just don't have the nerves for it. I couldn't even sleep properly!

Anyway later on my friend left, she was all cheered up and so was I. I was looked forward to a small food shop the next day with my £25 prize money. All was good in the world until the next morning I bumped in to my neighbour and she was elated to tell me her cat hat turned up.

I casually asked if he was ok, and she said "thank god yeah, but he smelt funny and I think he's got fleas". My jaw dropped open. He's only got and caught the flees from my friends other cat whilst he was a house guest. I said at this time of year it's common and not to worry and very quickly got on my way before it became clear I was almost shaking with nerves.

You have no idea how hard I tried to avoid them for the next few weeks.

Stealing cats to win prizes. Never again!

To paraphrase Bruce Forsyth, "What do !!!!!cats make? Prizes!":rotfl:

This is probably the best thread I have read on MSE, very humbling and inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing your stories.

Owain_Moneysaver

I did not do this.

But I shared a flat with someone who, back in the days when 'whoopsies' were hand-written, acquired a roll of blank whoopsie stickers.

We ate quite well that summer.