"How much do I owe you?"
A man borrow $10,000 from his friend and says he will pay back the following week. A week passes, and his friend shows up and asks him where his money is.
The man says, "How much do I owe you?"
The friend says, "$10,000."
The man says, "I'll pay back next week."
A week passes, and the friend again shows up and asks, "Do you have my money?"
"How much do I owe you?"
"$10,000"
"I'll pay back next week."
"Okay, listen, just make it $9,000 dollars and make sure you pay me back next week."
Another week passes, and the friend again shows up and asks, "Do you have my money?"
"How much do I owe you?"
"$9,000"
"I'll pay back next week."
"Okay, listen, just make it $8,000 dollars but make sure you pay me back next week."
Another week passes, and the friend again shows up and asks, "Do you have my money?"
"How much do I owe you?"
"$8,000"
"I'll pay back next week."
"Okay, listen, just make it $7,000 dollars but make sure you pay me back next week."
Yet another week passes, and the friend again shows up and asks, "Do you have my money?"
"How much do I owe you?"
"$7,000"
"I'll pay back next week."
"Okay, listen, just make it $6,000 dollars but make sure you pay me back next week."
One more week passes, and the friend again shows up and asks, "Do you have my money?"
"How much do I owe you?"
"$6,000"
"I'll pay back next week."
"Okay, listen, just make it $5,000 dollars but make sure you pay me back next week. I don't want to hear any more excuses!"
Another week comes by, and the friend shows up once more and asks, "Do you have my money?"
"How much do I owe you?"
"$6,000"
"I'll pay back next week."
"You originally owed me $10,000, now you owe me $5,000. What's going on? Why aren't you paying me?"
"What are you talking about?! Every week my debt gets less and less!"
Originally published January 07, 2005.
