I feel like I am just talking bad about my in-laws with my posts, but that is not my intent. I just happen to think that what is going on with them makes for an interesting story. I mean all names have been changed or withheld for privacy issues, right.
Anyhow, so my brother-in-law, is dealing with tough times, but he wasn’t in this position when I met him. You see, he lives in Baja California and when I met him, he was working for a fueling company. They provide diesel fuel for large trucking companies. Well, in his tenure with the company he was dipping his hand in the money, which meant that he was able to have a lavish life, considering how Baja economy is. Now, he had the job for at least 20 plus years, and one day when he decided to take a vacation longer than normal, he was pushed out by his replacement and my brother-in-law lost his job.
You see, he never saved a penny and pretty much wasted his money on booze and women. He had 10 kids with three different wives, all divorced now, or actually, I don’t think he even married the last two. The thing is that he was a heavy drinker and likes to throw money around, to make himself look like a big shot. Now he did have a whole lot of friends and obviously we know the reason for that, he paid for everything. Well, now that he does not have a dime, all his friends disappeared. Now, he ran into tough times and started selling some of the properties he inherited, but only to spend it on booze and women again. Now, he has made many attempts to start a small business, with the help of his other brothers, including my wife. Each time he would simply pull the money out of the register and blow on booze and women. His opportunities have become less, since a lot of his brothers, including my wife, have stopped giving him money. Let me mention something, Mexico really does not have a support system, and there is a lot of corruption in most if not all the companies, and unfortunately, people happen to also steal from their own family, it is not a pretty setting. It is hard to live in Mexico for the average person. Back to my brother-in-law, it seems that the other day he asked my wife for $800 to start a hamburger cart. My wife was thinking maybe she would, but later she changed her mind because she found out that he was going to have one of his exes work the cart. Plus, it seems he already had the cart and the permit but needed the ingredients to make the burgers, which my wife thought $800 was a bit much. The thing I want to say is that he had the opportunity to save, but he didn’t, then he sold his properties and still had the opportunity to save some of that, but he didn’t, finally, he has been given a lot of money over the years to help him start small businesses, only to pull out every penny the business earned each day. Of course, he was never going to get anywhere, because to be honest, I don’t think he really wanted to. He even started an Airbnb in his home, since he does have a large house which he was renting out on the weekends. It was or is going well, but the money he receives from it, once again he is just blowing on booze and women. The rest of the brothers, including my wife, are worried about him because he is getting older and they can all see that it is getting harder for him to get around. My wife is still wondering if maybe she can try and help him set something up where he can get a little extra income a month, but what that is, she is not sure. They definitely do not want him to show up to the business and pull money out of the register, so it is getting tough for the family to decide what they can do to help him out.
Once again I come to the end of my post and as always, I appreciate you stopping by and I leave you with this thought, “You can try and help a family member or friend, but if they don’t want to help themselves, all the help and all the money won’t do you or them any good – it needs to start with them.”