Chapter 5

Garbage pail punch. What kind of emergency happens at the GAP? Nate takes his in cash.

Talking about money can be so awkward and embarrassing, particularly when you don’t have very much of it, which is why I’ve always admired the way movies and TV shows often handle the discussion of debts and paychecks — they avoid it. You’ll see someone pass a piece of paper with a number written on it to another person, or show them a computer screen, and then by their reaction you’ll gather if the number is an insult or frightening or a thrill. And you, the viewer, can imagine a figure that’s meaningful to you — how big a bill would ruin you, how big a windfall would change your life. What’s worth compromising your dreams for.

But in real life, the numbers matter, and the day I met Nate at the bank, we were $20,000 in credit card debt and had roughly $5,800 in the bank. I had a 401k through work, which amounted to another $7,000 or so. And we had a really big glass jar full of change, mostly pennies and nickels. That was the sum total of our negative net worth.