Man Tries to Pay Bill with Spider Drawing 

 Below is the complete email conversation that Adelaide man David Thorne claims he had with a utility company chasing payment of an overdue bill.

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.19pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Overdue account

Dear David,
Our records indicate that your account is overdue by the amount of $233.95. If you have already made this payment please contact us within the next 7 days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding.

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles

From: David Thorne
Date: Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 12.37pm
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Re: Overdue account

Dear Jane,
I do not have any money so am sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead. I value the drawing at $233.95 so trust that this settles the matter.

Regards, David.

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 10.07am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Overdue account

Dear David,
Thankyou for contacting us. Unfortunately we are unable to accept drawings as payment and your account remains in arrears of $233.95. Please contact us within the next 7 days to confirm payment has been applied to your account and is no longer outstanding.

 Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles

From: David Thorne
Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 10.32am
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Re: Overdue account

Dear Jane,
Can I have my drawing of a spider back then please.

Regards, David.

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 11.42am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Overdue account

Dear David,
You emailed the drawing to me. Do you want me to email it back to you?

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles

From: David Thorne
Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 11.56am
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Overdue account

Dear Jane,

Yes please.

Regards, David.

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Thursday 9 Oct 2008 12.14pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Overdue account

Attached

From: David Thorne
Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 09.22am
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Whose spider is that?

Dear Jane, Are you sure this drawing of a spider is the one I sent you? This spider only has seven legs and I do not feel I would have made such an elementary mistake when I drew it.

Regards, David.

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 11.03am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Whose spider is that?

Dear David, Yes it is the same drawing. I copied and pasted it from the email you sent me on the 8th. David your account is still overdue by the amount of $233.95. Please make this payment as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles

From: David Thorne
Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 11.05am
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Automated Out of Office Response

Thankyou for contacting me. I am currently away on leave, traveling through time and will be returning last week.

Regards, David.

From: David Thorne
Date: Friday 10 Oct 2008 11.08am
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Re: Re: Whose spider is that?

Hello, I am back and have read through your emails and accept that despite missing a leg, that drawing of a spider may indeed be the one I sent you. I realise with hindsight that it is possible you rejected the drawing of a spider due to this obvious limb ommission but did not point it out in an effort to avoid hurting my feelings. As such, I am sending you a revised drawing with the correct number of legs as full payment for any amount outstanding. I trust this will bring the matter to a conclusion.

Regards, David.

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Monday 13 Oct 2008 2.51pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Whose spider is that?

Dear David, As I have stated, we do not accept drawings in lei of money for accounts outstanding. We accept cheque, bank cheque, money order or cash. Please make a payment this week to avoid incurring any additional fees.

Yours sincerely, Jane Gilles

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 13 Oct 2008 3.17pm
To: Jane Gilles
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose spider is that?

I understand and will definately make a payment this week if I remember. As you have not accepted my second drawing as payment, please return the drawing to me as soon as possible. It was silly of me to assume I could provide you with something of completely no value whatsoever, waste your time and then attach such a large amount to it.

Regards, David.

From: Jane Gilles
Date: Tuesday 14 Oct 2008 11.18am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose spider is that?

Attached

Hmmm…maybe I should try this to pay off my Amex bill…

 Source: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=665847

This is actually really funny! Could it be? Could SNL actually be funny again?

 UPDATE: Ugh!!!! So they keep pulling this video down! I’ve tried in vain to keep trying to find a new one that hasn’t been pulled off the internet but alas, I think they might have gotten them all.  So, below, please find an oldie but goodie:

Me, Mom and Billy Bob (1984)

Most of the New Yorker’s I have come across have no idea what Showbiz Pizza is, which is so crazy to me! Before they became the super-giant that they are today, Chuck E. Cheese’s was known as Showbiz Pizza to the most loyal of us and it implemented the same idea of a good wholesome family playland. Showbiz Pizza was my stomping ground as a child and being as such, I have very fond memories of birthday parties there where I traded Garbage Pail Kid cards, fought with my older brother over the last slice of pizza, played skee-ball and racked up hundreds of tickets so I could claim my prize at the end which usually was a stuffed animal or colored slime or some form of plastic jewelry. I even met my first celebrity there…Hey, Billy Bob (the Showbiz mascot) was a celebrity to me at age 4! For birthday parties it was either Showbiz Pizza or nothing! Well, the skating rink parties were pretty cool and so was McDonald’s. Ah, the good ol’ days. One of the coolest things about Showbiz Pizza was the Showbiz Pizza Band. Every twenty minutes, the curtains to the front stage would draw back and the Showbiz Pizza Band would appear and jam out. Well, it seems someone decided to revisit our childhood by remixing the Showbiz Pizza Band with Usher’s “Love in this Club”. Even if you do not know about Showbiz Pizza, this mash-up is damn cool. Check out the genius video below!

Thanks Florita

Thanks Lauren

This one speaks for itself. Obama is progress, and that is change I can believe in. Yes we can and YES WE DID!!

Today marks an end to one of the most diabolical and passionate runs for the White House in recent history, as people line up to cast their votes for who should be our next nation’s President. What makes this election so important? If elected, Democrat Barack Obama would be the first African-American President, Republican John McCain would be the oldest president elected to a first term and Governor Sarah Palin would the first woman elected Vice President. This election also comes on the heels of a terrible downturn for America, socially, economically, and politically. Regardless of the platform that you have supported, one thing is imminent and that is CHANGE. Whether it is a change in policy, a change in ideals, or a change in the fact that this is projected to be an election with the highest voter turnout in history, the next four years will hopefully make up for the last 8 years.

In this election we have been introduced to a barrage of new characters by the GOP, from unlikely Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin to Joe the Plumber to Joe Six-Pack. In retaliation to these “symbols” of America, Jihan Robinson of New York City has come forth with her own symbol of what should represent America: Jihan the Student. In a quote from her Facebook Group, she writes: “I created this group in response to the symbol of “Joe the Plumber” the now infamous unlicensed plumber in Ohio whose conversation with Barack Obama has now become the central argument to the McCain campaign’s economic message…To me, the notion of “Joe the Plumber” is completely arbitrary…I am Jihan the Student.”

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jihan the Student, and while she has not garnered the same national attention as Joe the Plumber (who has now decided with his newfound fame that he should release a country album), her message is just as important, if not more as she is a tax-paying citizen that has been very pro-active with her involvement in this Preidential race.

Tam: Why did you create “Jihan the Student”?

Jihan the Student: For me, I mean maybe I started it a little too late but it was on the day that news stations were reporting that McCain was actually bringing Joe the Plumber out on his campaign, on a tour with him throughout Ohio to actually speak for him. And to me that was taking it too far. To me, Joe the Plumber was this empty idol. First of all, this shows the disorganization and the collapse of the McCain campaign that they had to borrow on this symbol as opposed to actual real ideas and a real message and so they had to rely on this thing to energize their beasts.

Tam: You are an obvious Barack Obama supporter. You have been to Pennsylvania on numerous occasions to help sign up voters and inform them as to why Barack Obama is the clear choice. Please explain this to those out there that are still undecided.

Jihan the Student: Well, I am actually going to Pennsylvania tomorrow [Tuesday, Election Day] after I vote to help get people to the polls. I just, I think that Barack Obama is a candidate of our generation. For me on a personal level, Obama’s personal story…the fact that they were both lower middle-class, working people who knew that education could uplift them out of their circumstances, become lawyers and now be a candidate for President. It’s sort of the same history that I have, not that I am going to be President or anything like that but you know, I grew up a Middle-Class African-American girl in the City where education was very important in my family and I feel like for me, they represented a part of Black America that isn’t always highlighted. And Barack Obama isn’t part of this old Washington establishment of families that have been bred to be in politics, he’s somebody that totally created his own destiny and embodies the American Dream, I think he is just so inspiring for our country and I just really think he cares about the things that matter to me, whereas I just spent 8 years under a President that didn’t care anything about someone like me.

Tam: Have you always been so involved in politics?

Jihan the Student: I originally got involved volunteering on the Kerry campaign, but there it was very minimal I was just making phone calls to people in Florida for the last election…I’m interested in politics and I always have been because I think that as a young person you have to be engaged politically. I’ve done it on a national level and I personally feel I should focus more on a state and city level.

Tam: At this time, polls show that Obama stands to win this election…which will be a historic occasion in and of itself. What do you think this means for the future of America?

Jihan the Student: I think it means a lot. I don’t think he is going to be able to do everything he says, I mean he is going to be dealing with two wars and the worst economic crisis since the depression, something he is going to need to focus on in office right away. But the thing that I think it means is a sort of re-focus on the core values of what it means to be an American, in that everybody has an opportunity here regardless of where you come from or who you are. If you are focused and diligent and you are disciplined in the way that you live your life and take part in society (the good and the bad), then this country can be great for you. I think that he is going to restore the values that America had in the 1950’s when you could by a house and work as a factory worker and provide for your family and send your kids to college and live your own American Dream. Most people just want to live their lives without debt. I think he will restore the core value for America. I think it is also extremely important for how we’re viewed in the world after a President like Bush, it will vastly change our international relationships and just the international perception.

I mean, the Bush Administration has divided America into what Sarah Palin would call the Pro-American and the Anti-American parts of America and we’re all American and we all care about what happens to us and I think that Obama has an inclusive message and point of view to have govern our country. I think that this whole grassroots movement that he’s built is going to continue, it’s not going to end when the campaign ends, I think he will try to get people involved in their communities. I just think it’s going to get American’s feeling like they are part of this country again. He is going to bring us together and restore a sense of pride in this country. I am proud to be American which is hard to say after the last 8 years but I just think Obama will bring back a unified sense of a country.

If you have Facebook and would like to learn more about Jihan the Student please visit:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?qid=45210965551