When all this was fields.....
and TheWeeWitch was an office junior, our boss was quite beside himself with excitement one morning. Eggy Bob (he had egg sandwiches for lunch every single day) had committed the offence of nepotism.

His sister's eldest daughter had just left (private) school and he'd persuaded her that a career in life assurance would be far more exciting than treking through South American jungles on a gap year trip. The lass had attended one of Edinburgh's fine educational establishments which cost more than I earned a year at the time.

She started the following Monday, and it was immediately apparent that the job description had been "enhanced" somewhat. When informed that she'd be filing (and not her nails), collecting and delivering post, running errands etc, she was vocally horrified. Give her credit, she got stuck into the filing. For a good twenty minutes, then declared she was bored and wanted to do something different. Much eyebrow raising among the rest of us, but we didn't feel we could really say no to her.

The morning passed in a kind of stop-start fashion as we kept having to find new things for her to do. She had the attention span of a toddler. And about the same mentality. An unspoken agreement saw her dispatched on the "early" lunch break at 12 sharp.

She never came back.

Eggy Bob was extremely concerned (understandably) and tried phoning the house several times. Eventually, she answered. Turned out she'd decided that this wasn't the job for her and that she wasn't coming back. She hadn't answered the phone earlier because she wasn't in. She'd got on the bus to go home, but it was going the wrong way. Luckily it was a circular route and she eventually ended up where she wanted to be, but it had taken over two hours. It had never even occurred to her to say anything before she left.

We never saw her again. She was farmed out to relatives in France for the summer, then enrolled at some private "college" (which sounded suspiciously like a finishing school), presumably until she landed herself a well connected husband.
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Fri 23 May 2008, 16:58, 28 replies)

Or maybe she landed herself a husband,
and they got well connected. oi oi ;)
(Belgaer is, Fri 23 May 2008, 17:08, closed)

Every time I hear something like
she landed herself a well connected husband I find myself wondering: what would she really have to offer a well-connected man? Why would any man worth his balls saddle himself with someone utterly useless? But worse than that- is he just a target walking around until some predatory female comes along and uses her wiles to snare him?

I'm very grateful that I never have to deal with such people. If I did there would be an awful lot of my handprints on faces.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 23 May 2008, 17:25, closed)

It's sort of an unwritten contract,
woman gets money, man gets arm candy.

Or lots of sex.

Or both.
(Belgaer is, Fri 23 May 2008, 17:33, closed)

It's most definitely unusual
It's something that seems to be popular among the aristocracy to ensure that old money stays within certain circles.

They don't want to be sharing it among us proles (the unconnected) by allowing us to marry into their wealth.

Mind you, these are the inbred types who produce large toothed children, so I don't think we're losing out.
( Moey, Fri 23 May 2008, 17:43, closed)

Kids born with mushroom hats
and with huge teeth! Why wouldn't I want those genes to be matched with mine?
(Belgaer is, Fri 23 May 2008, 17:47, closed)

Mind you, I've been there...
...at least to some degree. Here I am, early 40s, an engineer who owns his house, the son of a wealthy doctor, able to cook very well, able to do my own laundry and housekeeping, with interests in a lot of things other than sports or stamp collecting or what have you... so when my previous girlfriend moved out I could just about see the fins circling me, da dumm, da dumm, da dumm...

It scared the hell out of me.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 23 May 2008, 18:18, closed)

You can go right off some people.
:P
(Belgaer is, Fri 23 May 2008, 18:20, closed)

@Loon
sadly, Edinburgh is all too full of that type. If I remember right, daddy was a barrister, so while she clearly hadn't inherited his brains, his connections may have been appealing to a certain type of prospective husband. It's not what you know, it's who you know.

It's a game as old as this town. Pretty daughter bartered off - and she was very pretty (if pretty vacant).

EDIT: I have not one, but two, very pretty daughters. Give it a few more years, and I will be open to reasonable offers ...

(But you'll have to get past scary dad)
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Fri 23 May 2008, 18:24, closed)

@TWW
that's the sort of comment it is unwise to make when you know the Kaol is likely to be reading the board.
(Bazongaloid, Fri 23 May 2008, 18:29, closed)

@al
they're my girls. He wouldn't last five minutes!
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Fri 23 May 2008, 18:31, closed)

I'm sure he'd say the same about you,
and I'm sure the rest of us would say it about both of you. :P
(Belgaer is, Fri 23 May 2008, 18:32, closed)

...yeah...
...I would have hoped that that behavior had at least begun to die out somewhat. I was somewhat horrified to find myself a target a few years ago.

However, as I pointed out to the ones who made their intentions altogether too clear, whatever money my parents have is theirs and not mine; engineers are subject to layoffs like everyone else, and I've been through a few myself; I only own my house as long as I can make mortgage payments... and when it became readily apparent that I'm not actually wealthy they drifted off on one pretext or another. I can still cook better than most women, can still take care of my own stuff and still have a lot of interests in things like art and music and nature- but the lack of lucre made me far less appealing, apparently. And for that I happen to be extremely grateful.

Fortunately the Lunatic Artist doesn't want me for money that I have or may one day inherit- she wants me for my cooking, my interests and the wild passionate monkey sex. *grin*
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 23 May 2008, 18:37, closed)

Are you sure that the wild monkey sex
is really monkeys, and not just a tiny dog?
(Belgaer is, Fri 23 May 2008, 18:39, closed)

My older brother suffers similarly
being financially comfortable, well qualified and a fabulous cook. Any time I've introduced him to single friends, you can see the gleam forming in their eye.

Then I go and spoil it by asking after his partner - David. Watching their petted lips form is quite funny though.
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Fri 23 May 2008, 18:42, closed)

Nah, it's us.
Although last night I did awaken to find myself with my face buried in a furry pussy. Turned out the cat was out of food and decided to snuggle up to me to wake me up...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 23 May 2008, 18:42, closed)

@Loon
that's your story and you're sticking to it, yeah?
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Fri 23 May 2008, 18:43, closed)

It wasn't really an ideal way to wake up.
She has very long, soft fur that's wonderful if she snuggles in your lap, but tends to get in your nose if she decides to sleep on your pillow. And to top it all, she was sniffing my lips.

Cue much bad language and going ptooey as she ran for the door...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 23 May 2008, 18:49, closed)

I now have an image of your house
full of animals, all of them following you about like a comet tail up to bed, then finding a place to squeeze between you and TLA
(Belgaer is, Fri 23 May 2008, 18:52, closed)

That's actually not far from the truth.
Last night the dog was snuggled behind her knees as she lay on her side, the Big Black Fluffy Thing was snuggled in with me, and at once point the Stoned Siamese climbed up and lay between my knees. The only one missing was the bird.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 23 May 2008, 18:55, closed)

Hmm... There's a joke in there somewhere...
About sleeping with dogs but not birds...
(Belgaer is, Fri 23 May 2008, 19:02, closed)

Oh...
"that's the sort of comment it is unwise to make when you know the Kaol is likely to be reading the board."

I'm not *that* bad am I?
( Cawl, Fri 23 May 2008, 22:36, closed)

Yes,
yes you are.
(Belgaer is, Fri 23 May 2008, 22:50, closed)

Oh...
*shrugs*
Could be worse.
( Cawl, Fri 23 May 2008, 22:53, closed)

Yeah,
you could be French.
(Belgaer is, Fri 23 May 2008, 23:01, closed)

Ouch...
Point taken.
( Cawl, Fri 23 May 2008, 23:24, closed)

Where did you take it?
Basum tish
(Belgaer is, Fri 23 May 2008, 23:27, closed)

That's it.
I quit.
( Cawl, Fri 23 May 2008, 23:39, closed)

What do you quit,
egg zachary?
(Belgaer is, Fri 23 May 2008, 23:42, closed)