Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Little Boy Blue lost a tooth last week. He placed the tooth under his pillow and awoke to a crisp dollar bill in it's place. This surprised me since the most I ever got was a quarter. I suppose inflation really has kicked in or the Tooth Fairy Operation moved overseas.

I asked Little Boy Blue if he still had any baby teeth left. He couldn't remember - either one or none at all. Since earning a dollar for simply putting a tooth under a pillow is a decent side job, I asked if the tooth fairy pays out for other disposable body parts: strands of hair, belly button lint, ear wax, fingernail clippings, and the like. Convinced there was no fairy - other than the Black Market Kidney Fairy - we continued brainstorming. We tossed out the idea of putting corn kernels under the pillow: too yellow. We don't need lectures on how to brush better. Small pebbles wouldn't work either. Of course, we did discuss the option to knock out all permanent teeth. That would bring a profit of $28 ($6.50 if you're this guy). Drawback, though, is that you'd have no teeth.

Then the plan came:

Me: LBB, do any of your classmates still have baby teeth?
LBB: Yes.
Me: Why don't you offer to do all the dirty work. You get the tooth, clean it, and put it under your pillow. All this for a small cut of the profits. I'm thinking 60/40.
LBB: Awesome!

I've either just taught him the basics of business strategy or warped him for life. Oh how I love being the older sister!

10 comments:

TUG said...

Your poor brother has no chance of being normal. I say, for his sake, you mother must keep him from you. It is clear that you are a bad influence. Do you have friends in the Mob or something!!!!

ME said...

Sweet strategy, I like it!! That's what little sisters are for!

gokiburijin said...

You just taught your brother another important concept. Distribution of Labor. He can't do it all himself but if gets multiple kids in on this deal They can all profit together. ooh..not only that but if a competing tooth fairy offers more in a differing household they can pool and reap the profits there.

Beth said...

Big sisters wield a lot of power. My sister made sure I knew the truth about Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny et al as soon as she did. And she's 2 1/2 years older.
But she never taught me how to make money. Your brother's a lucky kid.

poefusion said...

I liked your story here and the 3WW you posted. I couldn't help but laugh at the picture you chose for the post. I don't have any brothers or sisters so I can only say that you are teaching your brother early life strategies. Survival is a must. Keep up the good work.

Michelle

Bone said...

And suddenly I'm both thankful and disappointed that I never had a big sister.

What about selling your own plasma? You can do that twice a week, and there really is no downside, other than occasional lightheadedness... I hear.

Charlotta-love said...

Thom: you are the only Mob I know.

Craze: Little Boy Blue is in trouble seeing how he has 4 sisters!

Brett: Um...what?

Beth: SAD! Santa still comes to our house.

Michelle: I felt bad for that guy. How does he eat?!

Bone: plasma...leaves scars. I would know.

thethinker said...

I have friends who got 10 or 20 bucks for lost teeth.

I, on the other hand, only ever got one dollar. My parents are cheap.

Lisa Johnson said...

I have found the best thing that looks like a tooth is to bite off the top of candy corn that you get at Halloween. The best is if you get just a tiny bit of the orange on the white part, b/c it can look like a little touch of blood or vessels. Let me know if it works! :)

Shankar said...

Too bad the Tooth Fairy doesn't have an international operation.