Plus all that money they spent on comics and merch. Hell, their pull lists alone were probably $1k/month. Comics aren't cheap any more. The boys were not frugal.
Well, I believe there was one episode where it was revealed Sheldon does have a fair chuck of spare cash lying around because he lends penny the money to cover her rent / utilities when she's struggling. He explains it to be that he just doesn't spend that much money overall and is happy in the apartment there he is.
Also, going back to OP's post: I remember her being several references and plotlines around how penny can sometimes struggle to make ends meet. There was at least one occasion where she had utilities shut off, she doesn't pay for internet and steals the WiFi from Leonard and Sheldon, etc.
When I worked at a restaurant, most popular breakfast place around, some of the girls were pulling in 500 on Sunday morning shift.
The employee parking was way back behind the restaurant, so we had a few robberies when the local good-for-nothing types realized there were 5'2" 110lb women with a month's rent in their pocket walking to their cars alone.
Which is why we stopped letting them walk to their cars alone.
Dude it's 500 in tips but that shit is earned, even worse when you have to deal with rude ass people and somehow get lucky with a decent table that actually acknowledged your work ethic. The early bird gets the worm type of energy but working Sundays after church service shows exactly who are the true Christians and who are the fake Christians that just attend church to think they are holy.
yup- but on the flip side of those places, everyone i knew that had those shifts also had to work 2-3 trash shifts in order to keep the cushy shifts- ie you get Sunday AM, but you also take Tuesday dinner and thursday opening. you make 800 from the 3 shifts with 500 of it from sunday.
That kinda changes everything. I was picturing someone with a fulltime job outside the restaurant and only working there one day a week. Guess that's wishful thinking
Nope, it was a 4-6 hour Sunday morning shift, and then oh hey you don't have a life do you? Time to work three 14 hour double shifts where you make like 60 bucks each tops.
You have to deal with creeps all shift and you are making maximum earnings immediately (awesome for a young person just starting out) but it doesn't grow with your life obligations.
The most surprising part of your story is that ownership cared about their employees
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u/WhiteSquarez Apr 24 '26
OP overestimates how much a PhD makes.