How Can I Help My Friend

boudge7 · #1 05-26-2007, 05:17 PM

For about the past year my friend has been working out on oil rigs and has finally reached the point where he can't take it anymore. He went to a junior college to play baseball but never got his diploma and for a while considered becoming a fire fighter. He's great at working with his hands and has done a lot of construction type work in the past.

He told me he needs to find a job that will pay him at least $18/hr to cover all his bills with little money left to spare. What can I do to help him? I just moved back into town so I don't really have any connections as far as jobs are concerned. What kind of work could would pay that money right off the bat?

IggyWH · #2 05-26-2007, 05:19 PM

Labor Union or any other Union that he could work in.

Oil Rig work is damn good money if you can put up with it. He might have done some crazy stuff to be that screwed financially. Mayeb there is no helping him?

Iconoclastic · #3 05-26-2007, 05:22 PM

I thought oil rigs paid pretty well?

XXXNoahXXX · #4 05-26-2007, 05:33 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I thought oil rigs paid pretty well?

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought this too.

Why does he need to make $18/hr? This seems pretty high for a minimum need just to pay the bills.

boudge7 · #5 05-26-2007, 06:06 PM

Yes, working the oil rigs does pay relatively well, but the hours and being away from home so much is killing him. He and many of my other friends from high school have made some bad decisions financially. There are upside-down on their car loans when they go to trade in. My friend bought a brand new 1000cc motorcycle, and overall just isn't that great with money. There aren't many labor unions around here, but I did think of that.

Patrick del Poker Grande · #6 05-26-2007, 06:27 PM

Where is "around here"? Is your friend willing to go to some sort of school or training? Like to be some sort of technician or mechanic?

pergesu · #7 05-26-2007, 09:12 PM

Tell him to suck it up and keep working the rigs for another 3-6 months, and to save up during that time.

XXXNoahXXX · #8 05-26-2007, 09:14 PM

You're trying to fix the wrong problem.

Basically you are asking "my friend is awful with money, doesn't know how to budget, and spends it on new things like motorcycles...so how can I help him get a job that will allow him to survive while continuing to be awful with money?"

Maybe he needs to learn how to budget his money.

boudge7 · #9 05-27-2007, 01:57 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Where is "around here"? Is your friend willing to go to some sort of school or training? Like to be some sort of technician or mechanic?

[/ QUOTE ]

Around here is Colorado Springs and it would be tough to walk away and start some kind of training as his bills would be piling up and some at pretty high interest rates.

boudge7 · #10 05-27-2007, 02:02 AM

[ QUOTE ]
You're trying to fix the wrong problem.

Basically you are asking "my friend is awful with money, doesn't know how to budget, and spends it on new things like motorcycles...so how can I help him get a job that will allow him to survive while continuing to be awful with money?"

Maybe he needs to learn how to budget his money.

[/ QUOTE ]

You're absolutely right, but he's already in a mess and telling him, "yeah, tough [censored] you have all these bills and you're hating life working a dangerous job. Guess you should have learned to handle your finances better" is not the road I'd like to take.

He knows he's made some mistakes, and hopefully he's learned from this. Like is said in the OP, all my friends are extremely bad with money. They try and one up each other with expensive toys that they really can't afford.

For the moment, forget the reason for him being in this situation, if you found yourself in need of a decent paying job, what would you do?