Tidbits of Anne P1 : FInancially Scarred for Life
Anne stood there looking at what's left of the ₱253 that her Mom gave her two weeks ago to pay for her tuition fee for that month- 23 pesos. Just how many chocolate drinks did she spend it with? Today is the day of the exam - she knew she won't be allowed to take them unless she's paid her tuition fee. On the other hand, she's holding a waver - with her Mom's signature on it asking the teachers in charge to allow her to take the exam at the same time promising it would be paid soon. She's prayed to all the Saints she know to let it do its work.
She went to her first subject - Math. Anne braved herself and went in front and handed the teacher the promisory note with her Mom's signature on it which she actually forged. The teacher looked at her and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Yes! It worked!" ; Anne thought while still nervously walking back to her seat.
The whole three days of exams - she's managed to slip it to each subject teacher and 's been allowed to take the quarterly exams.
Now, she'll just have to save that $5 a day allowance her folks give her and work her way out of this with homework and art assistance which makes her earn $10 per classmate. Yes, she does her classmates homeworks and art works for such an amount. Anne has learned to earn this way. She had to - having moved to the city for her high school and being sent to quite an expensive private school her parents could barely afford because only her Mom is employed while her father sells soaps he bought from a warehouse and distributes around mini stores.
Anne would actually rather go to a public school but her Mom thought she's pretty intelligent to waste such a chance of a better education. If only her mother knew - it's torture to get a better education at her age. She's just 12 and is already a sophomore while her classmates are already having either their six packs or those hour glass bodies, Anne is still stuck in her baby fat.
Skipping many years of elementary getting accelerated didn't do her much good. Her educational foundation is shaky and it's hard to catch up with the major subjects if the basic knowledge that you're supposed to have aren't there. She was sent to remedial classes during her first year in that school. Something her teachers don't get cause she actually did very well and beat everyone else in those remedial classes. It's not just this that she has to deal with everyday, her classmates have parents who are either abroad or rich and while they cut classes to go to malls or arcades and play games, Anne always have to find her excuses not to go just because she actually can't really afford any of those activities they go to.
The truth is Anne could actually also afford all of these. Her Mom is actually earning quite a lot - 7 times than a normal employee in their country. Unfortunately, she has quite a spending habit. Aside from the expensive perfumes, cosmetics that her Mom hopes would make her skin tone lighter, shoes and expensive taste of clothes, Anne suspects that her Mother sends money to her family in the countryside as well. Anne found out the other night that her credit card has maxed out . Her mother tried her best to provide them with all the entertainment appliances the world offers during those days.
Her parents didn't seem to care to tell her and her younger brother and sisters that they're getting broke. Anne though she's just 12 knew what's coming their way and was worried sick of the thought that she might not even get to finish high school if this goes on. If only her Mom has a system when it comes to managing her money, she could give Anne and her siblings more than the daily allowance she's giving them. If only .. Anne tried reasoning out with her mother several times. She dreads the thought of being the eldest would mean she will have to live her whole life like her Physics teacher she's crushing on - working his butt hard to send all 13 of his siblings to school. Anne shakes that thought of her head everyday, she can't and won't end up like him.
But first she has to solve her biggest problem. It's almost a month since the quarterly exam and that means she really has to produce the money for this months tuition fee. Yes, she may have been able to get away with her promisory note and managed to take all the exams but surely, her father won't drop asking for the receipt for this month and sooner or later she would run out of excuses.
"I'm going to school today, I'm paying your tuition fee for this month and I'm going to ask why your class secretary should be collecting receipts for this month."
; says her father while they're having breakfast. Anne had a hard time swallowing her food feeling like her stomach just wants to make her throw up every time she swallows. She hasn't said a word but both her parents noticed how fast she finished her breakfast and how early she went to school that day.
Anne's head was elsewhere the whole day, she knew that during those hours she's sitting in her classes pretending she's listening to her blabbing teachers, her dad already knows she didn't pay last month's tuition fee. The clock on top of the chalkboard strikes time to go home. Anne didn't want to budge. Half an hour later the school is almost empty so she braved her way back home. Her feet feel so heavy. She's prayed to every saint she knew to let the house be empty like it always is when she gets home. And it was ....
Anne took her uniform off, filled her back pack with a few clothes and mementos she had from everyone she loves around her. She wrote her plans down - stow away and work somewhere, then she thought, she's just 12 and a girl - things could go wrong and sooner or later her savings would all be used up - she won't survive it outside. She emptied her back pack and sat on the sofa waiting for her dad to come back home. She heard him park and lock his bike. Anne started shaking inside some distinct feel of fear crept all over her .. somehow she knew she's in trouble.
"Anne!!! Where did you take the money? What did you do with that hard earned money?" screams her father who stormed in the house throwing the whole wooden door on the wall the sound of it slamming made Anne's stomach quench.
"I went to the registrar's office and insisted you paid and that your secretary just held the receipt only to find out you really did not! I was embarrassed in front of many other students with all your lies trying to stand up my daughter would never do such a thing nor even think of lying to us and not really paying her tuition fee and you did! Where did you take the money?"
Anne is just 12, she's all rattled and didn't know what to do so she told him the same lies over and over again and persisted on her stories and went on speaking back to her dad and the next thing she knew is he took his belt off his pants and lashed it on her legs, the edge of the leather belt hit her left leg and carved out a flesh of it - deep she bled it was the most excruciating pain she's ever felt. Every time her dad lifts it up to hit her again, she would cross her arms to defend her face or her neck or her back so all of the bruises were on her hands. She was a bit shocked she just cried there begging her father to stop it was just ₱253 - it's 5 dollars worth but it's a lot of money back in 1992 in the Philippines. Her father took a knife out and Anne wondered if he'd really stab her with it for spending such an amount for chocolate drinks instead of paying her tuition fee. Is she worth less than that much that her dad is doing this now? Is she worth less than that hard earned ₱253?
One of the elderly neighbors, called out and went in the door asking her dad what's going on and that he has to stop or he'll kill his daughter. He did - as if embarrassed he left, while the woman went to take Anne away. She let her stay in her house and asked her to sit in the living room while she went up to call her mom. Shocked Anne sobbed quietly on the sofa. Perhaps .. it would have been better to have ran away ... she shouldn't have emptied her backpack and waited for him...
She looked at the wound the leather belt left on her leg .. she's just 12 but she knew she's financially scarred for life...
Have you ever felt like Anne that a certain sum of money is worth more than you are?
When? What happened?
Did it affect your spending habit? How?
Are you a parent? Do you disclose your financial situation to your children? Do you make them aware of how much money you have and how you spend it? How and why? Or do you find it also none of their business to know - it's your responsibility anyway.
Or ... you're the kind of parent who is careful at how you deal with your money because your kid/s may actually be watching you do the things you do?
disclaimer: This story is a product of my imaginative mind. The characters and turn of events are all made up and surely aren't real.
Aw poor Anne, I felt for her! You are right, you have gone posting daft... Fantastic! :0D
@meesterboom how are you supposed to use that?
I'm posting daft - is that good or wrong gramming? wahahahah - you
It's perfect Scottish slang grammar!!
You have done us proud!!
@meesterboom aw! thank you !
Yar welcome chicadee!!
i just try to save and not over spend
@ace108 so I guess this is the answer for the 4th question?
Thank you for reading!
You can say is a partial answer. That complex questions probably need a 2000 eord essay. People should learn to live within their means while striving for the better