When I told folks that I was blogging about moron tax, I got the response that I might as well devote my entire blog to my friend George. George is like a divining rod for untapped sources of moron tax. Consciously or not, he seeks out situations that have no clear benefit for him but have explosive potential for punishment.
One small example: One night George heard on NPR about a restaurant called Orochan which served flaming hot spicy noodles soups. He decided he wanted to eat a whole bowl just to prove that he could. To his credit, he did it. But really, what good did he do for himself?
I just remembered the ultimate Moron Tax from my college days. For at least the first few trips home, I would lug like four loads of laundry back in my checked baggage. This involved hauling a duffel as big as a person from my dorm to the T stop (stairs, lots of cobblestones, and more stairs), on the T (two transfers), to the airport shuttle, through the airport, and then home. Then do it all in reverse. And this saved me maybe $10 each time, or maybe less? Add to that the fact that I regularly lost the paper tickets my mom sent me, and had to pay re-ticketing fees at the airport. Sigh. It made sense at the time.
ReplyDelete1. Can I help it if I care too much?
ReplyDelete2. FYI, Orochon was NOT an exception to the "explosive potential for punishment" statement, just so you know (I didn't bother calling you the next morning to give you an "update"):
http://www.yelp.com/biz/orochon-ramen-los-angeles#hrid:Cmgo-Ulnym4gTbrbF03NKA
3. Dude, I should be a paid editor as well as sell my stories--that's "divining rod":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divining_rod
4. One last thing: said "folks" should remember I have plenty of dirt on her, and she's probably paid more than I have.
i saw the mvf episode and soooo wanna go eat there too! did he finish special 2+?
ReplyDelete