S10.E16: The Allowance Evaporation

[Chaos Theory]

20 hours ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Penny was probably going by the guys' style of living with no idea how much they were pouring into the collectibles and tech they were buying or that Sheldon had actually saved for the future. Seeing the old clothes in Leonard's closet probably didn't help.

Bernadette worked at the Cheesecake Factory while holding down a full time job at the school.  Penny probably just never asked.  It never occurred to her to ask.  It am not even saying that as a fault of hers.  The guys seemed to have an endless supply of money for comics, video games and figting kites.  Penny is a mooch not a bitch.  If Leonard and Sheldon were searching the couch cushions for money to pay for dinner she would have paid her share.  She contributed in other ways.   

[dungeonwriter]

If Raj got cut, (and it's not the actor's fault, he's awesome, but the writers clearly hate him) the show would be instantly improved. Seriously, he regressed so much, it's becoming painful. All three of his original friends are in long term relationships, two are married, and one has a baby. He's the only one not on the government project. He has no point, but kvetching and being a sad sack. 

This storyline did nothing for me. It just came across as Raj being more unlikable. Seriously, I would love him forced to return to India, only because in small doses, he'd be hilarious. 

[hnygrl]

2 hours ago, rmontro said:

23 hours ago, Cowgirl said:

she asked Penny how much a physicist makes and Penny tells she doesn't know but doesn't think it's much

One odd thing about that is that Penny was working as a waitress at the time and was clearly having trouble making ends meet.  She was getting free meals and wifi from the nerds across the hall.  She must have thought the boys lived comfortably, at least.  And that was also after the episode where Sheldon freely borrowed her money.

AND...when her car died? Leonard bought her a new one. Outright. No payments. Just went out and bought her one and gave her the keys.

How poor can he be if he can do that?????

[LoneHaranguer]

1 hour ago, hnygrl said:

AND...when her car died? Leonard bought her a new one. Outright. No payments. Just went out and bought her one and gave her the keys.

How poor can he be if he can do that?????

Her comment came well before Leonard did that, but she could have gotten a clue from Sheldon totally not caring when she paid back the loan he gave her, and even offering her more.

[CherryAmes]

1 hour ago, hnygrl said:

How poor can he be if he can do that?????

I don't think Penny ever thought the guys were poor, just not Hollywood rich - bitchy upstairs neighbour wasn't looking for a comfortable middle class guy she was wondering if a physicist would be able to buy her a mansion which is why Penny answered her the way she did.

On the subject of Leonard and "how poor can he be" it bugs me to no end that we have the episode where he can afford to buy her a car (ok sure not a new car but, as you say, a car he was able to buy outright) and then we fast forward a few years and suddenly he's still paying off student loans?  Fast forward another year or two and he's bought a train extravangza for Sheldon that cost him $4,000 and that he had basically put in his back pocket to bring out when Sheldon was driving him craziest.  Uh ok.

Edited February 22, 2017 by CherryAmes

[Driad]

Bottom line, we pay a lot more attention than the writers do. 

[Chaos Theory]

18 hours ago, CherryAmes said:

 

On the subject of Leonard and "how poor can he be" it bugs me to no end that we have the episode where he can afford to buy her a car (ok sure not a new car but, as you say, a car he was able to buy outright) and then we fast forward a few years and suddenly he's still paying off student loans?  Fast forward another year or two and he's bought a train extravangza for Sheldon that cost him $4,000 and that he had basically put in his back pocket to bring out when Sheldon was driving him craziest.  Uh ok.

I can handwave this to priorities.  These are single guys who could possibly prioritize a game system or a 3D printer over paying off a student loan.  I can see Leonard seeing the train extravaganza as deal if he could use it as one big "get Sheldon out of my hair for a few days" deal.  These guys never struck me as save for a rainy day type guys.  

[yb125]

Quote

The average assistant professor there makes close to $120K/year. But since these guys have been there over a decade now, the average is closer to $143K/year. With the exception of Howard, I think they are all professors. Sheldon taught a grad seminar at one point (with terrible results), and there was that ridiculous episode where a tenured professor left (or died, I can't remember) and they all went to the administration fighting over who would get tenure (which is not how it works--at all).

 

So even though this really doesn't matter...

They probably aren't professors, yes we have seen Sheldon teach but that alone doesn't make you a professor. Lots of people teach classes but work for universities in other capacities. They almost never talk about teaching so it made it seem like a very rare thing for them.

Now it is also possible that they are professors who because they don't like teaching so they "buy-out" courses meaning they take a pay cut in order to not teach classes. Tenure is also a thing for many other positions as well.

However, the reason I tink they are not professors is because when they tell people their job they don't say 'professor'instead they say 'physicist', which to me strongly implies a research position. it certainly may be the case that as part of their contract they are required to teach once in a blue moon but that doesn't make them professors. 

 

Another money nitpick how much debt should Lenord really have, he was a prodigy and should had a good deal of financial support especially during grad school. Undergrad it may have been harder, but he was only there for a couple years, I suppose if he overspent on hobbies it makes more sense. 

[Katy M]

On ‎2‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 1:11 PM, rmontro said:

And if Raj is so lazy that he needs a dog walker, how is it he is Mr. Superman when it comes to doing chores at Howard's house and taking care of the baby? 

It's not necessarily laziness.  Some dogs can't hold it all day.  I doubt Raj has time to go home at lunch time and walk his dog.

[Katy M]

23 hours ago, dungeonwriter said:

If Raj got cut, (and it's not the actor's fault, he's awesome, but the writers clearly hate him) the show would be instantly improved. Seriously, he regressed so much, it's becoming painful. All three of his original friends are in long term relationships, two are married, and one has a baby. He's the only one not on the government project. He has no point, but kvetching and being a sad sack

He's also kind of on the outside.  They have 3 couples.  More than that for a half hour show (excuse me 17 minute show), and it's too much.  He would be better as a recurring character, if the actor were agreeable.  Otherwise, he's just a third wheel to Howard and Bernadette, or possibly one of the other couples.

[hnygrl]

I miss the cafeteria scenes.

They had one in one of the recent episodes (doesn't bode well when I can't be bothered to remember which episode), just the four of them, and man, I missed that. A lot. Even the reruns, I get warm fuzzies when it's just the four of them, pretending to eat really delicious looking food, no girlfriends, wives, other stuff.

People grow, people change, but man, I do miss those cafeteria scenes...

[kat165]

Wasn't the "professor" question answered when Sheldon wanted to drop string theory? Or am I confusing this with another ep? He needed to teach a class so he could qualify as a professor rather than just a researcher because if he just stuck to research he'd have to stick with string theory because that's what his grant was for. So then he ended up teaching Howard. After that he moved on to Dark Matter. I don't think any of the guys are professors, just strictly research which they all have grants for.

"The Junior Professor Solution"/Season 8, ep 2 - Summary: Sheldon is made a junior professor job 
by the university, but now has to teach graduate students. No one signs up for his course except Howard. 
 

Edited February 23, 2017 by kat165
add ep info

[BlossomCulp]

9 hours ago, yb125 said:

Another money nitpick how much debt should Lenord really have, he was a prodigy and should had a good deal of financial support especially during grad school. Undergrad it may have been harder, but he was only there for a couple years, I suppose if he overspent on hobbies it makes more sense. 

It's unlikely he even had student debt.  This is one of those things the writers never gave any real thought to.  His parents are both professors.  In New Jersey.  The odds that they worked anywhere but Princeton are pretty low.  We know that's where Leonard went and while I doubt professors kids get a free ride (I would bet those days are long gone at most institutions) I am positive they would get reduced tuition and other perks.  Add to that that Leonard had his phd by the age of (IIRC) 24 and scored a job at Cal Tech and we know that he did extremely well at school.  The idea that he was paying the full tuition and related expenses is just dumb.  But as was noted above we spend way more time thinking about this than the writers ever have!

[OtterMommy]

16 hours ago, BlossomCulp said:

It's unlikely he even had student debt.  This is one of those things the writers never gave any real thought to.  His parents are both professors.  In New Jersey.  The odds that they worked anywhere but Princeton are pretty low.  We know that's where Leonard went and while I doubt professors kids get a free ride (I would bet those days are long gone at most institutions) I am positive they would get reduced tuition and other perks.  Add to that that Leonard had his phd by the age of (IIRC) 24 and scored a job at Cal Tech and we know that he did extremely well at school.  The idea that he was paying the full tuition and related expenses is just dumb.  But as was noted above we spend way more time thinking about this than the writers ever have!

 I don't know about Princeton or any other Ivy League, but this practice is still alive and well in many other universities.  It was true at the university where I used to work and I know of a number of other schools that still do this.  In fact, it isn't unheard of for children of professors at one university to get free tuition* at a number of other universities that happen to be in some sort of organization of schools.  

* Undergraduate tuition.  However, graduate tuition for the sciences is frequently covered, at least in part, with teaching assistantships, grants, etc.

[LoneHaranguer]

2 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

 I don't know about Princeton or any other Ivy League, but this practice is still alive and well in many other universities.

Around here, the general rule is only one discounted degree per person, so the employment benefits of Leonard's parents wouldn't have covered his Masters and PhD, the law degree for his sister, or whatever advanced degrees his brother may have obtained.

[BlossomCulp]

https://www.princeton.edu/hr/benefits/educ/ 

Benefit for professor's kids at Princeton:

Quote

After five years of benefits-eligible service, you may be eligible to receive a tuition grant under the University’s Children's Educational Assistance Plan for half of your children’s college tuition and mandatory fees up to $16,770 for the 2016-2017 academic year. The college must be accredited and your children must register for 12 credits or more.

Sounds good to me!  And I may be reading this wrong but it also sounds like it doesn't have to be tuition at Princeton.  A moot point anyway since we know that's where Leonard went.  If he really still has student debt around 15 years after graduating it can't be very much and not at all a reasonable complaint for him to make to Penny when defending his poor finances.  Shoddy writing,  Quelle surprise!

Edited February 25, 2017 by BlossomCulp

[yb125]

On 2/23/2017 at 7:52 PM, BlossomCulp said:

It's unlikely he even had student debt.  This is one of those things the writers never gave any real thought to.  His parents are both professors.  In New Jersey.  The odds that they worked anywhere but Princeton are pretty low.

 

I always imagined that his mom would advocate hard for him not to get any benefits, you know just to see how it affected him.  But yeah the debt makes no sense. None of it does, it clearly doesn't matter to the show, which would be better if they didn't insist on making plot points hinge on it. 

[LoneHaranguer]

On 2/25/2017 at 9:58 AM, BlossomCulp said:

If he really still has student debt around 15 years after graduating it can't be very much and not at all a reasonable complaint for him to make to Penny when defending his poor finances.  Shoddy writing,  Quelle surprise!

It may not be reasonable, but he probably figured it sounded better than admitting he blew all his income on thousands of comic books and "collectibles".

[Katy M]

On ‎2‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 9:58 AM, BlossomCulp said:

https://www.princeton.edu/hr/benefits/educ/ 

Benefit for professor's kids at Princeton:

Sounds good to me!  And I may be reading this wrong but it also sounds like it doesn't have to be tuition at Princeton.  A moot point anyway since we know that's where Leonard went.  If he really still has student debt around 15 years after graduating it can't be very much and not at all a reasonable complaint for him to make to Penny when defending his poor finances.  Shoddy writing,  Quelle surprise!

I don't know about that.  I have a friend who's still paying off her student debt 19 years after graduation.  Granted, she doesn't make as much money as these guys, but on the other hand, she only has a bachelor's, so fewer loans, one would think.

[CherryAmes]

8 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I don't know about that.  I have a friend who's still paying off her student debt 19 years after graduation.  Granted, she doesn't make as much money as these guys, but on the other hand, she only has a bachelor's, so fewer loans, one would think.

If half his tuition was paid and a good portion of his "mandatory fees" then he was in a better position than most when he finished his undergraduate degree.  If the writers had done any research (what am I saying??) then they would have realized as well that it's very likely that most of his grad degree was paid for or seriously subsidized through grants,  working as a TA etc.  If indeed he has any student debt left it's because he's paying back the minimum they expect and is dragging it out for as long as he can, which really makes no sense at all - but if we do accept that it still shouldn't be impacting on his income and lifestyle so it was a silly excuse to give Penny as to why he suddenly is struggling to make ends meet! There's really no logic to what was essentially a throwaway line in one episode.

Edited February 27, 2017 by CherryAmes

[holly4755]

Ok, I had a dog walker because it seemed cruel to keep the dog locked in the house when I worked long hours and then had to commute. There was a point where I was manager of a project that I worked ver 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.  I had the dog walker come twice a day. The dog walker is not because you are lazy, but because you can't be there.  

 

Oh the car that leonard bought Penny was a used car, so could have been a little as 2K.  The train ticket for Sheldon was after Leonard was married, so two incomes.

[rmontro]

Personally, I think Raj should have had his father pay off all his bills, and THEN started over from scratch.  True, it wouldn't be as mature a gesture, but he wouldn't start off in the hole, and it doesn't sound like his dad would miss the money any.

[John Potts]

On ‎18‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 4:53 PM, Mom x 3 said:

And the cape thing?  Try this.  I didn't pay that much for my wedding dress.

Yeah, but surely you'd want to get the Prada one too - you know, so you could see which one you liked best! (I did Google it, but although Prada do have Christening gowns, they sure don't make it easy to find their price. Almost like they think if you're checking prices, you aren't going to be shopping there).

[Kid]

On 2/16/2017 at 11:23 PM, hnygrl said:

Ummm...they're talking about two more seasons. Two. More. 

 

Kill me. 

They did renew it for two more seasons. In my opinion, they need to stick a fork in it because it's done. They have ruined Raj's  character ( how could he lived off his father all these years and have a full-time job and have no money),  the whole Bernadette/Howard kid thing is ridiculous, and giving Sheldon sex life is just wrong.   So to try to salvage the character, they come up with the storyline that he's talking about it at the University to show that he still has a lack of social skills. It's just not funny anymore. And I don't know about you, but Bernadette is getting more and more irritating.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Kid

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, Kid said:

( how could he lived off his father all these years and have a full-time job and have no money),  

How do people who win the lottery go bankrupt within 5 years?  Acting like money is water.

[biakbiak]

3 hours ago, Katy M said:

How do people who win the lottery go bankrupt within 5 years?  Acting like money is water.

Right but it still doesn't make any sense because his parents were paying his credit cards.

[Katy M]

1 minute ago, biakbiak said:

Right but it still doesn't make any sense because his parents were paying his credit cards.

Sure, his parents were paying most of his bills and all his credit cards and he was spending his cash on something.  When the guys grab take out and someone else pays and they settle up at the end, that has to be done with cash.  There are still some places that don't take credit cards.  There are probably some purchases he didn't even want his parents to know about, so he would have paid for those with cash.

[biakbiak]

4 minutes ago, Katy M said:

There are probably some purchases he didn't even want his parents to know about, so he would have paid for those with cash.

No for those purchase he had a backup credit card which he apparently didn't always payoff and they don't go threw that much takeout. I have not encountered a place that delivers that doesn't take credit cards. And the others managed to pay all their bills aND eat takeout.

[Katy M]

17 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

No for those purchase he had a backup credit card which he apparently didn't always payoff and they don't go threw that much takeout. I have not encountered a place that delivers that doesn't take credit cards. And the others managed to pay all their bills aND eat takeout.

Well, the back up credit card has to be paid eventually.  And, I was only giving examples of things he could have been using the cash on, not an all-inclusive list.    Trust me, there are idiotic people out there who could easily have this happen.

[biakbiak]

13 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Well, the back up credit card has to be paid eventually.  And, I was only giving examples of things he could have been using the cash on, not an all-inclusive list.    Trust me, there are idiotic people out there who could easily have this happen.

Of course there are people who spend beyond their means and burn threw a finite amount ofcash but that isn't what Raj's lifestyle has been shown to be so it still comes put of nowhere that he would start cash strapped and in debt. He would of course have to change his lirestyle now that he wasn't being subdisized but he shouldn't be starting from in the hole based on literally everything the show has told us about Raj over the last 10 years.

[LoneHaranguer]

6 hours ago, biakbiak said:

No for those purchase he had a backup credit card which he apparently didn't always payoff and they don't go threw that much takeout. I have not encountered a place that delivers that doesn't take credit cards.

I've run into places that were picky about which credit card they'd take (usually MC). I could see Raj buying into the hype and getting an AmEx in whatever color is prestigious these days.

[biakbiak]

7 minutes ago, LoneHaranguer said:

I've run into places that were picky about which credit card they'd take (usually MC). I could see Raj buying into the hype and getting an AmEx in whatever color is prestigious these days.

I don't know a single person who only has one credit card and Raj has always said his parents paid his credit cards plural. 

[AnnaRose]

It has never looked like he spends money on his wardrobe either!

[Canada]

I only have one credit card.  Why would I need more than one?

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, Canada said:

I only have one credit card.  Why would I need more than one?

Different reaoms.So that like above you make sure you have a card that can be used everywhere and different benefits and rewards. 

[BlossomCulp]

On 2/16/2017 at 10:18 PM, PinkRibbons said:

The very last joke about cramps didn't land for me. I'd actually be happy if I could say to a room "I have horrific menstrual cramps right now, please take it easy on me and not ask me to walk anywhere, lift anything or ask me to stop screaming, etc, because if a grown man were having these he'd be begging for a bullet to the brain". It's just a part of life I wouldn't mind people taking a matter-of-fact look at. When you feel bad, you feel bad.

It was just stupid as well.  Amy clearly wasn't suffering in any way at all.  If she had cramps they were obviously being managed by some kind of pain medicine.  If they think horrific menstrual cramps are nothing at all and life just goes on then why bother talking about it at all?  Just so insultingly stupid.