Skip to main content

Story about consumerisms and indebting the son


I'm searching for a short story I read probably around 20 years ago in a school anthology. It was set in a futuristic setting, where consumerism was rampant. The two protagonists were a door-to-door salesman and its customer.


In this futuristic setting a person could buy things with credit not only by indebting himself but also by indebting the first X years of his son's salary (this even when the son was a child... So you could buy a new TV by exchanging it with the first year of the future salary of your son, to make an example).


The customer was already quite heavily indebted (and clearly already had his house full of things he hadn't ever used, like a pool), and the salesman was trying to persuade the customer to indebt a little of his son's future salaries. If I remember correctly, the customer hadn't still indebted his son, and he was reluctant to do so, but he had already nearly tapped out all of his personal future salary. The salesman used at least two ways to persuade the customer:




  • he told him that anything he bought would then be used by his son, and a day would become his son's property (at the death of the customer), so it was OK to use the son's future salaries.




  • AND, big "secret", he told him that his neighbour had already indebted his yet-to-be-born niece. He told the customer that his company would have to invent new things to sell to this neighbour :-)






Answer



Cost of Living by Robert Sheckley.


The Avignon Electric finance man comes to call.



"You owe us two hundred and three thousand dollars and twenty-nine cents, Mr Carrin, as of your last purchase."



...




"Now you know, Mr Carrin , that you won't live long enough to pay us the full two hundred thousand, don't you?"



...



If you will just sign over your son's earnings for the first thirty years of his adult life, we can easily arrange credit for you."



Big "secret", he told him that his neighbour had already indebted his yet-to-be-born niece. He told the customer that his company would have to invent new things to sell to this neighbour


No inventions, but they'll "work out something for him" (i.e. finance).



"Do you know Mellon down the block? Well, don't say I said it, but he's already mortgaged his grandchildren's salary for their full life-expectancy. And he doesn't have half the goods he's made up his mind to own. We'll work out something for him."




He told him that anything he bought would then be used by his son, and a day would become his son's property (at the death of the customer), so it was OK to use the son's future salaries.



"And after you're gone, sir, they'll all belong to your son."



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

What is Tolkien trying to say in this letter?

In a draft of a letter, later recorded as #246, Tolkien makes a strange statement. I am interested in the first few sentences of the letter, but I will include the remainder for the sake of context. In the 'Mirror of Galadriel', 1381, it appears that Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord. If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three, especially Elrond . But this is another matter. It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power . But this the Great had well considered and had rejected, as is seen in Elrond's words at the Council. Galadriel's rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve. In any case Elrond or Galadriel would have proceeded in the policy now adopted by Sauron: they would have built up an empire with great and absolutely subservient generals and armies and engines of war, until they could challenge Sauron and destroy ...
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Was Galadriel's temptation of Boromir instrumental to his fall?

We know Galadriel tempted the members of the Fellowship, did she tempt Boromir with visions of taking the Ring and saving Gondor? In the books, Boromir willingly accepts the judgement of the council that the Ring should be destroyed, but after the meeting with Celeborn and Galadriel his personality seems to change. Was the temptation offered by Galadriel in some way responsible for Boromir's fall? Answer It's likely, but not certain I believe it is likely Galadriel tempted him with the ring, and in doing so re-ignited a pre-existing idea to take the ring, but to be clear lets break this down into three parts. Boromir at the Council of Elrond Boromir after setting off Boromir after being tempted Boromir at the Council of Elrond Boromir pleas for the ring to go to Minas Tirith, to help Gondor in its defense against Mordor. “ Why should we not think that the Great Ring has come into our hands to serve us in the very hour of need? Wielding it the Free Lords of the Free may surely...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more