MetaChat - Imagine

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

27 February 2008

Imagine that you wake up one morning and are handed one thousand dollars→[More:]. . . and told that you must have it spent by midnight of that same day. You are also told that any tangible objects you buy, unless they are completely used up, will have to be given back at the stroke of midnight. How would you spend your cash?

post by: ThePinkSuperhero at: 10:42 | 35 comments

So you mean I can't buy books? So I guess I'd take a day trip to someplace warm, and have expensive meals.

posted by JanetLand 27 February | 10:48

Not very exciting, but I'd probably make an extra house payment.

posted by BoringPostcards 27 February | 10:49

How much is a high-end call girl these days?

Just kidding (sort of).

I'd eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at the fanciest restaurants I could find, go see a show at The Met and then sleep the night away at a luxury hotel.

I'd like to invite my wife to go along with me, but that would probably put me over budget. So I guess I'd just have to call her and tell her how much I was enjoying myself.

posted by grumblebee 27 February | 10:50

Fluevogs. Fluevogs. And three really nice meals.

posted by crush-onastick 27 February | 10:57

Give it to an immunisation clinic, I'm sure they could get through a lot of vaccinations for $1,000 in a morning and afternoon session.
I love the idea that yes, it is "used" within 12-18 hours but $1,000 could protect quite a number of people for a very long time.

posted by Wilder 27 February | 10:58

Cocaine and hookers. Duh.

posted by BitterOldPunk 27 February | 11:01

I would get my teeth professionally whitened (I assume that's not tangible?). That's about $600. The rest I would spend on a spa day and then a night out at a bar with friends (my treat).

posted by amro 27 February | 11:03

amro, excellent idea with the teeth whitening. I would do the same thing. That, or I'd get some of my spider veins zapped.

posted by LoriFLA 27 February | 11:08

Assuming $2 per £1...

I've never been in a helicopter ride, might give that a go ($230)
Fat Duck tasting menu ($250)

If I take a friend, that's the budget blown. Otherwise, might add $70 of my own money and have the premium wine selection at $590

That's not really a lot of money though, with top-end restaurants, nightclubs, wine selections, napoleonic brandy, 40-year-old whisky and so on. These guys spent £44,007 on a restaurant bill. In US money that comes to $14,669 per head.

posted by TheophileEscargot 27 February | 11:08

I would give the money away to all my friends but not tell them about the "tangible objects" bit. Then I'd throw my head back and cackle like demon when the stroke of midnight comes.

posted by oh pollo! 27 February | 11:11

If I felt altruistic (which I do today), I would go to the local women's shelter and buy great dinners and desserts for the women and their kids, and then I'd take them all to the movies.

posted by iconomy 27 February | 11:12

In the altruistic vein, I would take a big bunch of children to see a fabulous Broadway musical.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 27 February | 11:35

Book studio time and a couple of backing musicians and produce one or two original tracks to the most professional levels possible in a day.

Then go out for a great dinner at one of the restaurants I can never afford.

posted by Miko 27 February | 11:37

Assuming I wouldn't be able to spend it on dental work, I'd buy a 20 sack, some Indian takeout, and give the rest to panhandlers.

posted by jtron 27 February | 12:11

Selfish: Spa day and good dinner

Practical: Dental work

Unselfish: it's all going to the ASPCA

posted by gaspode 27 February | 12:25

How much is a high-end call girl these days?

Same as in town.

posted by AwkwardPause 27 February | 12:31

I would toss it into daughter's college account. The piper must be paid this fall, and I am still not sure how big a bite it will be, but I know that I do not have enough to cover the first year, let alone the remaining ones.

(The income tax kicker is going there, when it gets here.)

posted by danf 27 February | 12:33

sensible: pay off credit card, previously mentioned transit fine.

selfish: night out on town, possibly some sort of Tapas crawl.

unselfish: food bank.

posted by heeeraldo 27 February | 12:53

Pay off credit card bill, rest towards tuition/books.

posted by sperose 27 February | 13:12

I'd give it to the local SPCA.

posted by deborah 27 February | 13:43

Can I give it away? I'd probably give it to Chicago Public Radio so I could get the picnic basket.

posted by eamondaly 27 February | 13:55

Gas credit at local station, the HPV shot, and upgrading the kitchen remodel from what mum's willing to pay for to the one she actually wants. The last one is probably more than $1000, but maybe I can bribe the shop people (we're doing this through friends) with some really good scotch to "accidentally" use wood veneers instead of mica...

posted by casarkos 27 February | 14:02

Buy some art, burn it.

posted by Lentrohamsanin 27 February | 14:04

Lentrohamsanin - you forgot steps three and four - Sell tickets, Profit.

I'd throw 2/3rds at Credit Card Debt, then dinner and a hotel for the rest.

posted by rainbaby 27 February | 14:10

Mixed selfish and un--Throw the biggest sickest party that can be arranged on such short notice, and only injured veterans are invited. See also.

posted by Joe Invisible 27 February | 14:15

Go to the bicycle shop and the tattoo place. Buy the parts out of my own pocket, pay for the labor out of the thousand bucks (this same strategy could probably be used at the car-repair place or the salon or whatever). Then spend the rest of the money on food and drink. Invite some pals.

posted by box 27 February | 14:19

Ohhh, 1 thousand, for some reason I read 100k. Wishful thinking :)
In that case, I'd take a few friends to a 5 star restaurant for dinner. Order the tasting menu and a couple bottles of wine, you could spend a grand easy. Maybe take a limo there, if budget allows.

posted by Joe Invisible 27 February | 14:24

Pay off a bit of debt, then go out for a spa day and a nice but not insanely elaborate dinner. Give any remaining cash -- probably several hundred? -- to random people. Just random people. Maybe in the subway station.

posted by brina 27 February | 15:05

Brewster's Thousand! I'd grab the kids and hop a plane and spend the day at WDW, because how cool would that be? Surprise spontaneous Mickey trip would be the ultimate childhood memory.

posted by jrossi4r 27 February | 15:18

Raffle that shit, yo.

posted by Hellbient 27 February | 16:31

told that any tangible objects you buy, unless they are completely used up, will have to be given back at the stroke of midnight.

That's what makes this interesting, but I think not everyone caught it.

posted by Miko 27 February | 16:35

Yeah, but raffling isn't buying anything.

posted by Hellbient 27 February | 16:55

Would a tattoo vanish at midnight? I think I'd spend all day getting some elaborate back ink while paying someone to rub my feet and feed me frosted grapes. Then I'd have a party and we'd all sit around eating s'mores until midnight when I'd have someone videotape my vanishing tattoo. Do we all puke at midnight too? That might be awkward...

posted by jessamyn 27 February | 20:19

The Vanishing Tattoo

posted by box 27 February | 20:27

Give it to the poor, or, maybe, enroll myself in film school.

posted by hadjiboy 28 February | 02:38

← NYC: Free Theatre Tickets Tonight! || All my ancestors were cowards! Or prescient. Or both. →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN