Textbook Buy-back

If the Real World Used Textbook Buy-Back Policies

Buyer: I’ll give you $5,000 for it.
Homeowner: Are you crazy? I just paid $100,000 for it in January. Haven’t you heard of value appreciation?
Buyer: All I’m hearing is that your house is used.
Homeowner: Hardly. I spent like 2 days there in March and then 6 hours yesterday. This house is in perfect condition.
Buyer: Oh yeah, what’s this note above the backdoor?
Homeowner: It says, “Low door. Mind your head.”
Buyer: Low door, huh?
Homeowner: Yeah, but that’s not a problem. It’s just a feature of the house. It’s supposed to be like that. That’s just a helpful note in case people didn’t notice the height of the door.
Buyer: It sullies the whole house. The whole house is crap because of that note!
Homeowner: What are you talking about? This isn’t even a pretty house.
Buyer: So you admit it!
Homeowner: Yeah. It’s a stupid looking house on a boring block, but people still want to buy it. Haven’t you heard of supply and demand?
Buyer: Nope. And I’m not going to give you more than $5,000 for this dump. That’s just policy.
Homeowner: What are you talking about? What policy?
Buyer: Just policy.
Homeowner: Well, maybe I won’t sell it to you. Who knows, I might need this house in the future. It’s got pretty cool…faucets. I might want to use those. Ugh, fine. Give me the stupid 5 grand.
Buyer: Great doing business with you.
Ex-Buyer: Attention, all prospective buyers! Who wants to buy this fantastic, mint-condition home for $90,000?
Ex-Homeowner: What?!
Ex-Buyer: Sucker.

For Free

When do we stop thinking about resources? What cannot be made in capital? Is anything outside the grasp of consumerism? What has not yet been comodified?

save your life

Originally uploaded by robotson

Last night a friend of mine and I were discussing how friendship is rather strange in America. We understood each other because with my Russian background and the importance of hospitality, and with his close-knit bonds based on history in India, friendship means something different for our cultures. I grew up knowing that when guests come they are treated like royalty. They are given the best piece of everything. My birthday parties were all about the guests, not about me. I spent all day making sure people would have fun. I’d make gift bags for them to take home later. My American friends didn’t understand why I wasn’t more selfish. Why I kept insisting that my birthday isn’t about me.

We make friends for life. That come running no matter what. It was hard for both of us to confront the American habit of transient friends. Of short-term relationships. Of fairweather friends. In our cultures, it’s a lot more close. They become like family. Like blood. The honesty that exists between friends is different than it is here. It’s more than sharing secrets or gossip. It’s about opening up to one another about who we are. To feeling vulnerable. Friendship, like any relationship, should involve some risk. Some risk of pain, because that is how you know that you are truly connected to a person. What makes you a good friend is the ability to hurt, but choosing not to. It is accepting the power that your friend gives you, and not abusing it. That is something I don’t feel most Americans understand. He understood when I said, “She broke my heart,” when I was referring to a friend that hurt me deeply. It truly was heartbreak. I cried. The love I felt for her was not reciprocated, and she did truly terrible things to me. She did not want to be a good friend to me anymore. It was a hard lesson to learn. I make friendships for life. My friend understood, nodded, and said that it was similar for him in India.

Can this idea of friendship be taken away from me?

Can this be marketed? Can I send a customized request for a friend to Nike?

Sort of, I can already customize my future partner. Dating websites allow you to pick physical characteristics, activities, personalities, religion, weight, and salaries sometimes…You’re basically shopping for a friend/significant other. No chance. No risk. No unknown.

In an era where face-to-face communication is shrinking…what does it do to friendship? Does friendship become “social networking”?