Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Barter doesn't pay the bills

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Barter doesn't pay the bills

    So, after many trials and tribbulations, I'm back. But I'm now working for myself in a small country town in New South Wales. No bosses or management is wonderful, but there's plenty of SC's.

    One of which is a regular customer. He has an acquired brain injury from a bad virus, which makes him slightly slower than other people, but he's very switched on about normal life. Until he needs to use a computer, that is.

    Every other week, he has a problem with his computers. The screen needs adjusting, his internet isn't connecting, etc. You get the idea. So at least once every 10 days, I'll be around there to twiddle with his computer for him.

    Now, I grew up in this town and know how things work, so I don't mind local customers offering to pay me in ways other than cash. A box of veges here, a couple of drinks there, and so on. But a phonecall from regular customer today suggests I may need to rethink.

    He wanted me to accept a bale of wool.

    While this would be ok with other people, I don't have the contacts to translate it into hard cash. So I had to decline, which is a bit of a shame given decent wool prices at the moment.

  • #2
    You aren't in Nimbin or Mullumbimby by any chance are you? Because I can see the inhabitants of those towns trying that!

    (For the unfamiliar, this is Nimbin and this is Mullumbimby)

    Comment


    • #3
      Now three bags full and I would have been all over that.
      Don't waste time trying to convince someone that the sky is blue.

      Comment


      • #4
        yew a bit sheepish about taking this?


        sorry it's monday and I haven't had my coffee yet
        AkaiKitsune
        Sarcasm dear, sarcasm. I’m well aware that dealing with civilians in any capacity will skin your faith in humanity alive, then pickle anything that remains so as to watch it shrivel up into an immortal husk thus reminding you of how dead inside you now are.

        Comment


        • #5
          Quoth TheWolfEmperor View Post
          Now three bags full and I would have been all over that.
          With a "Yes sir, yes sir!"
          “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
          One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
          The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth Nunavut Pants View Post
            With a "Yes sir, yes sir!"
            Bah, bah,
            Call rep
            Do you have some pants?

            Preferably from the same
            catalog as hats

            One for my mother-sister and my dog, too
            Send each order COD
            And we'll pay seperately

            Bah, Bah Call Rep
            Just a minute please,
            I'd also like some underwear
            Color of nacho cheese
            Don't waste time trying to convince someone that the sky is blue.

            Comment


            • #7
              “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
              One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
              The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth LadyofArc View Post
                You aren't in Nimbin or Mullumbimby by any chance are you? Because I can see the inhabitants of those towns trying that!

                (For the unfamiliar, this is Nimbin and this is Mullumbimby)
                If it were Nimbin I daresay the offer would have been for a bale of something else :-)

                I used to hear stories of people receiving complimentary after dinner joints with their (vege) burger purchases at the local cafe.
                Be Nicer To Retail Workers 2K18, also known as: stop being an incredibly shitty human to people just doing their job.

                Comment


                • #9
                  I don't know whether Gravekeeper would laugh at that lovely little ditty or be curled up in a corner gently rocking for a few minutes.

                  That is just
                  A good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read. - Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth TheWolfEmperor View Post
                    Bah, bah,
                    Call rep
                    Do you have some pants?

                    Preferably from the same
                    catalog as hats

                    One for my mother-sister and my dog, too
                    Send each order COD
                    And we'll pay seperately

                    Bah, Bah Call Rep
                    Just a minute please,
                    I'd also like some underwear
                    Color of nacho cheese
                    I started singing this in my head on the train this morning to work.
                    Damn you

                    Quoth the lawsmeister View Post
                    If it were Nimbin I daresay the offer would have been for a bale of something else :-)

                    I used to hear stories of people receiving complimentary after dinner joints with their (vege) burger purchases at the local cafe.
                    You do have a point there.

                    Speaking of "complimentary after-dinner things," there's a cafe in the next suburb over from me that seems to have a "complimentary" hookah/shisha service (the hookahs are HUGE, so they aren't being brought in by the patrons and it's not advertised on their website either). It wouldn't surprise me if someone HAS tried to use the hookahs as a bong at some point.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth LadyofArc View Post
                      Speaking of "complimentary after-dinner things," there's a cafe in the next suburb over from me that seems to have a "complimentary" hookah/shisha service
                      "Combination hookah and coffeemaker! Also makes julienne fries!" [cookies for ref]

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth Monterey Jack View Post
                        "Combination hookah and coffeemaker! Also makes julienne fries!" [cookies for ref]
                        Disney's "Aladdin."

                        RIP Robin Williams
                        PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

                        There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          "Will not break! Will not break...!" [breaks] "It broke!"

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Quoth Monterey Jack View Post
                            "Will not break! Will not break...!" [breaks] "It broke!"
                            "Ohh, look at this! I've never seen one of these intact before! This is the famous Dead Sea Tupperware. Listen!" (thpppbt) "Ah! Still good!"
                            PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

                            There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              You know, there's an alternate ending to the film that reveals the merchant was the Genie in disguise all along, narrating the tale.
                              Last edited by Monterey Jack; 07-04-2018, 09:24 PM.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X