How should Buff have solved her money woes in S6?

[Saturn 5]

We're just discussing FLOODED on the Buffytube part of the forum (go there if you want more detail on this topic) and I was wondering, how could Buffy have solved her financial woes that year?

1. Rob demons. Surely all these demons and vamps must have vast hordoes of loot stashed away somewhere, can't Buffy just kill them and take their stuff?

2. The Diamond attached to the Geeks freeze ray from Gone. Rather than try to sell it surely they could have just returned it for the reward?

3. Prostitution/stripper/porn star/combination of all three; in this post Pretty Woman/Belle Du Jour world not as unthinkable as it might once have been. Certainly a popular idea amongst fanfic writers both in this time period and during the storyline where Buffy runs away to LA between seasons 2-3.
buffy.adultfanfiction.net/story.php?no=600031116
if you're over 18 and VERY open minded

4. Join the circus as the strongwoman/acrobat

5. Bouncer at the Bronze (would certainly stop them getting attacked by monsters all the time)

[gumgnome]

How about Willow get's off her ass, gets a job (hardly gonna be as difficult for her than Buffy) and supports the household, while Buffy slays? It's not as if she's not living in the master bedroom of the house, effectively acting as head of the household already.

[buffyfan21]

Nov 24, 2009 7:43:16 GMT -5 gumgnome said:

How about Willow get's off her ass, gets a job (hardly gonna be as difficult for her than Buffy) and supports the household, while Buffy slays? It's not as if she's not living in the master bedroom of the house, effectively acting as head of the household already.

Well said!

[zamolxis]

What happened with the treasure discovered with the Gem of Amara?

[hellmouth]

I realize the "Council" and Buffy weren't on the best of terms. But with their unlimited resources, why didn't they step in a do something?

[Jaz ♀♀]

yeah, i agree with the first 2 posts...Willow could have gotten a job.

[buffyfan21]

And for that matter so could Tara. She was living there, too, after all. The fact that neither did anything to help (at least that we saw anyway) is something that has always bugged me. They were living in Buffy's house (sleeping in Buffy's mother's bedroom), therefore, they should have been helping out instead of leaving it all to Buffy. That simple.

[CourtneyDax]

I instantly thought Hooker when I heard this, but only in joking. If Buffy started robbing places, that'd solve a lot of debt. She did it in season 8 so some part of her doesn't have a problem with it.

[Greer]

Nov 24, 2009 7:43:16 GMT -5 gumgnome said:

How about Willow get's off her ass, gets a job (hardly gonna be as difficult for her than Buffy) and supports the household, while Buffy slays? It's not as if she's not living in the master bedroom of the house, effectively acting as head of the household already.

That's pretty much the best thing I've heard regarding this! It has always bugged me that Willow and Tara just hung out while Buffy was forced to work at Doublemeat. They could do something to get money, like working at the University or the Magic Box or something. They needed to contribute something!
I just always thought that Buffy could've gotten a job that paid better. There are other places she could've worked, like as a waitress. I've worked as one and made a lot more money than working fast food.

...or she could've robbed some place. Or Willow could've conjured up some money or something of the sort.

[Saturn 5]

Nov 24, 2009 12:51:40 GMT -5 zamolxis said:

What happened with the treasure discovered with the Gem of Amara?

My that's a good point! I might add that to my reviews. I think Willow and Tara had a lot on their minds, studying, caring for Dawn etc I think I can just never buy a girl as beautiful as Buffy working as a waitress or in fast food, such a Hollywood Cliche (ever seen The Last Action Hero?)even if she didn't become a hooker at least she could have been a Hooters Girl or Playboy? And if she was a hooker, well, she spends most of her nights walking the backstreets of Sunnydale getting rough with guys anyway so it wouldn't be that much of a change for her?

[willow333]

Why couldn't she just charge for helping people, like Angel does in LA???

[gumgnome]

Nov 27, 2009 9:29:46 GMT -5 willow333 said:

Why couldn't she just charge for helping people, like Angel does in LA???

She could do so, I suppose, but she would have to change her M.O. to be more like Angel's. Buffy's method for fighting evil involves patrolling a dangerous area to which evil things naturally gravitate. Due to the fact that the area is small enough for her to cover sufficiently on her own and the fact that the Hellmouth draws her adversaries to her, she doesn't really need to be very pro-active when it comes to fulfilling her duty.

When Angel charges people, he does so because they have contacted him about a very specific problem that they need solving. This problem may or may not be the most serious threat facing L.A. at the present moment, but because they have come to him, he charges them. He doesn't charge innocent bystanders that he helps, even if he helps them in the course of completing a job for which he will be paid. In L.A., this method is sensible. The city is far too large for Angel to patrol on his own, and he has no a priori reason to suspect that evil things will gravitate to one particular location - instead, they may try their hardest to avoid him. By allowing people to come to him, he not only gets the potential for monetary rewards, but also gets a free flow of information as to where the evil currently dwells.

To charge, Buffy would have to change her tactics to mirror Angel's more closely. Being in a small town, she would probably get less custom anyway, and the new system could well take her away from the places that she has very good reason to believe evil things will concentrate. She has no need of the information flow because of the Hellmouth.

Based on the above, I would say that it would be a mistake for her to copy Angel's method and charge 'customers' who approach her.

[Rebecca]

I completely agree. Since the situation after Buffy died was mutually agreed that the group would keep up the pretense that Buffy was still alive with the Buffybot, the entire group (Giles, Anya, Xander, Willow, and Tara) needed to pitch in to keep the house up-and-running so the pretense could stay intact.

Or get the Buffybot to be a telemarketer.

After Buffy's resurrection, she should at least have charged Tara and Willow a minimal rent fee to pay the bills. What, like they didn't have the money for housing before they moved in? That alone could have kept the bills up and Buffy slaying. It's not like she was making bank at the Doublemeat Palace anyway.

[Saturn 5]

She could always have become a WWF wrestler she dresses like some in seasons 2-3. And would still look more tasteful and less ridiculous than her DMP outfit

[Hellbound Hyperion]

in this post Pretty Woman/Belle Du Jour world not as unthinkable as it might once have been.

Nor is it uncommon. But I'm not sure if Buffy would have been willing to do that for any period of time without feeling the way she did with Spike in the season. (At least not prostitution/porn - stripping might be viable, if somewhat of a stretch.)

[Saturn 5]

Well to judge by Belle Du Jour it's something a lot of people do for a little while and grow out of when their circumstances change.

As for Spike, well I'm no great Spuffer but I think really Buffy needed Spike in this period, she didn't love him really but there was something between them

[tkts]

My favorite solution is the one where the Buffybot gets a job in retail. She's friendly, relentlessly cheerful, and never gets tired. She'd never get promoted to management or anything, but on the other hand, since she doesn't need to sleep, she could work two or three different jobs at once.

As for things the real Buffy could do -- charging for her Slayer services isn't an option. (What's she going to do -- refuse to kill the vampire that's attacking someone unless she gets paid for it?) And most jobs with set schedules would be problematic too, because most supervisors aren't too keen on their employees running off in the middle of their shifts for some unexpected slayage.

However, the Summers home has some nice open spaces. She could clear all the furniture out of one of the rooms, put in a few floor mats, advertise for students and open up her own martial arts studio.

[gumgnome]

Nov 29, 2009 19:28:58 GMT -5 tkts said:

However, the Summers home has some nice open spaces. She could clear all the furniture out of one of the rooms, put in a few floor mats, advertise for students and open up her own martial arts studio.

Neat idea. This would keep her occupied only during the day and would play to her strenghts. Karma.

[zeppo]

Why not become a cop? Or a Private investigator? I also like the idea of her working at the Bronze, possibly as a bartender. She could leave directly from her for patrol and still be able to attend some classes during the day. I agree that the Watchers' Council could have helped out financially, possibly with a scholarship or something.

[henzINNIT]

These suggestions are great, reasonable and logical, which simply doesn't fit into the "lets throw bags of shit at our characters" season lol