This episode originally aired in our first season, in August 2019. We’re off this week working on some reporting, and we need your help! More information on that below.

It started out small.

When Jack Brunson’s dad died, it was easy to tell his friends that he didn’t get much of an inheritance. They’d met when they were all young and broke and had each other’s backs.

A lot of those friends were still scraping by, keeping the anti-capitalist flame alive in Tennessee’s punk scene. Coming into a six-figure inheritance would have changed the way those friends saw him, Brunson reasoned: better to just keep it to himself.

Most of us tell little white lies at some point or another to make things less weird about money. But what happens when disaster strikes, and your money situation becomes impossible to hide?

One more thing: We’re working on an episode and we need your help. What’s getting you through those long days in lockdown? It could be chocolate at lunch, a new hobby or a pet. Big or small, as long as it doesn’t have to do with work, we want to hear about what’s bringing you joy and why.

Drop us a line at (347) RING-TIU, or (347) 746-4848. You can also send us a voice memo at uncomfortable@marketplace.org, or fill out the form below.