Thursday, December 11, 2008

What a Great Idea!

The more I hear about the financial crisis, the more I begin to wonder if it's the most wonderful thing to happen in the past 30 years. The sudden return of layaway is not the least of them. Just as freeways cutting through freeways and smoking in public have fallen out of favor, perhaps credit cards will be things of the past in the next decade. The concept of something so desired that you can't wait to pay another $10 that makes it closer to reality is much more appealing than cursing the thing that is broken down, out of warranty and you still have three years to pay off at 28% interest.

When I was a child, my grandmother had a Christmas savings plan that had special deposit envelopes that she put five dollars in every Thursday afternoon. I remember sitting in her heavily air-conditioned Rambler in late August as she smiled at me and put her holly adorned envelope into a pneumatic tube and we both imagined those dollars going off somewhere magical tto bring back something memorable four months later.

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6 Comments:

At 11:01 PM, Blogger Joe said...

Those pneumatic tube bank thingy had been invented already when you were a kid?

JUST KIDDING!

I, too, had a sudden rush of nostalgia when I heard of the "return" of lay-a-way a couple months back. That was also back in the day when cities or regions had their own unique, locally-owned, family-named department stores and not everything was a Nordamacykohls.

 
At 6:58 AM, Blogger Ladrón de Basura (a.k.a. Junk Thief) said...

Joe - Well, at least I appreciate that you didn't ask if my grandmother went to the bank with her horse and buggie.

 
At 7:00 AM, Blogger Odette Bautista Mikolai said...

hi! i was surfing the net, and stumbled into your blog - i guess trash, attracks more trash, hahaha!
actually, your blog fascinates me, not just the funny rablings which i admit do make sense, but also because you have videos and nice picture that can already tell a story.
that alone makes me want to visit this page again and again.
ok, so you got a new follower, haha.
well you are free to visit mine too, but better bring your broom and dustpan and the trash bag just incase you find it worth throwing away...Lol
merry christmas to you..smile!

 
At 7:04 AM, Blogger Ladrón de Basura (a.k.a. Junk Thief) said...

Blue - Hi and welcome. Actually this place is about junk not trash, a slight but important distinction. I'll check your blog.

 
At 5:45 AM, Blogger marxsny said...

1000 years ago when I was young, my mother used to have a part time job at the layaway and catalog order dept. of the local Montgomery Ward store. When I got my first job at 16 I opened a Christmas Club at the bank. Every week I would tear a coupon with a Christmas tree on it out of a payment book and deposit it with a $5 bill. It's remarkable how things so seemingly simple and innocent could mutate over time into massive, nation bankrupting, ponzi schemes.

 
At 7:47 AM, Blogger Ladrón de Basura (a.k.a. Junk Thief) said...

Mark - There is something very heartening about people wanting to buy small shares of the future and looking forward too it instead of feeling like slaves to paying off the past that they have come to resent.

 

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