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That’s More Like It
Got some more recordings in the can and a few more to be done. Now we’re getting somewhere. There’s nothing more satisfying than pushing through a logjam.
Ups and Downs
Winter is being pretty random this year. We’re getting plenty of fluctuations. We had some lovely warm(ish) days and now it’s back down near freezing. The forecast begins creeping up over the weekend and then dips back down and then creeps back up. Interesting bit of oscillation, that. Oh well, sometimes you get a very mild winter. Sometimes you get a Ninth Circle of Hell winter. This year, we’re getting a full spectrum sampler. No worries, my house is well insulated and for the time being, I am as well. I’m working on that, but it’s slow going.
What’s also slow going is trying to record a complex process as you go. Man, oh man. It will be worth it in the end because I’ll have a salable product and a revenue-generating niche site but golly what a slog.
Some More Rules
Rule #141: Only fools pay retail
Since the Ferengi are so profit oriented, they have a rich culture of haggling. They can negotiate, bargain, wheedle and swindle their way into a discount.
There are those in the real world who have that knack. Thing is, there is logically a cost-benefit ratio.
Folks who spend inordinate amounts of time gathering coupons and going to all the different stores where they get the best exchange can certainly save tons of money, but all that time! Is it actually cost-effective to go to five stores in order to save a couple bucks on groceries? Wouldn’t it be more productive to make one trip to one store, get the best deals you can and spend the time doing something that would earn you more money? If you’re saving money by wasting time, that seems a lot more foolish than paying retail.
Likewise, people who come from places where haggling is still in vogue may be able to charm a shopkeeper into providing a discount for whatever reason. That doesn’t work in chain stores. The price is the price is the price. This isn’t the flea market or the bazaar. All you’re doing is being annoying. You’re wasting time and making a nuisance of yourself. The time spent trying to wrangle a deal out of someone who has no authority to adjust prices or give special deals would be better put into producing something of value.
I see no value in making a dozen trips. I see no value in annoying cashiers. I see no value in spending time trying to save money when you can spend time earning it. Paying retail need not be foolish, as the Ferengi claim. Sometimes, it’s the only way. Get in. Get your stuff. Get out.
Rule #142-143: Not yet cited in Star Trek episodes, movies or novels
Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere
I’m normally an avid reader. Our house is lined with books. My wife is constantly reading and we’ve passed the habit on to the kiddos. Not a bad habit to have. Despite being busy trying to build a site and record the process as I go, I’ve been sneaking in the odd chapter here and there of a very interesting book about the collapse of Bronze Age civilizations. My wife has been reading about some kooky religious zealots who started a colony in Jerusalem in the late 19th Century. It’s amazing where you can go in the pages of a good book. You can explore worlds of fantasy or the all too real twisted mind of a deranged gunman. I’ve also been catching up on some Planet of the Apes graphic novels that I received for Christmas and some others we’ve picked up along the way. My son really has me hooked on the Justice Society of America collection. Books can truly take you anywhere you want to go.
Rule #144: There’s nothing wrong with charity… as long as it winds up in your pocket
That’s typically Ferengi, lol.
They clearly never got the message that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Rule #145-146: Not yet cited in Star Trek episodes, movies or novels
Kindness in words creates confidence.
Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates love.
~Lao Tzu
So, the father of Taoism has a fine counterpoint for the Ferengi perspective on charity. Being harmonious and kind instead of competitive and greedy will certainly get you farther in life. I think a Ferengi would find this philosophy foolish in the extreme, but after all the Rules we’ve examined thus far I think we can agree the Ferengi are far more foolish for being so grasping and desperate.
Rule #147: People love the bartender
Yes, they do. The bartender is a people person. The bartender listens to you. Your highs and your lows. Your celebrations and your laments. The bartender knows when to listen and when to advise. The bartender is there to sell drinks, of course. That’s the job, but they tend to be people-oriented. They genuinely want to help. They can’t sell drinks if you hate them.
People hate the boss. People hate the guru. People hate the superstar. Sitting up in their ivory towers passing judgment, these paragons of perfection are universally hated. Sure, people suck up to them in hope of favors. Sometimes they receive them, but at what cost?
Selling your soul for scraps from someone else’s table is no way to live your life. You may admire someone’s success. You may get caught up in the glamor and the clamor of a big shot’s marketing event, but there’s never a reason to kiss their behinds. They have what you want, but you’re not getting theirs. They got where they got by teaching people how to get what they’ve got. You don’t need to join the cult of personality. Listen to what they say and take the lessons they teach without the syrup of self-aggrandizement that so many of them like to slather themselves in.
The bartender is humble and talks directly to you. The boss is brash and talks down to you. Screw the boss. The guru says “no wussies”. Fine. If you’re sucking up to the guru, what does that make you? A wussy.
Don’t be that guy. Be a student. Be a customer. Don’t be a sycophant. Find some bartenders and listen to what they’ve got to say. You might just get some worthwhile advice.
Well, it may be a rollercoaster, but at least it keeps things interesting. Variety is the spice of life, they say. Until next time, stay spicy my friend.