Made of Money

We dragged ourselves to the subway at Penn Station around 8:30pm on Saturday. As we walked, a boy selling fruit rollups jumped in our way and begged us to buy fruit rollups to help his basketball team raise money. The deal - two for $5 or three for $10. The math didn’t quite add up, but I was impressed with his entrepreneurial skills and productivity on a Saturday night.

I gave him a dollar for the great sales pitch and caught up with a laughing Ben. He shook his head. He couldn’t believe that I fell for the kid’s routine.

“Weak,” he said.

Two minutes later, an aspiring rapper named “Hip Hop Obama” persuaded Ben to fork over $10 for his CD, “Dollarmentary as Amero Dollar, Vol. 1”. He even autographed it for no additional charge.

I stood, dumbfounded, as Ben spent 10x the amount I donated to a kid who only wanted basketballs and uniforms! I snapped a picture of Hip Hop Obama and Ben with my cell phone, a complementary gift with purchase the of a CD, and we continued our walk to Penn.

Suckers.