February 11, 2007

Dollar-dollar bill, 'yall!

A couple years ago I was making a delivery in SOMA, and found these two dollars blowing down the street. Hey!



I was working as a messenger there, and thought it'd be an interesting experiment to put the
found bills into my spokes and leave them there until someone took them. The idea was to see how many minutes they'd last--everyone knows that if you leave something laying out in the open here in the big city (especially MONEY), someone will snatch it up immediately, right?

Wrong!




The first day went by and no one took them. Then a week went by. Then a month! No matter where I locked my bike, regardless of how long I'd leave it unattended, I'd come back, and there'd be the bills, tucked into my spokes in plain sight.

People on the street would ask me about them all the time--sometimes I'd be on my way into a building after locking up, and someone would point to my wheel and say, "Hey, are those real
dollars?!", and I'd say, "Yes they are, I found them and they're free to anyone that wants them...TAKE 'EM, BUDDY!", and continue into the building. But later when I'd come back out, the bills remained.

It became an ongoing sociological experiment. Other messengers got in on it, and occasionally a friend would tell me they'd witnessed someone get close to taking the
dollars, but then hesitate and walk away.

The bills stayed put for a little over FIVE MONTHS, until I moved on to
CETMAracks full time. I still have them. There's a lesson here, somewhere.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a great experiment.

Two dollars! -Better Off Dead.

Great site as always, where was this little blog hiding? Or have I just never noticed it before?

Magazine comes out next week! Loving the rack, been compiling a stack of images of its functionality.

Cranked!

Lane from CETMAracks said...

"Magazine comes out next week!"=music to my ears.

Thanks a million to you and your vital mag!

Lethargic said...

If you still have those two dollars I sure could use them.

Anonymous said...

Two dollars with hub grease and road debree. Where are you going to put them at?

Tens or twenties, a different story, especially if you tell me to take them. Two nasty dollar bills not such a surprise. Mail me 2 twenties and see if I don't send them back. Now that's a great experiment.