Tuesday, January 19, 2010

I think I see a pretty good investment coming up.

It seems that there is a liquor store owner that is offering me a case of quarter-pint bottles of Jim Beam for $65. There are 48 of the little bottles in it.

Now, some rocket scientist will probably calculate that they could get a better deal by buying that much bourbon in fewer bottles, but he is wrong. I'm not buying this liquor for myself.

I'm buying it to use for little favors and petty bribes. You'd be surprised to see what a guy can get for just a couple of ounces of bourbon.

This leads to the purpose of today's blog. It doesn't take much.

I very much live in a world where I do as many little favors as I can.

One would be surprised how the simple investment of a coke or a beer on a hot day goes. A six pack can often save a guy a lot of money, properly invested.

At work, we can't have any booze out here, so I try and keep a few sodas on the reefer a pot of fresh coffeee going, and a few snacks handy.

Come to think about it, one of the people I sometimes serve out here camme up to me a few months ago and told me that the paint I gave him about a decade ago is still holding up on his front and back doors. I had given him an opened gallon can of white marine grade paint that had been left over from painting season. We were going to toss it out, anyway, so I gave it to him.

Over the years I'd have to say that we've gotten thousands back in little favors over a dopey little opened gallon of paint that was headed to the recycling pallet.

The cokes, little snacks and little things like an odd pack of smokes I have given to the trash guys have paid off big time. One time they took the truck cable and used the truck to uproot 4 trees in my front yard and they stuffed them into the truck and hauled them off.

It should be carefully noted that the trash company policy is that they are not supposed to take anything but household trash.

Not at the Piccolo residence. There they take almost anything. One of my neighbors commented to me on it and I told him how it works. He seemed mildly astonished.

One thing about giving away alcohol is that you have to be somewhat responsible with it. You have to be careful about the people and circumstances you use it as a give away. You have to make sure the timing and circumstances are correct. For example, I would never give the trash guys liquor while they are working because even the simple posession of it could cost them their jobs.

On the other hand, I have given a number of six-packs to people over the years that have performed services around the house to take home with them.

The rules of doing favors is that nobody gets hurt and everyone comes out a winner.

I also swap out a lot of favors in the neighborhood. I'm a pretty good plumber and electrician, and my skills are in demand and appreciated. A couple of hours repairing a leaky sink or rerouting TV cable is generally paid off in kind.

Last time home, I had the driveway cleared by my neighbor with his snow blower. I have not had to shovel any appreciable amount of snow in years, which is a joy because I hate snow.

Truth is, it doesn't take much.

As for the $65 I am probably going to spend on the case of bourbon, I'd say it will wind up being money well spent.

At any rate, the return on my investment will probably beat the stock market, hands down.

No comments:

Post a Comment