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June 10th, 2002, 09:51 AM
We recently had our annual carnival here in town. Now as I live in a community that is both large and has a huge rural/agricultural base, the annual carnival is massive. As any good Dad would do I took my daughter one evening both to watch the fireworks and to enjoy the rides. Fortunately it also allowed me to impart on my daughter an important lesson in life. We Dads and Druids tend to do that.
As we walked through the loud and colorful “Carni” section I heard the familiar cry of the “Guess your weight” scam. For only three dollars this woman would guess your weight within three pounds, guess your age within two years, or birth month within two months. If she guessed wrong you won a prize. She was VERY busy. Why? Well, she was very bad, not that it mattered. I told my daughter to watch for awhile. She did and told me we should try and let the woman guess our weight. She knew the woman would be wrong and we could win a prize. Now here is where the lesson came in. The “prizes” were inflatable toys the woman paid about 7 cents each wholesale for. She took in 3 dollars for every guess. A nice profit on every guess, right or wrong. I explained this to my daughter and she laughed. She wanted to open a guessing stand. She would guess whatever it was you wanted. She knew she would make money at it. I watched the people who had guesses done and the looks on their faces. Many bragged about beating this woman at the game. They had been beaten twice then. Once for falling for this old game and a second time for bragging about it. Now the important thing is that the “scams” are not confined to the “Carni”, they are all around us. The best ones leave you feeling as though you have won or beaten the odds. The worst ones merely take your money.
Jag, I am the servant of Morrighan
As we walked through the loud and colorful “Carni” section I heard the familiar cry of the “Guess your weight” scam. For only three dollars this woman would guess your weight within three pounds, guess your age within two years, or birth month within two months. If she guessed wrong you won a prize. She was VERY busy. Why? Well, she was very bad, not that it mattered. I told my daughter to watch for awhile. She did and told me we should try and let the woman guess our weight. She knew the woman would be wrong and we could win a prize. Now here is where the lesson came in. The “prizes” were inflatable toys the woman paid about 7 cents each wholesale for. She took in 3 dollars for every guess. A nice profit on every guess, right or wrong. I explained this to my daughter and she laughed. She wanted to open a guessing stand. She would guess whatever it was you wanted. She knew she would make money at it. I watched the people who had guesses done and the looks on their faces. Many bragged about beating this woman at the game. They had been beaten twice then. Once for falling for this old game and a second time for bragging about it. Now the important thing is that the “scams” are not confined to the “Carni”, they are all around us. The best ones leave you feeling as though you have won or beaten the odds. The worst ones merely take your money.
Jag, I am the servant of Morrighan