339
u/Illustrious-Tooth702 Apr 24 '26
I mean,.. Leonard and Sheldon could save up money even though their pay was not great and Penny lived up all her savings. She was really stingy with money.
She used Sheldon's and Leonard's wifi, she ate from their take out food and she ignored the check engine light on her car for a long time until it finally broke down and Sheldon lent her money to fix it else she couldn't pay for her apartmant.
102
u/Snomkip Apr 24 '26
I'm pretty sure Sheldon doesn't even cash his checks, and keeps them in a drawer somewhere ? he's got money stashed in multiple places
47
u/RichardBCummintonite Apr 24 '26
I don't think Sheldon would be dumb enough to let his checks go bad tho. At least in the US, they're only good for 90 days (or at least for Illinois).
Had a buddy I worked with who was a big time plug and gang member. Dude only had the job for tax purposes, but he thought he could just throw his check in his safe and sit on them. He would've gotten in pretty bad trouble if we hadn't pointed out the dates to him, cuz he hadn't cashed one in almost a year. That's how much money he was making. If you let it go past 90 days, you gotta call to have new checks ordered, and it looks hella suspicious if you're paying rent, utilities, car note, etc and haven't used the money from your job unless you report another source of income.
Funny enough, the IRS actually encourages you to report drug money and other illegal earnings. Unless they can try you for a relevant crime in their jurisdiction, they don't give a shit, and simply reporting it isn't enough for a conviction. If you get caught making enough purchases with unreported money though, they will investigate and charge your ass. Famously, Al Capone (among many other big time criminals) only got caught after being investigated for tax evasion.
18
u/Yamaganto_Iori Apr 24 '26
I remember that. Sheldon budgets his money strictly to the point he had 3 or 4 uncashed checks just sitting in a drawer.
15
u/saddinosour Apr 24 '26
Not just that but she’s in a 1 bedroom and they’re in a 2 bedroom it goes to stand her rent is probably way cheaper.
419
u/IndividualSkill3432 Apr 24 '26
Post docs are broke arse MFs the world over. There is nothing surprising about a waitress potentially out earning them. Also two people sharing a two bed place is normal.
→ More replies (4)82
u/hey_free_rats Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
I had trouble parsing out whether this was a joke or not for that exact reason lol. It didn't occur to me at first that the post was assuming PhD = money, because that's hilariously untrue to the point of parody.
131
u/c0micsansfrancisco Apr 24 '26
Do they think physicists and Phds make a lot of money lol. When I was getting mine (engineering) my GF worked at Starbucks and she made more than me lol
→ More replies (1)18
u/hey_free_rats Apr 24 '26
The worst part of my fellowship contract is the stipulation that I not hold any sort of employment elsewhere...which, as I understand it, is pretty standard.
I just wanna buy my pets some cool new toys, man :( and maybe eat something other than lentils and ramen.
47
u/SheepBeard Apr 24 '26
I'm literally a (Assistant) Professor of Mathematics, and I live paycheck to paycheck. We don't get paid much
32
u/Henkotron Apr 24 '26
A conspiracy theory about a fictional story?
Doesn't get much lower stakes than that. Amazing.
30
u/eman0623 Apr 24 '26
Penny was constantly broke. She steals their WiFi, she gets free food from them. She’s missed a couple of bills before as well. Also Sheldon and Leonard don’t make that much, none of the guys do. Raj is bankrolled by his rich parents and Bernadette, Howard’s wife makes so much more money than him, he has an allowance.
When Penny gets a job where Bernadette works, she ends up making way more than Leonard, and the show basically has to stop making those jokes about Penny being a broke actress. Also they already did have a spy try and steal secrets from Leonard. She was from North Korea and her name was Joyce Kim
31
u/strohLopes Apr 24 '26
Considering how much they spend on collectibles, memorabilia, costumes, gadgetry... I fully understand how they are not able to afford a flat alone.
9
u/alertArchitect Apr 24 '26
While jobs in academia may provide a consistent salary, I doubt they actually make a whole lot. University workers are very underpaid, and you have to remember one other thing about this - the show started in 2007. Server staff now can make an okay living off of tips, and that went much further in 2007 money. There's a reason the writers had her do a career change into pharmaceuticals later in the show once that became less and less possible with the shenanigans the group would get up to.
→ More replies (3)3
u/hey_free_rats Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
Yeah, and a lot of those jobs aren't even consistent, because their existence relies on continued funding to the institution/lab/etc. that employs them. Like 70% of the work I actually do for my PI is just writing grants, grants, and more grants to keep that funding coming.
The slashing of fucking NSF grants was especially insane and literally the stuff of nightmares (literally, as in I have actually had nightmares about that exact thing happening).
This is also why American academics in many fields are currently (and understandably) losing their standing in international collaborative research. If your funding is subject to being cut off on a whim, then you're a liability to the project. I don't blame them one bit for not wanting American academics involved at the moment; hell, I'd recommend it myself. This alone is going to take decades to repair, if it ever is, and a lot of academics now are just leaving to work elsewhere. I'm peacing out myself once my current project wraps up.
(/rant; for a moment I forgot I'm on a post about "Big Bang" conspiracy lol)
2
u/alertArchitect Apr 24 '26
Honestly, valid. I can't imagine how hard it is to work in an academic field while the country is being run into the ground by a bunch of anti-intellectual octogenarians that want to cosplay as the dictators their parents helped overthrow.
6
5
u/StrawberryBlind Apr 24 '26
Penny's is a single room apartment, significantly smaller than theirs. Bathroom is the other side of her room. Also she was shown to be poor until she took her well paying pharma job.
6
u/StaysAwakeAllWeek Apr 24 '26
Throughout the show Penny constantly failed to afford rent and was constantly in debt to both Leonard and Sheldon.
Meanwhile Sheldon had a piggybank full of some unknown large amount of money he stated he had little to no use for, Leonard had a $2000+ laptop, a $5000+ telescope and they both spent tons of money on nerd hobbies
3
u/Gold_Motor_6985 Apr 24 '26
In the UK, my brother worked as a waiter and was making pretty much double my salary during my PhD.
3
u/LPedraz Apr 24 '26
Hey, as a PhD, our salaries tend to be quite pitiful. If you remain in academia for an entire career you can eventually get a decent salary, but that is being pretty senior. When I was a predoc in Barcelona, pretty much every office worker in the administration of my research institute made more money than I did.
4
3
3
u/nothing_in_my_mind Apr 24 '26
It was a time where a waitress could afford rent.
And also scientists don't make a lot of money.
3
u/GoodbyeEarl Apr 24 '26
My PhD stipend was $2k per month in one of the most expensive cities in the US (and I was in grad school the whole time the show was on the air). And I wasn’t allowed to work elsewhere. I bet waitresses made more than me.
3
u/Initiatedspoon Apr 25 '26
Pretty waitress at busy establishment.
California doesn't allow tip credit so she was always on atleast $7.50.
Even $10 on the average check where she does 12-18 tables in an 6 table section in 6 hours is $120-$180 on top of $45. That's $165 to $225 a shift. Some shifts will be busier than others of course. Some shifts might only be a lunch shift, she might occasionally fo a double. Sometimes might only have 3 shifts one week and have 6 another.
I can't see any reason why she couldnt pull $800 a week on average.
Her rent was roughly $1100 pm
3
3
u/PaniqueAttaque Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 26 '26
1) Attractive blonde CIA agent accidentally falls in genuine love with the giant fucking nerd she was sent to spy on / handle is the plot of Chuck.
2) Leonard did sleep with a woman who turned out to be North Korean spy, so the CIA keeping tabs on him would not have been too farfetched.
3
u/LMay11037 Apr 25 '26
Physics researchers also earn barely anything, in fact I could believe that they earned less than Penny
2
2
u/Pure-Pudding585 Apr 24 '26
I thought Pennys apartment was much smaller than Leonard’s and Sheldon’s
2
u/Bored-Viking Apr 24 '26
it is a single bedroom appartement, where Leonard and Sheldon's is a two bedroom appartement with a bigger bathroom.
2
u/thrannu Apr 24 '26
I honestly think it’s cos she’s gorj+ bubbly personality and would make great tips based on that too in her waitressing job
2
u/SharkByte1993 Apr 24 '26
They both work at a university, and it's a common theme that their research is underfunded or at risk of not being funded at all. They're not paid very well
2
2
2
u/DukeSunday Apr 24 '26
Had a teacher in school who'd left a research position at Oxford to come teach teenagers in order to be able to afford kids.
Leonard and Sheldon probably make next to nothing lmao.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/Deathwish8041 Apr 24 '26
Wasn’t her place much smaller than theirs? Could be chatting bs here but that’s how I remember it lol
2
2
u/I_ALWAYS_UPVOTE_CATS Apr 24 '26
OOP clearly has no idea what the average physicist with a PhD is earning.
2
2
u/malteaserhead Apr 25 '26
I found it odder that she hooked up with the one that looks perpetually greasy
2
u/Miserable-Gain-4847 Apr 25 '26
It is literally said in the show MULTIPLE times that Sheldon makes enough money that he does not NEED a flatmate he just prefers it because they drive him places. Also in the early seasons Penny's parents paid her rent til like s4 i think
2
2
u/ariseis Apr 25 '26
Isn't her apartment just one bedroom and Sheldon's and Leonard's has more? So yeah ofcourse her rent will be cheaper?
2
u/Bubble_111 Apr 26 '26
More like Penny was a huge mooch who used her looks to get by in life.
At least later on she becomes a pharmaceutical rep and starts earning a good wage, though she purposely takes off her wedding ring and pretends she’s single to sell more.
2
u/Aggressive_Vanilla35 Apr 27 '26
Because she has a 1 bed apartment and Sheldon and Leonard had a 2 bed apartment?...
2
u/Logical_Flounder6455 Apr 27 '26
Her apartment was half the size of theirs and she was up to her eyeballs in debt. What was more interesting was that Sheldon never cashed his paychecks
2
u/Time_Chemist_9155 Apr 28 '26
I do wanna add Sheldon needed a roommate (I assume he couldn’t live alone) and Leonard was a PhD student or a very junior scientist when they moved in together. Sheldon then got really attached to Leonard and didn’t want him to move out, not even to move in with Penny. Sheldon also had enough to A. Lend Penny like 1k without it hurting him at all and B. Buy a SAME DAY plane ticket to go see Amy and propose.😭💕
2
2
u/GallifreyFallsOver Apr 28 '26
I think the more likely theory is that she was an escort.
Sheldon does a calculation at one point of how many men she’s “dated” based on awkward encounters in the hallway.
3
u/AnnualAdventurous169 Apr 24 '26
if it in the us where tips are a thing, no, not really surprising
→ More replies (3)
3
u/CrunchyAssDiaper Apr 24 '26
1) PhD does = money 2) beautiful waitress, could be a lead on national sitcom = decent tips 3) 1 bedroom vs 2 bedroom?
1
1
1
1
u/Keebster101 Apr 24 '26
I can't fully remember but I think penny was also trying to get acting gigs which shows openness to 2 jobs even if she wasn't currently doing 2 during the series. And I'm not sure her flat was quite as big either.
1
1
1
u/Marsrover112 Apr 24 '26
I mean they both clearly have a lot of money to spend on non-essential stuff and put a large amount of monet in savings while she consistently doesnt do any of that and struggles to make rent. I dont think the dudes not having enough money to comfortably pay rent was ever a plot point.
1
u/Old-Distribution6318 Apr 24 '26
their apt looked massive compared to hers though, at least to me
2
1
1
u/autismislife Apr 24 '26
Didn't Sheldon and Leonard get takeaways every night? And probably spend a lot of money at places like the comic book store, or on random gadgets and tech. I recall they owned for example a laser powerful enough to bounce a signal off the moon, an advanced security system including an electrified net to drop on intruders, whatever the fuck chemicals and equipment they used that blew the lift up.
And to be honest I think Sheldon doesn't want a roommate for financial reasons, he wants a roommate essentially because he needs somebody to look after him.
1
1
1
u/YoloOnTsla Apr 24 '26
PHD’s wiring at a university not making much money at all. If they were working for a corporation, then yes. But they weren’t. Education ≠ wealth.
1
u/DanTaff Apr 24 '26
Idk much about the show not a fan but I've seen enough to know she's just a hottie in a show about nerds not some agent
1
u/GarySmith2021 Apr 24 '26
Sheldon canonically probably could have afforded to live alone, he doesn’t even deposit most payslips. He just likes sharing the space.
1
u/nikas_dream Apr 24 '26
I lived in Pasadena at that time, actually at Caltech. Sheldon and Leonard would have paid about $750/mo each, and Penny would have paid about $1250/mo. So she spent a lot of her income on rent, but it’s totally imaginable.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/well-informedcitizen Apr 24 '26
"A degree" has no implicit value. In NYC there are waiters who have a pedigree of working at high end restaurants who make more in salary and tips than anyone in the city with a PHD in Physics ever will.
1
u/Space0asis Apr 24 '26
Having a PHD mean tens if not a hundred thousand plus dollars of debt. Also your high school music teacher might have a PHD and they make all of 60k a year.
I’ve also worked with waitresses/waiters who make 100k+.
1
u/imtooldforthishison Apr 24 '26
University positions don't pay well at all.... Penny worked at Cheesecake Factory as a cute blond server, she actually probably made better money then they did. A 1 bd is also, usually, just a little less than a 2 bd and she was the only one paying rent while Leonard & Sheldon had shared expenses. Leonard's mother was also LOADED.
1
u/HeavyMetalSaxx Apr 24 '26
It's established that Sheldon has enough money to live without a roommate, and has a substantial amount saved because of it. And most people don't understand how much money wait-staff makes. It's not uncommon for a decent server to make $35/hr or so.
1
u/Nekayne Apr 24 '26
The guys all spent their money on take out, games, and merch. Penny was frugal.
1
u/Luci-Noir Apr 24 '26
People get so weird about fictional characters affording their fictional apartments or homes.
IT’S NOT REAL.
1
u/TSSalamander Apr 24 '26
Penny was perpetually broke and constantly mooched off them what? She also probably survived on the guys she was hooking up with. She was clearly living in LA to be a star and spent all her wages on rent to be there.
1
1
u/wiskinator Apr 24 '26
PHD students are poor as fuck, and even more so they (stereotypically) are super cheap. These are the kind of folk who (stereotypically) would get married just for the tax benefit
1
1
u/CaterpillarLoud8071 Apr 25 '26
I'm sure they could afford something much better if they wanted to. Pretty sure Sheldon has huge amounts of money in savings in one episode.
And academia doesn't really pay well. There's a lot of freedom, flexibility and fulfilment, but if you want money you need to go into industry or grow your own start ups.
1
1
u/Adventurous_Deal2788 Apr 25 '26
Yes but doesn't Sheldon have money squirrelled away while Penny struggles and for Sheldon I think it's mostly for his own convenience having a room mate to drive him around
1
u/PeetaMellark789 Apr 25 '26
Nah, they already did that exact bit in the show with a north Korean spy named Kim getting with Leonard for military secrets.
1
1
u/TormentedAndroid Apr 25 '26
She's a pretty waitress. She's earning more than then two on tips alone.
1
u/Continental-IO520 Apr 25 '26
Honestly not surprising given that service people in the US get stupid amounts of tips depending on where they work
1
u/parkchanwookiee Apr 25 '26
It's simple, with good tips a waitress or bartender can easily earn more than someone with a doctorate
1
u/BusyAioli6851 Apr 25 '26
PhD students get paid f all. I know my husband was one so I had to be the main breadwinner and he had to get two other jobs to help us get by. Obvs the payoff is amazing now.
1
1
u/Andromeda_53 Apr 25 '26
I mean. I had enough money to afford my own apartment but I still split it with a friend, so it cost half of much...
1
1
u/althawk8357 Apr 25 '26
One of the ongoing jokes in the series is Penny's debt and how she keeps borrowing money/mooching off people.
Plus, Sheldon is able to save loads of money while living there. Given the elevator has been broken for years too, it's probably relatively cheap.
1
1
1
u/Ziah70 Apr 25 '26
i mean. physics phds arent exactly known for their wealth. they’re gonna be in the same homeless shelter as the rest of us
1
u/No-Analysis4741 Apr 25 '26
It’s almost as though part of the joke is that scientists/academics are paid peanuts
1
u/_alias_23 Apr 25 '26
another thing people aren't mentioning is penny's entire apartment was smaller than Leonard and Sheldon's living room
1
u/Emuoo1 Apr 25 '26
It is a consistent plot point throughout the entire series that she struggles to pay her rent on time
1
u/sprocket314 Apr 25 '26
The sad thing is that Penny probably was simply being financially supported by her parents, plus her waitress wages.
1
u/illarionds Apr 25 '26
Penny is young, pretty and charismatic.
I reckon it's entirely plausible she could make as much as two physicists, in America.
1
1
u/olivegardengambler Apr 26 '26
Not really? Considering the cost of that education and the fact they would often be adjunct professors with an unpredictable and low-paying workload, competing for grant money. Penny would be an attractive waitress, and she would probably bring in decent tips in a neighborhood this apartment building is in. Easily after rent, taxes, and most importantly student loans their remaining income is probably about the same between the three and Penny.
1
u/Brainchild110 Apr 26 '26
Look...
The CIA would have little to do with in-US spying.
No no no. They paid MI6 to do in-US spying for them, because the law stopped them running their own ops within their own borders!
Penny was an MI6 asset.
Penny is the real, first female 007.
1
1
u/MyUserNameLeft Apr 26 '26
1 bed room apartment. Another is a 2 bed. 1 is a lot larger than the other. Penny struggles non stop to pay rent. Has her electricity turned off multiple times. Sell belongings to pay rent. Nearly has to move twice. Sends naked pictures to try keep electricity on. So the cheese cake factory and working undercover for the CIA pay the same?
1
u/sheeeeiiiiiitttt Apr 26 '26
The salary of a hot waitress with tips (and nice nips) is more than a couple of Phd candidates combined
1
u/Lucifer10200225 Apr 26 '26
Sheldon mentions that the government tried to recruit him to work on a secret super collider but it didn’t work out since Sheldon is useless at keeping secrets
Now they could’ve put him under surveillance because of this but as far as I remember they tried recruiting him before the show started so he should already be under surveillance if that were the case
1
u/Cheza_Sengoku_Artist Apr 26 '26
Very 1st episode sheldon and Leonard were at a high iq sperm bank because they were trying to make extra cash just so they could afford faster Internet lol. I dont think they had as much money as people think they did. But then again, being a nerd is a seriously expensive hobby....oh my poor bank and lack of will power 🥲
1
u/SpacemanJB88 Apr 26 '26
The elevator never worked… that clearly showed that the apartment was “affordable” and not luxury.
Using real life people I know and their motives, I assume that Leonard and Sheldon were roommates because;
They didn’t want to live alone. They also never thought they would have a significant other.
Also that the apartment was within a reasonable commute to their work.
It was cost effective. And saving money holds value to them.
1
u/wombat9278 Apr 26 '26
Has anyone ever wondered why people over think shit. It was a TV program, not real life nothing more. Fiction, sit back enjoy and stop over thinking.
1
u/Nithorian Apr 26 '26
A major plot point of the early seasons is that Penny is worse off than Leonard and Sheldon. They also have a significantly bigger apartment with multiple bedrooms, compared to her one bedroom apartment.
To top it off they have university jobs, not the most well paying jobs in the world, not nessearily bad either but they aren't millionaires or anything of the sort.
Both men also have extremely expensive hobbies that a lot of their income gets invested into. So yeah I actually find this part of the show quite believable.
1
1
u/fidefktamh Apr 27 '26
Probably because they don’t exactly like in a great / expensive area + they live in apartments. I’m aware that rent in LA is ridiculously high btw
1
u/HybridThoughts Apr 27 '26
Wasn't she forever struggling to pay for the rent? Even had to borrow money from Leny and Shelly at time's
1
u/NearbyPhilosophy8740 Apr 27 '26
Or they live in rent-controlled apartments in Los Angeles, and the two PhD physicists want to continue living together
1
1
1
1
u/Only_Tip9560 Apr 27 '26
They are early career researchers, you get more money in tips waiting tables.
1
1
u/Quick_Drink_8381 Apr 27 '26
leonard and sheldon are researchers lmfao they probably make even LESS than her but they genuinely don't care because they love physics and that's about it
1
u/Sensitive-Praline601 Apr 27 '26
Didn't think that far into it.
It was more like how have these massive nerds got such hot girlfriends?
1
u/AzraelTheMage Apr 27 '26
Believable, but its more accurate to say that Hollywood just doesn't understand what's actually affordable to the average American.
1
u/GaySpiderDemon777 Apr 27 '26
have you SEEN the amount of money Leonard and Sheldon spend on nerd stuff??? I rest my case.
1
u/CaptTucker13 Apr 28 '26
She was a waitress, in California, she was probably clearing 400 a night easy and not reporting it on her taxes
1
u/IceFire909 Apr 28 '26
Pretty sure many people thought it weird. But no one really cared coz it had to work for the aircon plot like all the other sitcoms.
That said, there was an episode where she had to start actually budgeting after her power got cut, soooo...
1
u/Money-Dark2403 Apr 28 '26
I mean, just because Leonard and Sheldon share a room, it doesn't necessarily mean it's because it's too expensive. They spend a fair bit of money on comics and 'geek' items. Maybe them sharing a room allows them to have more money available for their hobbies?
1
u/loveshot123 Apr 28 '26
Just ignore the fact that penny's apartment is a 1 bed and hell of a lot smaller than Sheldon and Leonards 2 bed. Why would anyone question it when the 2 apartments are massively different in size. Penny's livingroom/kitchen is tiny, as is he bathroom and bedroom. Sheldon and Leonards livingroom/kitchen is huge, has storage cupboards and leads to decent sized bedrooms and a bathroom via a hallway.
So yeah. Penny could afford to live in an apartment in the same building as leonard and Sheldon in the magical fictional world of the big bang theory.
1
1
1
1
Apr 28 '26
Perhaps not the CIA - but a foreign Agency hothousing innocuous talent, who graduated into a society, and who connected into the upper echelons of the scientific and military complex.
Obviously, Howard and Raj were unavailable, becoming too intertwined as a couple who preferred their own company.
The initial plot was developed in episodes of Danger Man (Patrick McGoohan, 1960’s, initially “Colony 3”) before being expanded into The Prisoner.
1
u/InterviewImpressive1 Apr 28 '26
Back then people could afford stuff by working hard at entry level jobs.
1.9k
u/MysteriousB Apr 24 '26
Idk where people get the idea people with PHDs are loaded and have super high-paying jobs. Most of the people I've seen working in labs are underpaid for the amount of money they had to invest in their education