Amy: Get a clue

Amy doesn't live in the real world, does she? Someone wrote to her about her daughter (the writer's daughter) who is a spendthrift and has no money, and who got herself on an apartment lease though her mother told her they wouldn't let her have their car to drive if she did. She ends with:

She found a bus that can get her close to work but I am worried for her safety when she gets out of work at 10 p.m. and is waiting for a bus in a dangerous neighborhood.

She wants to buy our car, but with her track record I know she will not keep up with payments.

I think she needs to see what real life is all about but if something happened to her as she waited for a bus I would never forgive myself.

Amy's answer:

You should also counsel her on her safety and encourage her to get a cab or ask a friend to pick her up if she works late. (Parking a car in a dangerous neighborhood wouldn't necessarily be safe.)

Amy, Amy, Amy. If the girl can't keep up with car payments and has no money, a cab is not a good idea. I can only imagine what cab fare vs bus fare is, but I'll bet we're talking dollars to dimes at the very least. (I have a long commute - but it's $50 cab vs $3.60 bus/train.) Taking a cab home from work every day may be "safer" but it's not exactly in the budget of someone making less than $30K (at $14/hour, that's what she's making). Ten to one it would cost more than she makes in a hour...

And "if she works late"? Amy, those are her hours. Half America works that late. (Okay, maybe not half ... but clerks and waitstaff work even later.)

Get a clue, Amy. Give this woman some advice she can use.