Listfolk, You do find the durndest things on college bulletin boards. I myself the other day found posted an offer of monetary reward, to offer my opinion in a discussion of bank services. Research, y'see. Corporate research. Without the appropriate skepticism, I signed up. They inundated me with reminders in the month between the sign-up and date of discussion. They even telephoned me the day before; yes, my opinion was worthwhile; it could change corporate structure; economic democracy was staging a miraculous return to the U-nited States. Then, the bikeride there, I tried to do too much. I bought the new Liliput CD, tried some polyester pants on, in lieu of finding my destination. As it happened, I got a little lost, riding all around the circumference of the bustling mall before finding the right place. They wanted my opinion at 5:00, but I walked in the door at 5:07, to a glaring secretary. : I'm here to participate in the survey. : Sorry sir, they've already started. : Well, can I just read the instructions and go in? : You're late. Don't go in. Wait, stay here. [annoyance at me, and more of it. she leaves her position monitoring the conference room by speakerphone, and walks into the room. the speakerphone betrays me, offers only muffled talk.] : Well sir, you'll get your money. : Aright, should I just go on in? : No sir, you're not allowed to enter the discussion. : Here you are. [hands me a white envelope, with a crisp bill rarely seen: $50] : Uhhhhhhh. Uh. : If you had been twenty minutes late, we wouldn't have paid you. : But you were less than ten. Next time be on time. [curt] : You can see why I'm puzzled that I'm getting paid. : You can see why *we're* puzzled that you came late. : [no. i. can't. i leave.] How to avoid crashing due to incredulity on the way home? Then, today, sitting in my sociology class entitled American Capitalism, my teacher began to discuss incentives of buying and selling under various capitalist economic configurations. Buying and selling, abbreviated in his frenetic style, B&S. Soon there was B&S all over the board, and I swore I would not let this incident sully my understanding of those little initials. Talk talk, Rob +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+