My downstairs neighbor is a trip

Tweet

I like her. She is the first person I became friendly with when I moved here 5 years ago. We hang out and do puzzles, chat, have drinks, etc. We also go out for lunch and to see local entertainers now and then. She has a key to my apartment and I have a key to hers. Anyway she is on permanent disability due to some supposed arthritis in her ankles or something. The amount she gets is just $500 more than she needs each month for her rent. You can't live in New Jersey with a 17 year old son on $500/month. She has been getting her younger sister to give her money pretty much each month. The sister's husband found out about it though and has cracked down on that. She gets part-time jobs because she can earn like $1000 more each month even while on disability. She quits them after a month or two though. She was happily working at a local hot dog stand off of the books but she pissed off the owner's family and got pushed out. Why do I know this? Because I'm pretty sure she thinks that I will give her money. She was here the other day while I was opening up the mail and discovered the $450 ANCHOR rebate check from the state. She started telling me that her son had just taken $10 of her last $13. Um. . . not my problem. Tell him no and to go get a job. Tell him to sell one of his like 3 super-expensive "gaming" computers. Yesterday she was up here telling me that she lost her job at the hot dog place and that just having her son (who now drives) on her insurance is costing her an extra $200/month. This was after I had finished a tutoring session and told her that I had 5 hours this week. I like her and consider her a friend. That being said I am not going to give her money. She makes bad decisions. If I were to give her like $100 she would give $50 of it to her son to take his girlfriend out. She could give up the disability and just go get a full-time job where she would make more than what she gets now. She chooses not to. We are good neighbors in that I will give her a cup of sugar or a battery or something like that. I will walk her dog or unlock the door for her son. She does the same for me. If she truly had nothing in the fridge I would buy her some groceries. If we wanted to go out and she didn't have the $$ then I would sponsor her. I will not just blindly give her money though. Her sister has been doing that for far too long and she is dependent on it. She also gets assistance with the water/electricity/gas bills. I get that she is struggling but she also isn't doing much to help herself. Like I said we are friends but I am not going to get sucked into her financial issues.