5/ A decade or two later I read in https://locusmag.com/ Locus magazine that (a) TSR had been sold to Wizards of the Coast, Wizards of the Coast had been sold to Hasbro, and Hasbro was monetizing old IP, by (b) publishing a CD ROM of old articles https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Magazine-Archive-Magazines-Electronic/dp/0786914483 …
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16/ But then you've got other cases, like the guy who started this thread https://twitter.com/mewo2/status/960247841787703297 … who is willing to let an established high-revenue business steal from him. I wouldn't. You're a professional. Get paid for your work.
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17/ wife raises an excellent point: bourgeois market norms / ethics / iterated game theory says that you don't try to squeeze EVERY dime out. Let the other guy get paid AND feel good about the transaction. https://twitter.com/LibertyFarmNH/status/960554641011462144 …
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18/ We've got a farm hand (wait - no - we HAD a farm hand) who'd push, push, push, push. He's the progressive stereotype of the grasping autistic libertarian. * Sees some unused metal near the barn, asks if he can have it.
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19/ I asked him once "hey, I know you drive from X to Y every week; if I asked you to make a 15 minute stop to pick up a tool box and drive it out here, what's your rate?" I was thinking I'd pay him 1 or 2 hours of labor ($15-20 maybe). He quoted me $50...because why not.
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20/ Now, there's some disambiguation needed between two cases: getting quotes from firms and the service costs what it costs, and getting a quote from a repeat business partner. He could've made 2 hours of pay for 15 minutes of work...but tried to take EVERY PENNY on the table.
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21/ ...so he got none of them. Contrast this to another farm hand who did some painting for us. He does a lot of painting, so has a pro account, so got us the paint at his discount cost...and passed that along to us, UNASKED. WOW.
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22/ ...so needless to say, when Thanksgiving rolled around, we gave this kid (who has worked in high end kitchens) two pasture raised turkeys, for free. Because the mood, the tone, everything is "leave the other guy feeling great about the transaction".
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23/ And he was almost teary eyed over how we were looking out for him, and being kind. Contrast this to farm hand #1, who is slowly getting black balled from local social groups, who has creeped on women, who has pissed me off, etc.
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24/ Take 99% of what's yours. Don't take 100%. NEVER take 102%. ...but also don't settle for 95%.
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26/ my friend
@Spivonomist captured some thoughts that I had ( vaguely and imperfectly) very very wellShow this thread -
27/ Conditions for Exchange to be "Euvoluntary" (1) conventional ownership (2) conventional capacity to buy/sell (3) absence of regret (4) no uncompensated externalities (5) neither party coerced by human agency
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28/ (6) neither party coerced by circumstance; the disparity in BATNAs is not "too large" http://euvoluntaryexchange.blogspot.com/
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29/ There is a lot of interesting thinking at the intersection of economics and ethics. (Btw, I've got to get back to Deidre McClosky's The Bourgeois Virtues )
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30/ Another interesting aspect is how we treat our friends vs how we treat commercial institutions. Sometimes we treat our friends worse. Sometimes much MUCH worse.
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31/ I went into a business deal with a friend once (initiated by her, not me). Bent over backwards to give her sweetheart terms, bc I wanted her to succeed.
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32/ TLDR: I gave her $10k of inventory and $5k of cash in a checking account, for $1. Yes, I handed her a bank account with $5k of cash in it. I really REALLY wanted her to succeed.
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34/ But as part of the bill of sale / contract, I put in a clause "if you sell this company or its assets within 10 years, I get a portion of it back. If you shut down, I get the stuff back." When we sat down to sign it I specifically called her attention to this clause.
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35/ 14 months later she'd driven the firm into the ground. Reports from people close by say that she was working 20 hour weeks, not executing against the business plan, watching TV at work, etc. So she shut it down / sold the assets.
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36/ ...and stiffed me with an unpaid $7,000 contracting bill. ...all while paying herself off the books (nominal, but noticeable amounts.) How do I know? I had the bank statements.
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37/ So then, in addition to trying to stiff me on the bill, she also refused to pay me my 45% share of the inventory liquidation. She asked me to forego my salary so she could pay another other debt to a friend of hers...who had been nice to her.
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38/ She was overheard bad mouthing me to her landlord as "that asshole". etc.
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39/ An agreement was later reached that, because of cash flow issues, I need not be paid then, but I WOULD be paid in a year or two when some real estate was liquidated.
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40/ Of course, when the real estate WAS liquidated, (a) part of it went to take a "well earned vacation", (b) I didn't deserve to get any of it because she really REALLY wanted to establish a nest egg.
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41/ In the end, I did get my $7k. But it spelled the final nail in the coffin of the friendship. Now, here's the hilarious part: After fighting for months to get my $7k, the next day she got a credit card bill for $5k ...which she paid with the remainder of the real estate $
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42/ That contrast amazed me. I, a friend of 20 years, who had handed her $15,000 worth of cash and inventory, had to fight for months to get paid $7k. ...but the credit card firm gets paid with zero questions asked.
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43/ The reason why? The credit card debt was "real". The debt to me was fake. You don't !@#$ around with CitiCorp ...but good old Travis? He's a FRIEND. He HELPS us. That's what he's there for. smdh
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44/ 20+ years of friendship, and she took a $15,000 gift and turned it into a funeral pyre bc she wanted to claw another $7k out of me.
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45/ So my take home re all of this: treat your friends BETTER than you treat your credit card company. treat your farm hands BETTER than you treat FedEx treat your baby sitter BETTER than you treat Costco
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