Get Rich Quick

[cjsmith]

[From a Y!IM conversation, reposted with permission]

cjsmith: What else can we make lists of?
joedecker: hmm
joedecker: ways to easily become fantastically wealthy with no work
cjsmith: 1. inherit from millionaire
joedecker: 2. lottery
cjsmith: 3. discover you are the long-lost heir to some kingdom
joedecker: 4. have a bank fall into your back yard
joedecker: 5. invent a world-class fart-noise-generator
cjsmith: 5a. and don't build a prototype or anything, just have someone offer you a bajillion for it sight unseen
joedecker: right!
joedecker: put it on ebay
joedecker: put "playstation 3" in the item title
cjsmith: 6. get people into a bidding war over who can give you the most money
cjsmith: 7. tell a friend to sell his old socks on eBay and give you half the proceeds
cjsmith: OK, number 7 needs lots of friends or one with lots of socks.
cjsmith: 8. trip and fall into a gold mine
joedecker: 9. "up from the ground came a-bubblin' crude"
cjsmith: 10. dream, verbatim, the next Harry Potter (ie the next smash hit)
cjsmith: 10a. and dictate it to someone who's willing to do the work of writing it and submitting it
joedecker: 11. have your urine tested and find out it's a new world-class antiviral drug

I'm surprised we came up with as many as we did. Frankly, I think #4 is a masterpiece.

Any additions? :-)

Comments

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

Of course, my problem is that these scenarios, I'd try to find the person the money belonged to, and likely flush the coke.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, some people just aren't meant for instant wealth, huh? Me neither, I suspect. :-)

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

It's funny, the guys that I work for were two of the pivotal 'pyramid scheme' guys of the late 70's or early 80's. They made a fortune. And they totally knew that they were screwing people, but also knew that (basically) anyone who'd participate was screwing themselves. I just couldn't have done something like that.
I never play the lottery, so that's unlikely. And I don't have any wealthy relatives, so inheritance is out. Maybe Publisher's Clearinghouse....

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh man, how could I forget the best one? Shake a tree!

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

Oh, didn't you hear? There was a terrible case of blight--I think there's only one or two trees left up there with VCs in 'em.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh darn. Finding the right one is too much like Work. I guess that entry fails to make it onto the list.

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

I know! Drive behind armored cars--eventually one of them is bound to lose a bag!

[redbird]

Like the friend of mine who found a probably-valuable Aleister Crowley manuscript in the basement of a home he bought.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. Did he contact the previous owner of the place? I wonder what that might have been worth.