Settling the Debate on Your Financial Faux Pas (We’re Divided)

💵 Start your free budget today. Download the EveryDollar app! So, you booked all the Airbnbs for the group hiking trip, but that was two months ago, and Becky still hasn’t responded to your Venmo request? Awkward. In this episode, Rachel and George are responding to cringy financial faux pas you’ve experienced with friends. Next Steps: 🍸 Follow Smart Money Happy Hour on TikTok: @smartmoneyhappyhour 📱 Submit a Guilty As Charged question for Rachel and George! Send a DM to @rachelcruze or @georgekamel on Instagram! Be sure to type “GUILTY?” at the top of your message so we don’t miss it. Connect With Our Sponsors: 🔒 Get 20% off when you join DeleteMe. 🌿 Get up to 40% off at Cozy Earth with code SMART MONEY. Today’s Happy Hour Special: 🍹 Division Bell Recipe: Difford’s Guide Ingredients: 1 ounce mescal 1/2 ounce Maraschino liqueur 3/4 ounce lime juice 3/4 ounce Aperol Instructions: Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass, then enjoy! Listen to More From Ramsey Network: 💡 The Rachel Cruze Show 💰 George Kamel 🎙️ The Ramsey Show 💸 The Ramsey Show Highlights 🧠 The Dr. John Delony Show 💼 The Ken Coleman Show 📈 EntreLeadership Ramsey Solutions Privacy Policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:05Rachel Cruze?

  Hey guys, I'm Rachel.

• 0:06George Kamel?

  I'm George.

• 0:07Rachel Cruze?

  And this is

• 0:08George Kamel?

  Smart Money Happy Hour.

• 0:11Rachel Cruze?

  Cheers, George.

• 0:12George Kamel?

  Cheers.

• 0:15Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, wonderful.

• 0:17George Kamel?

  That'll cure almost anything.

• 0:20Rachel Cruze?

  Well, this is the show where two friends who happen to be money experts talk about what you're talking about. So everything from pop culture, current events, and money.

• 0:27George Kamel?

  And we're kicking off today's episode with a public debate.

• 0:31Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, it's not political, so don't worry, you guys. Don't get scared off. But it is crazy. And it has to do with George. That's all I'll say.

• 0:40George Kamel?

  Don't pin it on me. Okay. Well, before we get to that, what are we sipping on, Rachel?

• 0:44Rachel Cruze?

  We've got a Division Bell.

• 0:46George Kamel?

  You can taste the divisive.

• 0:49Rachel Cruze?

  So, that's funny, actually. The cocktail name fits really well.

• 0:52George Kamel?

  I actually think, out of all the things in this episode, we'll agree that this is a good drink.

• 0:56Rachel Cruze?

  So good.

• 0:56George Kamel?

  So stick around till the end. We'll give you the cost per glass. We'll give you our rating. And the recipe is in the show notes.

• 1:02Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, so this all started when I heard about something that went on at Mia, who is George's daughter, who just turned one.

• 1:11George Kamel?

  Why do you say it accusingly?

• 1:13Rachel Cruze?

  George's daughter's birthday. But you said that you did something at this party. I'll let you explain to the people. And I thought-

• 1:18George Kamel?

  You act like this is public indecency. What a tease.

• 1:21Rachel Cruze?

  And I thought it was a joke. And I was like, oh, that's funny, George. Or you did it as a joke. And then I learned later on that afternoon that like, no, no, no, he did this, like, it was being serious about it. And I was like, oh, my gosh, George Campbell, you are tacky.

• 1:37George Kamel?

  So-

• 1:37Rachel Cruze?

  Tacky.

• 1:39George Kamel?

  This is an episode about financial faux pas. And apparently, I committed one.

• 1:43Rachel Cruze?

  Big one.

• 1:44George Kamel?

  While just trying to prepare for my daughter's future. Like, what a noble way to be tacky.

• 1:49Rachel Cruze?

  On the backs of friends.

• 1:52George Kamel?

  Okay, here's what happened.

• 1:53Rachel Cruze?

  And this is not a joke. Like, I thought this was like, oh, George, you're funny. You talk about money.

• 1:57George Kamel?

  What you guys need to know is that I'm tired of crap. And babies just get a lot of stuff. And people just think, I bet they want more stuff. And so we keep getting stuff. And so I thought for the party, which by the way, was just family and close friends, I decided-

• 2:14George Kamel?

  Close friends.

• 2:17Rachel Cruze?

  Loud and clear.

• 2:18George Kamel?

  To be honest, I wanted nothing to do with the invite list. And it was just like, Whitney, invite your best girlfriends. I don't want to, I don't have friends. I don't, guys don't want to go to first birthday parties. Can we just say that?

• 2:28Rachel Cruze?

  That's fair, that's fair.

• 2:29George Kamel?

  So anyways, I decided, you know what? Instead of making everyone like, hey, bring a gift, bring more stuff. What if I did a little QR code? And if you so chose, you could give to her future college fund. So I made a cute, it was really cute. It said like, cowgirls, blah, blah, blah. Support cowgirls college fund with a QR code to go scan and donate directly to the fund. This was not like my then, no. So I then posted on social media, like I'm posting the picture as a joke, like when you're the, when you give people financial advice and you're the girl that, whatever, as a funny joke. Then people thought, wow, he's soliciting donations from social media now.

• 3:07Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, they thought.

• 3:08George Kamel?

  So they thought it was tacky that I was on social trying to get money for my daughter's college fund.

• 3:13Rachel Cruze?

  Which was not your intent of that.

• 3:15George Kamel?

  Which was not the intent. It was supposed to be a funny joke, like this is classic George behavior that amidst all the gifts, George is like, hey, you could donate to the college fund because it will, at a 12% rate of return, it'll turn it, you know.

• 3:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 3:26George Kamel?

  Nerding out.

• 3:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, but like, it's funny that you would do that because you would just do that because it's funny, not because you were serious, though.

• 3:32George Kamel?

  And to be fair, not a single person donated to the college fund, so. But I did get really good at Canva. I got, I became an expert in Canva, just making this.

• 3:44Rachel Cruze?

  Just to make the poster for it.

• 3:45George Kamel?

  I was very proud of my work.

• 3:46Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh. Were you expecting people to donate?

• 3:49George Kamel?

  I didn't, but if it was me, I would personally rather give to my friend's kid's college fund than to like, buy them another thing that will likely be thrown away or returned.

• 3:59Rachel Cruze?

  Did they know this was an option?

• 4:00George Kamel?

  No, it was a last minute thing.

• 4:02Rachel Cruze?

  So it was like an add-on, like, hey, you came to the, you came to the party.

• 4:05George Kamel?

  Yeah, Whitney already sent you an invite.

• 4:06Rachel Cruze?

  And if you happen to want to donate here after you bought a gift, here's this too.

• 4:10George Kamel?

  Pretty much. Again, Hail Mary.

• 4:12Rachel Cruze?

  George.

• 4:13George Kamel?

  But Rachel thought, I cannot believe you did that.

• 4:17George Kamel?

  And so we decided to do a whole episode on other financial faux pas. That's how we got here. So I want to know in the comments, am I in the wrong? Am I a terrible dad?

• 4:25Rachel Cruze?

  Actually, I would love to know.

• 4:27George Kamel?

  Here's the deal.

• 4:27Rachel Cruze?

  Anyways.

• 4:28George Kamel?

  We polled you guys on social media to share more real life financial dilemmas and faux pas with friends in finances. And so today, we're going to hear your case. As the judge and jury, we're going to share our thoughts. And if QR code gate is any indication, this might, there might be some friendly debate among Rachel and I.

• 4:45Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, this could be good. Okay, before we dive in, do you have any just social pet peeves that come to mind?

• 4:50George Kamel?

  Ooh, like financial faux pas. I think that like you've said this, but the nitpicking of like a Venmo, like, well, it was $4.28, so we're gonna.

• 5:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 5:02George Kamel?

  Like amongst friends.

• 5:03Rachel Cruze?

  Right.

• 5:04George Kamel?

  I, you know, I don't like the, let's just split evenly.

• 5:06Rachel Cruze?

  I think under like, for sure, under 15 in my book.

• 5:09George Kamel?

  You're like, don't worry about it.

• 5:10Rachel Cruze?

  And then you could go a little higher too, if you wanted, but like, yeah, like, got you covered. Don't worry. The, I'll grab the coffee or whatever, you know?

• 5:17George Kamel?

  Uh, there was one that really grinded my gears and it's not from a person, it's from a place.

• 5:21Rachel Cruze?

  Ooh.

• 5:22George Kamel?

  But I got a to-go order from one of my favorite burger places.

• 5:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 5:25George Kamel?

  And they started a mandatory tip on to-go orders, which I was like, okay, fine, I get it. They're putting a lot of work into this. They want to chart. Now it went from a 10% mandatory tip to a 15% automatic gratuity on a takeout order. I grabbed the bag and I leave.

• 5:40Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 5:40George Kamel?

  This is a little bit over the top.

• 5:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 5:43George Kamel?

  To force my hand into a 15% tip for showing up to your restaurant and grabbing an order.

• 5:47Rachel Cruze?

  And grabbing an order.

• 5:48George Kamel?

  No one waited on me.

• 5:49Rachel Cruze?

  That's the thing. 15 to 20% is when you, someone like waits on you for an hour and pours drinks and brings you food and you add more stuff.

• 5:56George Kamel?

  I might as well have just enjoyed the meal.

• 5:57Rachel Cruze?

  Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally.

• 5:59George Kamel?

  So that one, that one was a real gear grinder for me. A financial faux pas for small business owners.

• 6:04Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, how about this one? Electric car friend to electric car friend. This may be snobby. We went and stayed at a place and it was like this like resort kind of, you know, place and it was nice. Um, and every hotel that we've stayed in, we'll take the Tesla, like, we went to Memphis for weddings, we took the Tesla, like, we'll take the Tesla.

• 6:20George Kamel?

  Like a shorter drive.

• 6:21Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, like within four hours. And almost every hotel or place we've been, they'll like, they have charging stations in the parking lot. This one was a pay.

• 6:32George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 6:33Rachel Cruze?

  You had to pay for it.

• 6:34George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 6:34Rachel Cruze?

  I know, and I just thought, really? Like, you're trying to make money?

• 6:38George Kamel?

  Who's making the money? The hotel, or is it like a?

• 6:40Rachel Cruze?

  No, it was like a company.

• 6:41George Kamel?

  Like ChargePoint runs it?

• 6:42Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I was like, oh, man, hotel. You could have like, I don't know. So I thought about that recently, too.

• 6:48George Kamel?

  Here are the listener submissions. Marie Mathie said, drove to Florida with a friend, 600 miles round trip, but they never offered to pay for gas.

• 6:57Rachel Cruze?

  Ooh, tacky.

• 6:59George Kamel?

  Tacky? Now, I want to know the context. Like, they drove in, apparently, her car. She was driving, I assume, in her car.

• 7:07Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, 600 miles, I mean, yeah.

• 7:08George Kamel?

  Was the trip for her? Was like, were they helping her move?

• 7:11Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, okay.

• 7:12George Kamel?

  You know what I mean? Like, I need to know the context in which they decided to go on this road trip.

• 7:16Rachel Cruze?

  Wow, you're like a Matlock.

• 7:17George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 7:17Rachel Cruze?

  Of today, just really.

• 7:19George Kamel?

  I prefer Wishbone to get into the bottom of this case. Or Mary-Kate and Ashley, solving any crime by dinnertime.

• 7:24Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you're very Mary-Kate right now, and Ashley.

• 7:27George Kamel?

  So, yeah, overall faux pas.

• 7:29Rachel Cruze?

  Mm-hmm.

• 7:30George Kamel?

  Without knowing any more context.

• 7:32Rachel Cruze?

  And we got Laura Jeremiah, and she said, bought an air fryer from a coworker, and he charged me an extra $5 just for bringing it into work for me.

• 7:40George Kamel?

  What? Like a delivery fee?

• 7:44Rachel Cruze?

  If anything, it's like, thank you for taking my air fryer and buying it from me.

• 7:49George Kamel?

  My guess is the next thing was like, turn around on the phone, like, hey, just gonna ask you a few questions.

• 7:54Rachel Cruze?

  What do you want to tip me?

• 7:55George Kamel?

  Asking for the tip on this air fryer.

• 7:57Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 7:58George Kamel?

  I don't understand, did he explain it? He must have said, hey, oh, yeah, it'll be an extra $5 since I brought it. Versus you driving to me and picking it up? You're going to work anyways.

• 8:07Rachel Cruze?

  Same place, yeah, that's, that's cheap. That's cheap right there.

• 8:10George Kamel?

  Don't love that one. Here's one from Kyla Penner. Forgot to bring a bridal shower gift. Two days later, she called me, asking where I dropped off my card.

• 8:19Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man.

• 8:20George Kamel?

  This is giving some Bridezilla Mackensley energy with a GH.

• 8:25Rachel Cruze?

  Mackensley?

• 8:27George Kamel?

  You know, you know the type.

• 8:28Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, Mackensley, calm down.

• 8:30George Kamel?

  There's a lot going on here. So you forget to bring the gift?

• 8:33Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, now, my question would be.

• 8:35George Kamel?

  Did you actually get a gift?

• 8:36Rachel Cruze?

  Can I go devil's advocate on this one?

• 8:37George Kamel?

  Sure.

• 8:38Rachel Cruze?

  What if Kayla said, oh, shoot, I forgot the gift. I'm so sorry, I'll drop it off later. Right? And like makes up an excuse.

• 8:47George Kamel?

  Hey, where'd you drop off the card?

• 8:48Rachel Cruze?

  And then, so if someone says that to me, and then I don't see it, I could see a day where you're like, oh hey, I just want to make sure like.

• 8:57George Kamel?

  I didn't lose it or something?

• 8:58Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that it didn't like get like, like blown away if you left at the front door or like, did you? I don't know.

• 9:03George Kamel?

  You're the Matlock of kindness and benefit of the doubt.

• 9:06Rachel Cruze?

  Could there be that? Could there be that? You know what I will do? I will follow up on gifts nowadays, which is so great. Thank you, technology. That like you can ship gifts to people directly.

• 9:17George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 9:17Rachel Cruze?

  So like for weddings or baby showers, and I do that a lot now. And if I don't hear from them, it's not that I need to thank you, but I do follow up like a week later. I'm like, hey, did it come? Like, I want to make sure you got it because I paid for it, making sure you actually got the gift. So I will do a follow up text. I'm not looking for a thank you, but it's just a.

• 9:34George Kamel?

  What is your, this is another built in financial faux pas. Do you feel like it's a faux pas to not send a thank you after getting a gift for a, you know, a baby shower, bridal, birthday?

• 9:46Rachel Cruze?

  Um, I written cards. I don't like get one and be like, oh, thank God they wrote me a card. Like, I'm like, oh, that's nice. I don't, I'm very like neutral to them. That was once a nice first fight. Did you know this? We were married for eight days or whatever we were. And it was January, duck hunting season or whatever it was. And.

• 10:08George Kamel?

  I know it well.

• 10:08Rachel Cruze?

  And because I probably had a little Sharon, love you Sharon, had a little Sharon in the back of my head. I'm like, I have to write all these thank you cards for our wedding. And we kind of had a big wedding, like we.

• 10:15George Kamel?

  A lot of people. Not that I was invited.

• 10:17Rachel Cruze?

  And I was like,

• 10:20Rachel Cruze?

  didn't know you, George, 15 years ago. And I remember being like, I'm just going to have to get these thank you cards out. Oh, my gosh, gosh, gosh. And like, I was very overwhelmed. And I remember being like, Winston, will you help me? And he was like, oh, Carson invited me to go duck hunting this weekend.

• 10:34George Kamel?

  Not Carson.

• 10:35Rachel Cruze?

  And I was like, what? And I cried, y'all, I cried. I was like, is this what marriage is? Like, what?

• 10:41George Kamel?

  He's going to choose Carson over me?

• 10:44Rachel Cruze?

  Do everything. Oh, yeah, y'all, it was like a, it was like a first, like, how do we? You know, and you look back now, I'm like, oh, dear God. I was like, Rachel, jeez. Why I felt like this made up expectation of a timeline, number one.

• 10:59Rachel Cruze?

  And number two, go hunt. I'm like, yeah, it would be, it would be a different situation today.

• 11:02George Kamel?

  How could you choose duck hunting over writing thank you cards?

• 11:05Rachel Cruze?

  I know, right?

• 11:07George Kamel?

  Wow, glad that's over.

• 11:08Rachel Cruze?

  But two weeks in, man, it's like, I don't know, what is this?

• 11:11George Kamel?

  Soul crushing.

• 11:12Rachel Cruze?

  Is this our life?

• 11:13George Kamel?

  Second guess everything. I'm glad you guys have made it. 15 years now. Congrats.

• 11:17Rachel Cruze?

  Thank you, thank you.

• 11:18George Kamel?

  Despite the incident.

• 11:20Rachel Cruze?

  So yeah, so thank you cards, and I'm terrible at them. I'll say that. And my kids. I make the list at the birthday parties of who brought what gift and do we send out thank you cards off that list?

• 11:31George Kamel?

  I just think a text is enough. Like, hey, thanks so much for the gift. Love seeing you.

• 11:35Rachel Cruze?

  Me too.

• 11:36George Kamel?

  Maybe say what the gift is if you want to go extra. But like, writing a letter and mailing it, it feels like that's a lot.

• 11:40Rachel Cruze?

  Maybe a wedding. Do you feel like a wedding in a shower maybe is a different level of...

• 11:44George Kamel?

  There's a formality with weddings that I feel like is there.

• 11:47Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, there's something there. Okay.

• 11:48George Kamel?

  Anywho, all right, here's another submission from Neo to Ruya. My friend offered her a guest room to me while I was in town. Charged me $15 per night plus an energy bill fee on Venmo.

• 12:01Rachel Cruze?

  Y'all, who are these?

• 12:03George Kamel?

  Are these people real?

• 12:03Rachel Cruze?

  People.

• 12:05George Kamel?

  Like, 15 per night is almost, like, don't even, why even do it?

• 12:09Rachel Cruze?

  Why? No.

• 12:10George Kamel?

  How many nights were you there? Was it, were you there for a month? It said while you were in town. We don't know how long.

• 12:15Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh, I could not, I could imagine.

• 12:18George Kamel?

  But the energy, energy bill fee...

• 12:20Rachel Cruze?

  I'm not friends with those people. Like, that's terrible. If we went and stayed with people, we did that recently. We went and stayed with some friends in Chattanooga. Venmo does for, people stay at our house. I'm like, no, no, we're not doing that.

• 12:33George Kamel?

  Wow, I cannot imagine charging friends when they stay. Like, if you're gonna invite someone over, like, hey, just stay at our place. Do not charge them money.

• 12:40Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we don't need that. Okay, how about this? Katie Perez says, I've heard moms charging other moms after playdates because their kids ate some of the family snacks. This actually went viral on, I say Instagram, you may say TikTok.

• 12:55George Kamel?

  Cause I saw it first on TikTok.

• 12:56Rachel Cruze?

  Probably.

• 12:56George Kamel?

  You saw it a month later on Instagram.

• 12:57Rachel Cruze?

  Probably.

• 12:58George Kamel?

  And think you're better than us TikTokers.

• 13:00Rachel Cruze?

  And, yeah, and this mom was the one charging people and she's like, can we just normalize like charging? Cause like all the supplies and the snacks and all of this. And I was like, oh my gosh. What is this? This is crazy.

• 13:12George Kamel?

  I feel like I would just send my daughter with all the supplies she needed and say, don't take anything from these people.

• 13:16Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, just, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't use their water.

• 13:18George Kamel?

  We're not gonna get Venmo'd after this.

• 13:20Rachel Cruze?

  Don't do anything.

• 13:21George Kamel?

  Don't flush the toilet?

• 13:22Rachel Cruze?

  Can't use anything.

• 13:23George Kamel?

  They're gonna charge us for that too?

• 13:25Rachel Cruze?

  Man.

• 13:25George Kamel?

  That's overkill.

• 13:27Rachel Cruze?

  Why don't the moms, are moms that, I feel like they're reeling moms that are that petty out there?

• 13:32George Kamel?

  Like, I understand if they're gonna go do an adventure. Hey, we're gonna take them to Chuck E. Cheese. Great. I'm gonna give her money.

• 13:38Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah, yeah. If you're going out somewhere and there's like an admission, a movie or something, for sure.

• 13:44George Kamel?

  What if, what if your kids are going over to a friend's house and it's like, hey, we're getting a bunch of pizzas? And you're like, hey, look, I'd love to like chip in to...

• 13:51Rachel Cruze?

  You know what? I don't chip in for pizzas.

• 13:53George Kamel?

  Okay.

• 13:54Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. And no one's shipped in for me. Like, I think that's a, that's a...

• 13:57George Kamel?

  Unspoken rule. If you have friends, when they're over, we'll cover it when...

• 14:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that is funny though, because then like I'll take a bunch of girls like Sonic or something after school. We've done that. And like the moms will Venmo me. And I'm, and I'm like, they didn't, I didn't ask for it, but they will. But people don't do pizzas. That's an interesting...

• 14:13George Kamel?

  I'm thinking about my own childhood now, cause I was always over at friends' houses and we'd just like eat whatever they were having for dinner.

• 14:18Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, uh huh.

• 14:18George Kamel?

  And I don't think there was any money exchanged for any of this.

• 14:21Rachel Cruze?

  You know what's funny though? I had Denise, my sister over and her family. And we, I, we ordered a bunch of pizzas to our house and stuff and Denise Venmo'd me after, for the pizza.

• 14:31George Kamel?

  Sweet Denise.

• 14:33Rachel Cruze?

  For the pizza. I know. And I was like, I mean, I think some people are just more conscious of that stuff, I guess, than others.

• 14:40George Kamel?

  And it's more for them. If it's like, if that's what they wanna do.

• 14:42Rachel Cruze?

  Sure.

• 14:43George Kamel?

  Then fine. It's not gonna hurt you. Like, it's not, you didn't ask for it. It was almost like a generosity thing.

• 14:48Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. So funny.

• 14:50George Kamel?

  Way to go Denise.

• 14:51Rachel Cruze?

  All right, this next one, George.

• 14:52George Kamel?

  S. Chodas said, "Our church friends stop talking to us when we wouldn't buy an MLM product from them." Good.

• 15:00Rachel Cruze?

  No oils here.

• 15:02George Kamel?

  You think they were friends. This was all a lead up to get you to buy the product. They don't actually like you, probably.

• 15:08Rachel Cruze?

  Okay, George, do you feel like MLMs have died out? Because I just don't hear about them as much anymore.

• 15:12George Kamel?

  I think people caught on to it and some of them have gone under. I mean, Beauty Counter had a pretty famous

• 15:17Rachel Cruze?

  What?

• 15:18George Kamel?

  blow up. And so all

• 15:19Rachel Cruze?

  No.

• 15:20George Kamel?

  all the people in the downline lost their income. And Tupperware just filed bankruptcy.

• 15:24Rachel Cruze?

  Wait, Beauty Counter's done?

• 15:26George Kamel?

  They, I don't think they're coming back. I think they're like, hey, we're gonna just disappear for a little while. And I think people kind of see the writing on the wall. I'm not in the like MLM scoop community.

• 15:37Rachel Cruze?

  Sure.

• 15:38George Kamel?

  Someone can prove me wrong that it's coming back with a vengeance.

• 15:41Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man.

• 15:42George Kamel?

  I think overall MLMs have sort of, it was almost like a trend and it's hopefully dying out. Some will stick around.

• 15:48Rachel Cruze?

  Sure.

• 15:48George Kamel?

  The ones with better products and services

• 15:50Rachel Cruze?

  Sure.

• 15:50George Kamel?

  will stick around, but overall

• 15:52Rachel Cruze?

  So interesting.

• 15:53George Kamel?

  I don't think the model

• 15:54Rachel Cruze?

  But they stopped talking to you because you didn't buy the product.

• 15:58George Kamel?

  This was not a true friendship. Any true friendship that ends because you didn't buy a thing is not a friendship. It was transactional.

• 16:04Rachel Cruze?

  That is crazy.

• 16:05George Kamel?

  And they faked it really well up until then.

• 16:07Rachel Cruze?

  All right, we got Sam Martinez and he says, if you're out to dinner at Buca di Beppo and everyone orders wine, but you're sober, you shouldn't have to split the bill, right?

• 16:18George Kamel?

  Wow. This one goes back to my thing of like, everyone gets the apps and the drinks. And I got one thing and a water. I feel like it's not fair to then charge me the same.

• 16:28Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I would, I agree.

• 16:29George Kamel?

  Don't put that socialism on me. So, no, I, I think

• 16:31Rachel Cruze?

  All equals.

• 16:32George Kamel?

  Not a faux pas here to say

• 16:34Rachel Cruze?

  Well, Buca di Beppo is hard because it is family style. So it's not like everyone gets their own individual entree.

• 16:39George Kamel?

  Wow, look at you defending Buca di Beppo. Well, their defense, it's a family style.

• 16:45Rachel Cruze?

  It is a fa- yeah.

• 16:46George Kamel?

  Authentic Italian experience.

• 16:47Rachel Cruze?

  You don't eat, it's not like, oh, I'm ordering my, you know, salad and water here. It is a shared, so that's, that is a harder restaurant to divvy up checks.

• 16:59George Kamel?

  Agreed, but also it's, I get that it's a lot of work to get like the waiter to split it. But it's also, they're, it's, they're used to it. So I don't buy when someone's like, well, it's just easier to just do it all together. So the waiter doesn't have to. And if the waiter comes over-

• 17:13Rachel Cruze?

  Is it though?

• 17:13George Kamel?

  With one big bill, I go, "Hey, I know it's a pain. Would you mind splitting it up?" And they go, "Okay." And they go, "Split it up." But I think calling it out, like, "Hey, if you guys are gonna get alcoholic, would you mind if I'm just on a separate tab?" Just calling it out early on.

• 17:25Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, okay, cuz I would say, I, the appetizer, I would say the, the alcohol is for sure the difference. Because it is expensive, right? And if you get-

• 17:33George Kamel?

  Especially in Tennessee, cuz there's a liquor tax. Did you know this?

• 17:36Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, I did.

• 17:37George Kamel?

  Fifteen percent on top of everything else.

• 17:38Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 17:39George Kamel?

  On top of your normal tax, on top of tip.

• 17:41Rachel Cruze?

  It's cuz we don't have income tax. They get us-

• 17:43George Kamel?

  That's how they get us.

• 17:44Rachel Cruze?

  They get us to other places. But if there's like a spinach dip in the middle of the table...

• 17:49George Kamel?

  I mean, you're gonna get a bite.

• 17:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, right?

• 17:53George Kamel?

  That's a good one. What do you think about people who, this happens to me often, someone who sneaks up and gets the waiter their card and sneakily pays for the table?

• 18:00Rachel Cruze?

  It's great.

• 18:02George Kamel?

  No faux pas there. Is there a good way to do it? Is there a bad way to do it?

• 18:06Rachel Cruze?

  Like, if you're the one, like, paying for the dinner?

• 18:08George Kamel?

  Yeah.

• 18:09Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, I would just tell the waiter, "Hey, it's all just gonna be one check."

• 18:12George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 18:12Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, we'll do that. And then, I'll say this, on the end of, like, wanting to be generous, this just happened, like, last week, and it's like, "Yeah, we'll, we'll treat them." And then the people that, "Fight it." "No, split it. Oh, split it. Oh, split it," you know? Like, I get it, but, I don't know.

• 18:29George Kamel?

  Yep. That's a very, also, coming from Middle Eastern culture, that every single time, like, the dads at the table are fighting, "No, no, no, uh."

• 18:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 18:37George Kamel?

  And I'm like, "Okay, can we just be done with this charade?"

• 18:39Rachel Cruze?

  Totally, totally, totally, totally, yep.

• 18:42George Kamel?

  But my brother is the, he is the king of, I'm gonna, he's gonna sneakily get, he did it yesterday.

• 18:47Rachel Cruze?

  That's so nice.

• 18:48George Kamel?

  And we're with a big group, and he's, I'm like, "How did you even get your card to the waiter? Like, I didn't even see you get up. It's like a magic trick." He's like David Blaine of generosity.

• 18:57Rachel Cruze?

  See, that's so nice. I think that's people-

• 18:58George Kamel?

  But he is very generous.

• 18:59Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. And I think people, that's like, they're like-

• 19:02George Kamel?

  They're love language almost.

• 19:03Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's what they do, yeah. I love it.

• 19:05George Kamel?

  It's great.

• 19:05Rachel Cruze?

  It's very, very nice. All right, next, Nicolette?

• 19:08George Kamel?

  Nicolette.

• 19:09Rachel Cruze?

  Nicolette Govan? Govan?

• 19:11George Kamel?

  Govan?

• 19:12Rachel Cruze?

  Govan? She said, "My friend always gives me extravagant birthday and Christmas gifts, but I can't afford to do the same for her."

• 19:19George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 19:20Rachel Cruze?

  It's fine.

• 19:22George Kamel?

  No faux pas here, but I do think some communication might be helpful in this relationship. I don't think, here's the thing, when people give extravagant gifts, I don't think they expect the same level of extravagance in return. I think they're just naturally gift givers.

• 19:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 19:35George Kamel?

  But in our minds, we go, "I need to return the faith. Now I gotta get them a really nice gift." And the truth is, if you get them whatever you want to get them, it's going to be great.

• 19:43Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, that's right. And I'll be honest, to get birthday gifts from other friends as an adult is always shocking to me.

• 19:50George Kamel?

  I got some orders to cancel.

• 19:52Rachel Cruze?

  Do you?

• 19:53George Kamel?

  Never mind, I thought.

• 19:54Rachel Cruze?

  Do you feel like that, though? Like, I went out to lunch with a bunch of my girlfriends for my birthday, and like, two of them brought me a gift. And I'm like, I just don't expect, I do not expect...

• 20:01George Kamel?

  That's true. I have maybe one or two friends that still want to do, like, birthday gifts.

• 20:05Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I mean, it's really nice.

• 20:06George Kamel?

  Exactly. I accept it with...

• 20:08Rachel Cruze?

  It's very fun, but I just, yeah, I just have zero expectation.

• 20:10George Kamel?

  But I think I'd rather do, like, "Hey, we're going out to this Mexican restaurant. Come join us for my birthday."

• 20:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, love it.

• 20:15George Kamel?

  That kind of thing.

• 20:16Rachel Cruze?

  Yep. All right, Jesse618 says, "My work friend says I still owe $25 for a group gift that she put together for our boss, but I never agreed to that."

• 20:26George Kamel?

  Oh, I will say group gifts are the bane of my existence. And we've done them here, so it's not like...

• 20:31Rachel Cruze?

  I know, it happens a lot.

• 20:33George Kamel?

  So, traditional etiquette says that you never gift up at work. It's like giving your, your boss a gift.

• 20:40Rachel Cruze?

  Ah.

• 20:40George Kamel?

  That's just traditional etiquette. Not saying it doesn't happen, not saying it's not okay, but just, the proper way to do it is peers or people that are like, kind of down, maybe your team members.

• 20:51Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 20:51George Kamel?

  You know, if a leader gets a gift for their team versus a team member getting a gift for their leader.

• 20:55Rachel Cruze?

  That makes sense.

• 20:57George Kamel?

  But I'm not a fan of group gifts where it's like, "Hey, we're all going in, here's what you owe." I don't, I don't like that.

• 21:02Rachel Cruze?

  You don't?

• 21:03George Kamel?

  Not a fan. I do it because I'm just like, whatever, I will assimilate and not be the squeaky wheel who's like, "I'm not doing it, I'm principi-" Just, it's fine.

• 21:12Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. See, group gifts for me, because I think about teacher gifts. Here at work, there's some of these that happen. And it's more convenient for me.

• 21:24George Kamel?

  To just like, someone else is dealing with it, they've thought of it, they're purchasing it, I can just send to Venmo and be done.

• 21:30Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 21:31George Kamel?

  That's fair. So you think that you're happy to pay because of the convenience?

• 21:34Rachel Cruze?

  I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I don't think it's with people that are outside of like a situation that I'm like, why would I get them a gift? Because like, I don't even talk to them, or whatever, you know? There's usually something there. I don't know. The group gift, I like.

• 21:49George Kamel?

  I want to make it clear, no one has ever gotten me a group gift.

• 21:53Rachel Cruze?

  I'll make sure to Venmo and get some money after the shoot, George, for you.

• 21:56George Kamel?

  This is a good one. Barbara B. got invited to a holiday party and was asked to Venmo my portion.

• 22:02Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh. Barbara B. Barbara Bush?

• 22:07George Kamel?

  We don't know. It could be. This sounds like something she would get herself into. Unless it's a casual potluck style, this is the question, should the host cover everything if they're hosting a dinner party? Or is it okay to say, hey, are you guys cool chipping in 10 bucks?

• 22:21Rachel Cruze?

  I think if you're catering and food.

• 22:23George Kamel?

  Oh.

• 22:24Rachel Cruze?

  I think a text could be like, hey, we're gonna bring in this.

• 22:26George Kamel?

  What if I buy filet mignon steaks from the grocery store?

• 22:30Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that feels cheaper to me for some reason. I don't know why.

• 22:33George Kamel?

  Wow.

• 22:34Rachel Cruze?

  I don't know why. If someone's cooking steak and you're like...

• 22:37George Kamel?

  Yeah, it depends on the experience.

• 22:39Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 22:39George Kamel?

  Because our friend, mixologist Michael Reddish, he throws these very elaborate Halloween parties. We're talking swag and catering. And so, there is a ticket fee. Like, I go on, he makes it like a full event registration and you pay a fee. Because it covers, it helps cover the cost of the event. It's not a money-making scheme. They're not making money at all. But it's a very expensive thing to put on. You're talking thousands of dollars.

• 23:00Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 23:00George Kamel?

  So that's the only time I think it makes sense to pay a fee to attend a party. But if it's just like a friend's hosting at their house.

• 23:07Rachel Cruze?

  But if someone's like, I'm having a Christmas party, we all please come, and then they ask you to Venmo that.

• 23:10George Kamel?

  I do always try to bring a gift, like maybe a bottle of something, or, you know.

• 23:14Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. Don't shut them down.

• 23:16George Kamel?

  I usually say, hey, is there anything I can bring? I think it's a nice thing to ask.

• 23:19Rachel Cruze?

  Always. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. I'm with you. I'm with you.

• 23:22George Kamel?

  Hey, we finally agreed on something.

• 23:23Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's good, George. Glad we're on the same page.

• 23:26George Kamel?

  I cannot wait for you to read this next one.

• 23:29Rachel Cruze?

  Oh my gosh. Is this real? This is funny.

• 23:31George Kamel?

  This is real.

• 23:32Rachel Cruze?

  Allison Ramsey, my sister-in-law, she answered this. So when you're a Ramsey and someone goes to pay for something and is like, "Oh, so sorry about my credit card."

• 23:42George Kamel?

  The apologetic nature.

• 23:44Rachel Cruze?

  Happens all the time.

• 23:45George Kamel?

  Of a non-Ra- like.

• 23:46Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, they always point it out.

• 23:48George Kamel?

  Do you deal with that with your friends?

• 23:50Rachel Cruze?

  Yes. Like if we all throw our cards in, everyone's like, "Sorry, Rach," you know.

• 23:54George Kamel?

  Like, "We're putting it on the Capital One, don't be upset."

• 23:57Rachel Cruze?

  Or they'll be like.

• 23:58George Kamel?

  "Avert your eyes."

• 23:58Rachel Cruze?

  "We'll probably get a free flight out of the Southwest." You know, like they'll always like.

• 24:02George Kamel?

  Rub it in.

• 24:03Rachel Cruze?

  Rub in the points.

• 24:04George Kamel?

  Yep.

• 24:04Rachel Cruze?

  And the airline miles.

• 24:05George Kamel?

  That's happened at dinner before. People really, they cornered me. Friends were like, "No, but really, like, you have a credit card, right?" I was like, "This is my entire wallet. It's just a license and a debit card."

• 24:13Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, yeah.

• 24:14George Kamel?

  And they're shocked. It's like a magic trick.

• 24:16Rachel Cruze?

  No, yeah, people know me, George.

• 24:18George Kamel?

  They know you. They know you don't secretly got nothing.

• 24:20Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah. No, but that, yeah, yeah, yeah. People, or people that we don't, I mean, our good friends don't do that anymore. But like, if we don't really know the couple and they're like, they think it's a joke, like.

• 24:29George Kamel?

  Very funny.

• 24:31Rachel Cruze?

  Like, I remember growing up, going out to dinner with mom and dad, and the waiter, this happens a lot, "Hope this isn't a credit card."

• 24:37George Kamel?

  Oh, because I see Dave, yeah.

• 24:39Rachel Cruze?

  Always.

• 24:39George Kamel?

  That happened to me at Costco once. The lady didn't even stop. She just walked right past me and said, "Hope you're paying cash for that." And I was like, "Yeah, yep." Kept walking our separate ways.

• 24:48Rachel Cruze?

  Just kept on going.

• 24:49George Kamel?

  Just a quick little aside.

• 24:50Rachel Cruze?

  Keeping us accountable, public.

• 24:51George Kamel?

  Appreciate that.

• 24:52Rachel Cruze?

  Thank you, thank you.

• 24:53George Kamel?

  All right, this one comes from It's Zach Ford. I believe that's a friend of ours.

• 24:57Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 24:58George Kamel?

  "One of my high school buddies sends his child support via Venmo every month for the world to see. Sometimes it's labeled passive aggressively like, 'Didn't have to be this way.'"

• 25:11George Kamel?

  Wow. Is it a faux pas?

• 25:15Rachel Cruze?

  That's funny. That's really funny.

• 25:17George Kamel?

  I see more humor in it than I see faux pahness.

• 25:22Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, that's funny.

• 25:23George Kamel?

  Didn't have to be this way.

• 25:25Rachel Cruze?

  Didn't have to be this way.

• 25:27George Kamel?

  It's such a dark joke, but I'm here for it.

• 25:29Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh. I love it.

• 25:31George Kamel?

  Putting anything publicly on Venmo, like my Venmo is set to private for everything.

• 25:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, mine is too.

• 25:36George Kamel?

  There's not a single payment that I'm like, I think people should know about this one.

• 25:40Rachel Cruze?

  You know what? I don't even know. How do you know if it is?

• 25:42George Kamel?

  Oh, I need to check Rachel's Venmo.

• 25:44Rachel Cruze?

  No, hold on, hold on.

• 25:45George Kamel?

  She been public all this time.

• 25:46Rachel Cruze?

  How do I know?

• 25:48George Kamel?

  There'll be a little lock next to the transaction.

• 25:51Rachel Cruze?

  Lock, lock, lock, lock, lock, lock. I am, I am, I am zipped up, y'all. This is great.

• 25:55George Kamel?

  It's an easy setting.

• 25:57Rachel Cruze?

  Got it.

• 25:57George Kamel?

  I do, like, my only social media that I really enjoy is the Venmo transaction feed. It's amazing.

• 26:05Rachel Cruze?

  Do a lot of people keep it public?

• 26:06George Kamel?

  Yeah, and they're like, you're deciphering what happened.

• 26:09Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 26:09George Kamel?

  Like, I tell myself the story of what I think is being paid for.

• 26:12Rachel Cruze?

  Lunch, and it's like $400 or something, and you're like, what happened?

• 26:15George Kamel?

  Or it's just like weird emojis or like cryptic words. I'm like, what happened here?

• 26:22George Kamel?

  What does this really mean?

• 26:23Rachel Cruze?

  That is good entertainment.

• 26:24George Kamel?

  That's a good one. Okay.

• 26:25Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 26:25George Kamel?

  Out of all the submissions, which one really stuck with you?

• 26:28Rachel Cruze?

  I'd say, uh, guest room.

• 26:30George Kamel?

  That one stuck out for sure.

• 26:32Rachel Cruze?

  I mean, the hospitality, I'm reading a John Mark Comer book right now, and like, part of it's about hospitality. And that just goes in the face of like, just be a good person.

• 26:40George Kamel?

  Don't do that.

• 26:41Rachel Cruze?

  And like, open your hands and your life to people. And like, that's terrible. I'm gonna say that.

• 26:46George Kamel?

  That's a really good one. I'm gonna go with the air fryer delivery fee. That one, I think, is actually creative and petty, which I appreciate the creativity. If you're gonna charge someone a fee just to bring it to work where they already go every day, that's, that's sad. And just for fun, because it's been a while since we have role-played, and people loved Rick and the boat situation, we have one last listener submission that we're gonna act out. So here's what Jennifer sent in. "I do freelance photography on the side, and people always ask if I can, quote, 'take a few pics free of charge.' This conversation never gets easier. How do I tell them that this is my work, and I deserve to be paid for it?"

• 27:20Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man.

• 27:21George Kamel?

  So you're gonna be the frugal freelancer.

• 27:23Rachel Cruze?

  I'm Jennifer.

• 27:24George Kamel?

  I'm gonna be the socially unaware friend slash customer.

• 27:26Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 27:27George Kamel?

  Jen, girl, oh my gosh, I saw that y'all are going to Destin, and we're gonna be there at the same time.

• 27:33Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, my God, no way. Are you guys, where you got, what part are you staying?

• 27:36George Kamel?

  We'll be on 30A right there.

• 27:37Rachel Cruze?

  So great.

• 27:38George Kamel?

  Uh, I know y'all stay there with your family. Is there any way, like, we should, like, meet up maybe for drinks? And maybe we can just grab a few, like, family pics, if you don't mind, just like, just kind of a quick, like, real quick, free, like, not a big shoot.

• 27:51Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, Patrice.

• 27:52George Kamel?

  Sound good?

• 27:52Rachel Cruze?

  This is easy, Patrice. You just threw me a softball. Uh, I don't work on vacation. I'm so sorry.

• 27:58George Kamel?

  Oh, no, no, girl. It wouldn't be like work. Like, obviously, you're gonna have your camera taking pics of your own family. Like, we'll just like jump in for a quick pic. Like, quick pic, all white, against the dune, like, just really classic.

• 28:10George Kamel?

  It'll be so fun. We can hang. I'll bring some drinks. It'll be a good time.

• 28:15George Kamel?

  Sound good?

• 28:17Rachel Cruze?

  Okay.

• 28:18George Kamel?

  Okay. Yes.

• 28:21George Kamel?

  Awesome. You're the best. I just, your photos are like so good. Like, I don't know what filter you're using, or if it's your camera, but it's clearly not you. It's either the filter or the camera. My favorite diss to a photographer. What camera to use? Cause your photos are so good. That's a tough one. Cause I made it so like, oh, it's like not even worth it.

• 28:42Rachel Cruze?

  It's so not a big deal.

• 28:43George Kamel?

  I'm basically giving you something.

• 28:45Rachel Cruze?

  I think photographers get the short end of the stick all the time. People that are like starting a photography business. It's like, hey, do you care to come shoot a couple of pictures with my family? It'll just be in our backyard. It's not a big deal. And you're like, no, but it takes so much time to edit. Like, I don't think people know the time and effort it puts in for that kind of thing.

• 29:01George Kamel?

  Can I say, we did this yesterday with our friend Cody. He took family pics and we pay him. We don't expect anything for free. I'm like, hey, man, like, what, how much do we need to Venmo you? And it was great.

• 29:11Rachel Cruze?

  So great.

• 29:11George Kamel?

  Cause I wanna make sure that he knows, like, I respect his talent, his time.

• 29:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yes.

• 29:16George Kamel?

  And the fact that he would do this for us.

• 29:17Rachel Cruze?

  And what they do.

• 29:18George Kamel?

  Pay your friends. I get like if you wanna...

• 29:20Rachel Cruze?

  Don't be Patrice.

• 29:21George Kamel?

  If you wanna be like, hey, like, I've done like, like, hey, you got like a friend discount, you know?

• 29:27Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 29:27George Kamel?

  And usually like, yeah, we'll take, you know, 50 bucks off or whatever. I'm not trying to...

• 29:31Rachel Cruze?

  Totally.

• 29:32George Kamel?

  Really like take him to the cleaners on this. But it's always a kind gesture to do for a friend.

• 29:36Rachel Cruze?

  For sure, for sure.

• 29:37George Kamel?

  So that's a good one. And you failed.

• 29:40Rachel Cruze?

  Wow, you threw out the beach aspect. That was hard. The vacation went quick. I mean, that was like...

• 29:45George Kamel?

  I would be like, oh, my gosh, girl. Like, I would, but, you know, with the in-laws, like, I don't even know where we're gonna be.

• 29:50Rachel Cruze?

  Right, so like, I feel like vacation, there's a lot of ways to get out of it. But if it's like, hey, would you guys, do you mind coming to? I think, I think it'd be harder to say, I'm gonna charge you for it, than to say, oh, my gosh, the kid's schedule's crazy, I don't have time. Like, right? The excuse is more on the time and effort standpoint versus like, I need to be paid for this. You know what I mean?

• 30:11George Kamel?

  I think a good friend wouldn't put you in that position if we're gonna be really honest.

• 30:15Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, let's, let's hope not. Let's hope not.

• 30:16George Kamel?

  Okay, so what's the takeaways here?

• 30:18Rachel Cruze?

  All right, so listen, some expenses are uncontrollable, right? They're gonna happen, which is why you wanna create margin with your money. Because things are gonna come up that you may be like, oh, I need to chip in on the gift that's coming, or whatever it may be that you don't realize. And so having a budget is so key. So if you have not done a budget, you guys, EveryDollar is the best tool to use. So you can actually do a free budget. We'll leave a link in the description, but make sure to do that, because it gives you peace of mind when things do come up, that you're like, oh yeah, I do actually need to Venmo someone or pay for this thing. You have the margin to do it.

• 30:53George Kamel?

  And it gives you the margin to be generous. If you just wanna spontaneously cover it and go, listen, it's not worth the relational transaction, awkward tension, let's just cover it and be done. You can do that when you budget for it.

• 31:05Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, I'd also say communicate, right? The road trip stuff on here, dinners out, like if there's a thing, you know, and if you're on a tight budget and you're like, nope, I'm not gonna be paying for everyone's filets, right? I'm not gonna split a filet with everyone. Then say it out loud and be okay with that, right?

• 31:20George Kamel?

  And maybe you don't plan to get filet mignon for everyone at your party.

• 31:22Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, that's right too, yeah.

• 31:23George Kamel?

  You know, make good decisions. And again, communicating and setting the boundaries ahead of time is important. Don't do it on the back end and blindside people, because that's not fair to them.

• 31:32Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 31:32George Kamel?

  That's actually on you.

• 31:33Rachel Cruze?

  That's right, that's right. So good, so good.

• 31:35George Kamel?

  Thank you for all your submissions. That was a lot of fun.

• 31:37Rachel Cruze?

  I know, it was so wonderful.

• 31:45Rachel Cruze?

  All right, you guys, it's almost the end of the episode, and we close out every episode with Guilty as charged. And this is where our producer Kelly gives us a new guilty as charged question every week. And if we're guilty, we take a sip. Kelly?

• 31:58Speaker 02

  All right. Have you ever stalked someone on social media? And if so, did you ever get found out?

• 32:05George Kamel?

  Oh, that got dark real quick.

• 32:07Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, yes.

• 32:08George Kamel?

  Define stalking. Like, if I just go to the profile casually once in a while, is that considered a stalk?

• 32:14Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, you're looking at what they're doing. Oh, I did a deep stalk on someone I didn't even know. Are you ready for this? So we were going on this trip, this was like a few years ago, to this new place, and you can go on Instagram where people tag photos of the place. You know what I mean? Like, if they're somewhere and they, like, take a picture and they tag the-

• 32:31George Kamel?

  Like a resort-

• 32:32Rachel Cruze?

  The location.

• 32:33George Kamel?

  You can go to the resort page and see all the posts.

• 32:35Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah, because I look at those more when we travel versus like what the-

• 32:38George Kamel?

  Website shows.

• 32:39Rachel Cruze?

  Yes, because you get more of the real, like, okay.

• 32:41George Kamel?

  Instagram versus reality, except it's Instagram stuff.

• 32:44Rachel Cruze?

  And one night I just couldn't sleep, y'all, and we were going to this place. I was like, and I looked it up on Instagram, and I was like, huh. And I looked at the tags, and there was this wedding, like, crazy.

• 32:54George Kamel?

  Over the top?

• 32:55Rachel Cruze?

  Over the top wedding, and I was like, who are these people? Y'all? For about an hour and a half at like 1:00 in the morning, I found out every- and I Googled like the dynasty the dad owns. Like, I mean, I like knew everything about this family. I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop.

• 33:12George Kamel?

  Yeah, no, that's sociopath level of manipulation, Rachel. I'm proud of you.

• 33:17Rachel Cruze?

  I thought about it, though. I was like, oh, my gosh, this is- and it scared me for myself of like, wow.

• 33:21George Kamel?

  Like, what are you capable of? What kind of Breaking Bad situation could you find yourself in?

• 33:26Rachel Cruze?

  What do people know about me that they could, like, weasel their way in, right?

• 33:31George Kamel?

  That's a good point. I'll have to stalk you tonight and see what I can find out. I'll report back.

• 33:35Rachel Cruze?

  But yeah, I did some- that was my deepest stalking. And I went, like, in-laws, um, I mean, I knew everything about this family. Like, oh. Call me crazy, but it happened.

• 33:46George Kamel?

  I just realized as you were saying that, I'm very guilty of this. It was someone in our neighborhood, and we're always like, what do they do? Like, how are people always over their house, like 9:00 AM, 10:00 PM, people over, hanging? And I was like, we were like, is she deep in an MLM? Like, are there always- and so I did some Googling.

• 34:01Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 34:02George Kamel?

  Way too deep. I had people in- I had a team.

• 34:05Rachel Cruze?

  Figuring out who these people were.

• 34:06George Kamel?

  And it was the most boring. I was like, I have no- I'm no further-

• 34:10Rachel Cruze?

  Uh, yeah.

• 34:11George Kamel?

  -to the truth.

• 34:11Rachel Cruze?

  Yeah.

• 34:12George Kamel?

  But I know way too much about them. I'm like, I know maiden names, I know kids' names, I know the dog name. I'm like, this is, I need to go to bed. This is too much.

• 34:19Rachel Cruze?

  I know.

• 34:20George Kamel?

  And if you're wondering, no, I don't have hobbies. Thanks for asking.

• 34:24Rachel Cruze?

  If you're a good stalker online, though, there's some people in my life that if I was like, "Hey, will you find this person?" And they know how to do it. They're like the...

• 34:32George Kamel?

  It's a good skill to have.

• 34:33Rachel Cruze?

  Investigator.

• 34:34George Kamel?

  Not a helpful skill, but a good one.

• 34:35Rachel Cruze?

  Investigator, yep.

• 34:36George Kamel?

  Wow, alright.

• 34:37Rachel Cruze?

  Yep.

• 34:38George Kamel?

  You creep.

• 34:38Rachel Cruze?

  Happened before. I know y'all, but I don't know why I remember that one, but I do. And I was like, "If I see them..."

• 34:45George Kamel?

  What if you befriend her?

• 34:46Rachel Cruze?

  Well, no, I didn't. I couldn't.

• 34:48George Kamel?

  Is she a celebrity or no? Can you say?

• 34:49Rachel Cruze?

  No, no, no, no. Nope, nope, just... From South Carolina?

• 34:54George Kamel?

  Just wanted to have a great wedding. Cool. Wow, okay.

• 34:57Rachel Cruze?

  Oh, man.

• 34:58George Kamel?

  Let's talk about this drink. It was the Division Bell. Delicious. Who finished first? You were closer. Rating?

• 35:06Rachel Cruze?

  I'm going 10 out of 10.

• 35:07George Kamel?

  10 out of 10. You cannot improve on this drink. This drink costs...

• 35:12Rachel Cruze?

  No, it was so good.

• 35:13George Kamel?

  It's only $2.83.

• 35:15Rachel Cruze?

  Really?

• 35:16George Kamel?

  Which is on the low side for some cocktails. It's got mezcal, maraschino liqueur...

• 35:20Rachel Cruze?

  Oh.

• 35:20George Kamel?

  Lime, and Aperol.

• 35:22Rachel Cruze?

  It's like really easy. Yeah, yeah.

• 35:23George Kamel?

  Very balanced while remaining complex, which is what I look for in a cocktail.

• 35:28Rachel Cruze?

  So good.

• 35:28George Kamel?

  You can find the recipe in the show notes. I highly suggest you give it a try this weekend if that's what you're into.

• 35:34Rachel Cruze?

  I love it. Well, you guys, it's closing time, so make sure to leave us a review if you enjoyed this episode, and if you want to hear more crazy financial faux pas. Make sure to check out our conversation we had with actually my mom, Sharon Ramsey.

• 35:48George Kamel?

  One of the best episodes.

• 35:49Rachel Cruze?

  It's a good one. And make sure to follow, subscribe, so you don't miss an all-new episode of Smart Money Happy Hour.