Sideswipe

Hunting for bargains on TradeMe, a reader discovered this gem of a conversation surrounding the sale (or not) of a Cabbage Patch Kid.

Q: Do you realise what price you have as a starting bid? $10,000? Bit steep ... ha ha ha ha. Just wondering if it was the typing error?

A: Yes this is the correct starting price. Someone might really want to buy this doll.

Q: Can you verify you are serious about the starting bid price? $10,000?

A: Yes starting bid is $10,000 - a bargain!!

Q: Hi there, Is this the right price or did you mean $10.00?

A: Yup, I'm optimistic at $10,000. This doll is very valuable to me which I have saved from my childhood. Husband insists that I should sell it (since I have a son, not a daughter to pass it on to), so I have listed it on Trademe as he requested.

Q: If this doll is so valuable to you, why don't you insist that your husband sells something from his childhood.

A: I would, but he hasn't saved anything.

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A sting in the tail from one reader: "What a relief it must have been for Dale Rodel to find that the scorpion that stung him was not hitch-hiking in his baggage as was first thought. OK so the scorpion was from Asia, and not South Africa, and Dale was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. But are we also to rest easy with the news that this Asian scorpion was found in the domestic terminal, not the international one?

"I suppose it's OK that the scorpion came through New Zealand customs like everyone else, got a trolley, or took the walkway or shuttle bus before heading to one of NZ's other domestic airports. Presumably all its papers were in order, maybe it had a resident's permit, and no security risk certificate was required."

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Whatever works ... Margaret writes: Logging on to ASB's online banking service, I decided to use some of my Visa reward points on the worthy cause of the Red Cross tsunami relief fund. As I hadn't donated much to this cause I was feeling slightly guilty seeing how much devastation in these countries.

"On transferring the points, as I was feeling overcome with self righteousness, the ASB website offered the following comfort for my eternal soul - 'Thank you, your redemption is complete'. Thank God for that.

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For everyone back at work, Sideswipe is starting a little competition for the most annoying questions from our customers and members of the public. Let's kick it off with this one: When giving an email address over the phone, being faced with the person who asks "is that lower or upper case?"