Thinking About Grad School Because of the Economy?

I loved this post from Penelope Trunk about why grad school might not be the right option. Although I don't agree with everything here, it's fun to read her thoughts.

4. Law school is a factory for depressives.
It used to be that if you had a law degree it was a ticket to a high salary and a safe career. Today many people go to law school and cannot find a job. This is, in a large part, because law school selects for people who are good with details and pass tests and law firms select for people who are good at marketing themselves and can drum up business. Law firms are in a transition phase, and they have many unfair labor practices leftover from older generations, for example, hourly billing and making young lawyers pay dues for what is, today, a largely uncertain future. Which might explain why the American Bar Association reports that the majority of lawyers would recommend that people not to go into law.

I have quite a few friends who are lawyers. Most of them love it, but there are a few who have had a hard time finding the right job after grad school. The ones who are doing well typically went to really good schools and work insane hours in corporate law, but make a ton of money. I'm not sure how sustainable it will be in the long run, but they love it for now.

If I were a freshman in college, I would seriously consider becoming a pharmacist or optometrist. Both are high paying with good hours and the ability to have a flexible schedule. I think both would be excellent careers for working mothers, but that's just my opinion.

Watch Your Change!

Over the weekend, I was out with some friends in what I would term a “ghetto” neighborhood outside of San Francisco. My definition of a ghetto neighborhood is one where there are Bail Bonds businesses around. We stopped at a convenience store where we purchased a small item. One of my friends handed the cashier a $10 bill for the $3 goods. The cashier tried to shortchange him by only giving him $2 back. My friend immediately told him that he had given him a $10. I was nearby, not paying too much attention. My friend said the cashier purposely tried to shortchange him since the cashier immediately provided the correct amount, without even thinking about what bill he had received.

Afterward, my friends and I were talking. The cashier probably often has people stop by who are picking up alcohol on their way home. I bet he tries this trick with a lot of people, especially those who are not sober.

So the lesson is be aware when paying with cash (and credit)!

Overhead . . .and Seen

Two notable things I overheard and saw this past weekend:

Overheard: "I take cash, check, and credit cards . . ." - homeless guy in downtown Philly

I thought the comment from the homeless guy was pretty fun. I just thought I'd share that.

Seen: My two seatmates on my flight from Philly to the Bay Area both were reading library books.

I was pretty shocked to see both of my seatmates reading library books since I don't think I've ever seen anyone else on a plane reading a library book, except for me and my spouse. I haven't been to the library for a while so I'm wondering if it's more crowded now. Is all this talk about practicing frugality really taking root? Or do people feel that it is more acceptable to be frugal, so they're more open about it?

My Husband Was Upset That I Bargained at a Retail Store

Background
C has a fairly expensive watch ($300) that he needed repaired. The battery had gone out and the strap needed to be replaced. The watch was one of the few nice gifts I had given to C. I got it for him during our first or second year of dating. We have now been together for about 6 years - 3 years of dating and 3 years of marriage.

The watch hadn't been operational for about a year and a half since the strap broke. It was very hard to find a replacement strap. We ended up buying a replacement strap about 4 months ago when we were on vacation in NYC when we went to the retail store of the watch manufacturer. The store in NYC was the only retail store the watch manufacturer has anywhere. Unfortunately since we were on vacation, we didn't get a chance to actually get the strap replaced at the store since the watch was a home. The replacement strap was pretty pricey. We can't remember exactly how much it cost. I think it was about $50 while C thinks it was about $100. I'm not sure when the battery broke.

Bargaining at the Store
Last night we went to this fancy watch store since we know that they do repairs. We had went there before to see if they could repair C's watch, but they would need to order the strap which we didn't want them to do. We ask the serviceman how much it costs to replace the strap and get the battery replaced. The battery was $21.70 and the installation of the band was $15, so the total was going to be about $37.

Both my husband and I were hesitating, so I asked the watch serviceman if he could do it for $30 total. He first said that he didn't set the prices, then I frowned. He then said that he would go and check. While the serviceman was gone C told me that he didn't like bargaining for services that he would rather pay the extra $7 since he thinks people don't do as good of a job with a service when you don't pay as much. I completely disagreed since I thought it was pretty clear cut what he was going to do. Well the serviceman came back and told us that he could do it for $30!

It probably took an extra 2 minutes to save $7. Upon examining his returned watch, there was a minor scratch on the face that C didn't remember seeing. C thinks that the serviceman might have scratched the watch. I told C that I thought it was probably already there. Since we hadn't examined the watch before bringing it in, we couldn't be sure. I just don't think someone at a fancy watch store would purposely or accidentally scratch a watch. Since most of the watches in the store are $1000+, I know that those guys have a lot of experience dealing with nice watches.

I have realized the C and I have very different ideas when it comes to spending money. I always knew that we had different philosophies, but I couldn't believe that he disagreed with bargaining in this case. I think he is just uncomfortable with asking people to give him special treatment, whereas I am a big believer in asking for what you want. We agreed to disagree in this case, but I will definitely try bargaining in the future.

Becoming The Jones

There's a lot of talk about not keeping up with the Jones, but what happens when you become the Jones?

C and I were out with friends. We were talking casually and we discussed going on a weekend trip together. C and I were encouraging our friends to take the trip with us. For us it would have been minimal cost since I travel a lot for work, hence I get perks like free flights. It was a very casual conversation and it probably wouldn't have gone anywhere due to lack of initiative to plan. Anyway, then our friends told us that they're not planning on taking any trips this year since they're in debt from their recent wedding. I quickly said that I understood and that it was great that they were working on getting out of debt.

Moments later, I realized that we were the Jones, encouraging them to spend more money than they could comfortably afford! I'm really proud of the fact that they said no. I wasn't aware of their financial situation and I would never want to encourage someone to do something that goes against their life goals.