Buffy's Finances

[Tuppence]

Okay boring thread title I hear you think, but hear me out. After Buffy is brought back and there's all the house problems and things are gonna cost big time, her friends all sit her down to basically tell her she's broke. And when she asked what happened to her Mum's insurance money they tell her it got spent on 'luxuries like food and stuff'. Which okay, fair enough, but here's my question.

Insurance money isn't a substitute for work, so why weren't the people living at Revello Drive, with the exception of Dawn since she was a minor, getting a job to pay the mortgage, buy groceries, pay utilities etc. I mean if the spell to bring Buffy back hadn't worked they would still have to had lived. Which means paying for stuff, and supporting Dawn, which means trying to get a job. And that said, when Buffy is brought back, why is it only her that is expected to sort their finances out. In a house with 3 adults and 1 teenager, Buffy is the only one who gets a job. Shouldn't they all be contributing? I mean I know Tara eventually moves out and Willow goes on a magick bender, but before that when things were relatively normal why was no one trying to make a living to actually survive on?

It just seems a bit odd to me, and a bit unfair on Buffy (having been brought back from the dead and, as they thought, hanging around in hell rather than ripped from heaven) to have to be the only breadwinner. Especially when she was the Slayer as well.

I was just wondering what anyone else though about this?

 

[Bexieh]

I found it really weird as well! When they're lecturing her I'm like, why didn't you guys get jobs? You're living there too? It never made all that much sense to me, I found it really bizarre that Buffy had to be the one to get a job. You'd think they'd cut her some slack, coming back from the dead and having this whole save the world destiny to contend with, least they could do is help with the finances!

 

[SlayerPrincess]

Exactly, its like while she was dead they spent up all her mothers insurance money and then expected Buffy to take care of everything. (Is that part of the reason Willow was so anxious to bring her back?) And when you think about how they played Willows magic addiction like a drug addiction...well that just makes it worse.

 

[fester75]

I can't believe I missed that!

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Dawn would have gone into the Child Protective Services grinder without Willow and Tara, never to be seen again, so they did provide a valuable service. Willow and Tara probably did not get any refund for leaving their dorm behind.

Anya analysed their finances and said that outstanding medical bills were the main expenditure after Joyce died. The residents would have had to pay property taxes, electric, phone, water and heat (if separate from electric) plus any remaining amount of the mortgage. If Willow and Tara had money they could recover from the dorm, then they should have used that for house expenses or gotten a job to support themselves.

 

[OutForAWalk]

Okay boring thread title I hear you think, but hear me out. After Buffy is brought back and there's all the house problems and things are gonna cost big time, her friends all sit her down to basically tell her she's broke...
It just seems a bit odd to me, and a bit unfair on Buffy (having been brought back from the dead and, as they thought, hanging around in hell rather than ripped from heaven) to have to be the only breadwinner. Especially when she was the Slayer as well.

I was just wondering what anyone else though about this?

Great point! I remember wondering this myself when I first saw those episodes. From what I remember, Xander did have a job (construction) and was helping out when he could. Giles gave Buffy money on at least one occasion, too. Willow and Tara were both still in school, so I don't know what kind of job they could have found, but they could have at least worked part time at the burger place with Buffy!

 

[Tuppence]

Willow and Tara were both still in school, so I don't know what kind of job they could have found, but they could have at least worked part time at the burger place with Buffy!

Well, having known people in similar situations, what they would have had to do unfortunately, and technically should have done given the extreme circumstances, is temporarily drop out of uni to get a full time job and resume the course at a later date. I mean Willow ends up dropping out anyway....it just seems they weren't willing to make any real sacrifices themselves and just presumed Buffy would fix it.

 

[PassionBecoming]

Dawn would have gone into the Child Protective Services grinder without Willow and Tara, never to be seen again, so they did provide a valuable service.

I think Dawn would have went to live with her father. Willow and Tara weren't Dawn's legal guardians; Dawn only got to stay there because Willow rigged up the Buffy Bot and everyone thought Buffy was alive.

This whole situation always bugged me, too. And Dawn could have gotten a part-time job (I had one when I was 14, and before that I baby-sat for money) and I always had jobs in school and college. I think it's incredibly unfair for them to dump that on Buffy: "Hey, we ripped you out of Heaven, plopped you back into a Sunnydale that is being trashed by demons, your mom is still dead, Dawn is a problem child, and oh, hey, you have a whole house and household to take care of and no money!" Yeah, nice guys.

 

[BuffyElevated]

The whole money situation after Buffy comes back really pisses me off. I understand Willow and Tara moved in to take care of Dawn while Buffy was in the ground, but to blow all the money instead of making sure it went to the house and Dawn was completely irresponsible. I get that they were supposed to be in their early 20's, and sometimes people at that age don't have the best knowledge when it comes to budgeting, but come on...
Add to the fact that neither Willow nor Tara offered to get a job to help out with the household expenses and they were living there just makes no sense. Any person with any decency would have been happy to help in whatever way they could. If they knew Buffy was hurting that bad financially, and they were living in her house, they should have gotten off their asses to find work. I'm sure Giles would have been happy to hire one of them at the Magic Box.

 

[EVIL UU]

Buffy's financial situation, like most of season 6, makes no sense whatsoever. Why doesn't Giles support his slayer like every other watcher ever? Where is Dawn's child support? What happened to Joyce's gallery, a legitimate, profitable business? And the most obvious question, why can't Buffy just locate the nearest ATM, tear it apart with her bare hands and walk away $100 000 or so richer? Yeah, why?

but...but that's ILLEGAL!

You know what else is illegal? Killing, firing stolen AT4s in malls full of people, breaking into military bases, blowing up schools...

but...but it's EVIL!

You know what else is evil? Wasting your time in a job instead of protecting the humanity. How many people were eaten because Buffy wasn't there, busy flipping burgers? In Buffy's situation, just stealing some money so she can focus on being a better slayer and protect humans full-time is the most ethical choice. Alternatively she could simply contact the government via Riley. I'm sure the authorities would be more than happy to throw some money in Buffy's general direction in exchange for her knowledge or a monthly report or whatever.

No, of course not, it makes too much sense.

 

[Robb Stark]

Buffy's financial situation, like most of season 6, makes no sense whatsoever. Why doesn't Giles support his slayer like every other watcher ever? Where is Dawn's child support? What happened to Joyce's gallery, a legitimate, profitable business? And the most obvious question, why can't Buffy just locate the nearest ATM, tear it apart with her bare hands and walk away $100 000 or so richer? Yeah, why?

No, of course not, it makes too much sense.

While I wouldn't say it's ethical, it would have made sense. Especially when you consider that Buffy did effectively the exact same thing in S8 by robbing some Swiss bank. I mean hell, they had an entire episode or so about that on Smallville when Superman's parents are behind on their bills.