Cougar Allen
Buccaneer (ret.)
- Joined
- Oct 9, 1998
- Messages
- 75,426
People ask me to sharpen knife-like and sword-like objects too, but I always tell them it wouldn't be good for the investment value.
Sometimes I've had to argue quite a while to convince them their treasure shouldn't be sharpened up. The best strategy seems to be to pull a long face and say, "Well, I sympathize with you; it would be nice to have it sharp ... but ... the investment value...."
I think the more reluctant I seem to be to tell them that, the more they're convinced that was a really dumb idea and they almost ruined their valuable investment. Try to frown like the bankers in the movie Mary Poppins -- the scene where they ask the little boy what he wants to withdraw his tuppence for and he tells them, and then the bankers all say over and over, "To feed the birds?" "To feed the birds??" "To feed the birds???" -- they'll eat it up.
They'll not only stop pestering you about it, they'll feel grateful to you for saving their valuable investment from their stupid idea ... they'll feel they owe you a favor. And with people like that ... GULLIBLE people, people who are so gullible they think anything made by the Franklin Mint could be an investment ... you could do a lot with that relationship ... depending on your sense of ethics, of course....
It's surprising how many pretty girls have Franklin Mint knives....
-Cougar Allen :{)
[This message has been edited by Cougar Allen (edited 18 November 1999).]
Sometimes I've had to argue quite a while to convince them their treasure shouldn't be sharpened up. The best strategy seems to be to pull a long face and say, "Well, I sympathize with you; it would be nice to have it sharp ... but ... the investment value...."
I think the more reluctant I seem to be to tell them that, the more they're convinced that was a really dumb idea and they almost ruined their valuable investment. Try to frown like the bankers in the movie Mary Poppins -- the scene where they ask the little boy what he wants to withdraw his tuppence for and he tells them, and then the bankers all say over and over, "To feed the birds?" "To feed the birds??" "To feed the birds???" -- they'll eat it up.
They'll not only stop pestering you about it, they'll feel grateful to you for saving their valuable investment from their stupid idea ... they'll feel they owe you a favor. And with people like that ... GULLIBLE people, people who are so gullible they think anything made by the Franklin Mint could be an investment ... you could do a lot with that relationship ... depending on your sense of ethics, of course....
It's surprising how many pretty girls have Franklin Mint knives....
-Cougar Allen :{)
[This message has been edited by Cougar Allen (edited 18 November 1999).]
