Down here at the pawn shop - Page 28

xoxoxoBruce · 01-27-2013, 11:41 PM

Since everybody knows a $100 card gets $50 at the shop, getting $50.50 would carry bragging rights, while just asking for just 50¢ isn't likely to piss anybody off enough to get him banned or anything.

Yes children, I'll tell you the story about how I got $50.50 for a $100 card, way back in '13, before your mamas were born.

Clodfobble · 01-28-2013, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Sounds like someone's got an early case of the Mondays...

Yeah, sorry about that... I think I've mentioned before, one of my first real jobs was doing low level (and I mean low level) tech support for a chain of pawn shops. I am intimately familiar with the environment UT has been describing in this thread. I'm the kind of jaded that UT is trying not to become.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad

If he wanted meter reimbursement, he could have said so, and maybe we would have believed him and told him no anyway.

This is what it boils down to. There was absolutely no universe in which the kid was going to get the fifty cents, and I believe he already knew it. Assuming he did, he's just wasting everyone's time. A pawn shop is not a therapist, and they do not want to hear your sob story.

Griff · 01-28-2013, 07:39 AM

I'm getting jaded working with a similar clientele in education. The complete lack of foresight, integration with civilization, and human decency just wears you down.

Pete Zicato · 01-28-2013, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Griff

I'm getting jaded working with a similar clientele in education. The complete lack of foresight, integration with civilization, and human decency just wears you down.

I'd like to hear a bit of that story, Griff.

Griff · 01-28-2013, 08:02 AM

I said the same thing to my friend who was working in Social Services in Baltimore 20 years or so ago. What he told me couldn't be unheard. I'm going to hide behind confidentiality on this since a full accounting could lead right to the children involved and frankly would keep anyone with a shred of human decency awake at night.

Lamplighter · 01-28-2013, 08:18 AM

But Griff, there is a major difference between the intent and basis for working in Social Services,
and what UT and Clod describe as their experiences working in pawn shops.

The former are there to promote more humane lives of their clientele,
but it sounds as though squeezing the last penny from each customer is the only goal of this pawn shop.

I realize pawn shops fill a certain (limited) need, and must make a profit,
but as a job UT has made his place sound completely soul-killing.
The $ can't be that good, and I'd soon be looking for work elsewhere.

Griff · 01-28-2013, 08:27 AM

Let me think on that.

xoxoxoBruce · 01-28-2013, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

I realize pawn shops fill a certain (limited) need, and must make a profit,
but as a job UT has made his place sound completely soul-killing.
The $ can't be that good, and I'd soon be looking for work elsewhere.

You have to take UT's background and personality into consideration.
To him, traveling to this job/place in the morning requires crossing the river Styx.
To someone with a more aggressive personality and less empathy, it could be a challenge, a game.

Chocolatl · 01-28-2013, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Griff

I'm getting jaded working with a similar clientele in education. The complete lack of foresight, integration with civilization, and human decency just wears you down.

The high school I taught at was one of the poorer ones in the area and had the highest percentage of homeless students in the county. It was soul crushing. As much as I wanted to help the kids, I felt like I couldn't keep my head above the drowning misery. Only three years in I found myself growing more and more cynical and was hardening my heart against what I saw every day. 'S why I made the choice not to go back next year.

Griff · 01-28-2013, 09:01 AM

Thanks Choc, I can identify with that. Next time I feel whiney I'll take it to a more appropriate thread.

Anything cool come into the shop lately?

Crimson Ghost · 01-28-2013, 04:12 PM

To quote the great philosopher Randall Graves -

"This job'd be great if it wasn't for the fuckin' customers."

Undertoad · 01-29-2013, 01:52 PM

Gold test: scratch the gold on the touchstone

Apply a drop of nitric acid. If the scratch remains, it's gold. Any other metal is et by the acid.

Don't get the acid on your fingers.

The cool thing is this test originated with alchemy, in like the 13th Century, and we still use it.

Sundae · 01-29-2013, 03:03 PM

I'd worked out the meaning of touchstone from the context it's used in, in books.
But I've never heard it actually explained.

Thank you.
I am wiser for reading this post.
And more puzzled by some of the movies that production company Touchstone have put out.

glatt · 01-29-2013, 03:05 PM

At the end of each year, can you wash the stone and somehow collect all the gold dust and GET RICH?

Sundae · 01-29-2013, 03:06 PM

Or just decorate your hands and sell them as modern art?

01-27-2013, 11:41 PM	#1
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Since everybody knows a $100 card gets $50 at the shop, getting $50.50 would carry bragging rights, while just asking for just 50¢ isn't likely to piss anybody off enough to get him banned or anything. Yes children, I'll tell you the story about how I got $50.50 for a $100 card, way back in '13, before your mamas were born. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

01-28-2013, 07:39 AM	#3
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	I'm getting jaded working with a similar clientele in education. The complete lack of foresight, integration with civilization, and human decency just wears you down. __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

01-28-2013, 08:02 AM	#5
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	I said the same thing to my friend who was working in Social Services in Baltimore 20 years or so ago. What he told me couldn't be unheard. I'm going to hide behind confidentiality on this since a full accounting could lead right to the children involved and frankly would keep anyone with a shred of human decency awake at night. __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

01-28-2013, 08:27 AM	#7
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	Let me think on that. __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

01-28-2013, 09:01 AM	#10
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	Thanks Choc, I can identify with that. Next time I feel whiney I'll take it to a more appropriate thread. Anything cool come into the shop lately? __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

01-28-2013, 08:18 AM	#6
Lamplighter Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Bottom lands of the Missoula floods Posts: 6,402	But Griff, there is a major difference between the intent and basis for working in Social Services, and what UT and Clod describe as their experiences working in pawn shops. The former are there to promote more humane lives of their clientele, but it sounds as though squeezing the last penny from each customer is the only goal of this pawn shop. I realize pawn shops fill a certain (limited) need, and must make a profit, but as a job UT has made his place sound completely soul-killing. The $ can't be that good, and I'd soon be looking for work elsewhere.

01-28-2013, 04:12 PM	#11
Crimson Ghost Larger than life and twice as ugly. Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 5,264	To quote the great philosopher Randall Graves - "This job'd be great if it wasn't for the fuckin' customers." __________________ We must all go through a rite of passage. It must be physical, it must be painful, and it must leave a mark. I have no knowledge of the events which you are describing, and if I did have knowledge of them, I would be unable to discuss them with you now or at any future period. Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years

01-29-2013, 01:52 PM	#12
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Gold test: scratch the gold on the touchstone Apply a drop of nitric acid. If the scratch remains, it's gold. Any other metal is et by the acid. Don't get the acid on your fingers. The cool thing is this test originated with alchemy, in like the 13th Century, and we still use it.

01-29-2013, 03:03 PM	#13
Sundae polaroid of perfection Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 24,185	I'd worked out the meaning of touchstone from the context it's used in, in books. But I've never heard it actually explained. Thank you. I am wiser for reading this post. And more puzzled by some of the movies that production company Touchstone have put out. __________________ Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac

01-29-2013, 03:05 PM	#14
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	At the end of each year, can you wash the stone and somehow collect all the gold dust and GET RICH?

01-29-2013, 03:06 PM	#15
Sundae polaroid of perfection Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 24,185	Or just decorate your hands and sell them as modern art? __________________ Life's hard you know, so strike a pose on a Cadillac

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