HOW TO ASK FOR MONEY, EVEN IF YOU DON'T REALLY NEED ANY

Boy! That's a pretty ugly picture, wouldn't you say?  I use what I can find on Google, of course, 'cause it's free.
I had a thought today that was rather humorous and also rather serious. My sister-in-law baby sat for a lady who gave her thirty dollars after three hours of baby watching.  My sister-in-law, three months new in the U.S.A. protested and said that $30.00 was too much and that it wasn't necessary to pay for the service in the first place.  Fortunately, the lady offering was a Filipina who understood what was happening.  So, in the end, the transaction was completed and the $30.00 found a new home.


When I heard the story I said to my sister-in-law, in the United States you take the money, smile nicely and say "thank you three times" and put the money in your pocket.  As all of this was happening, my brain was flip-flopping looking for a nice, powerful way to explain the cultural difference to this dear, lovely lady.  We have some of that in us too, and I thought about it again when in the few hours after my short conversation with the baby-sitter, I had another conversation with our number 1 son.  He asked, "Do you know what Ma would like for Christmas?"  My brain went haywire.  I know what she wants, but I don't want to tell him.  Well, that's not really perfectly true.  My real problem is that I want to tell him but he caught me by surprise and so I don't know how to say it so that he'll know without really KNOWING.
I mean, I sure as Dickens was not going to say, "a tidy little sum of cold cash."  Hell, even here in the good ol' U.S. of A. we don't say it that way. So I quickly got cute and said, "Yeah, just slip her a couple of pictures of Andrew Jackson and she'll be happy."  Now you all know that what I said is not true.  My son knows that it is not perfectly true, but he knows what he knows and I, and you, know that everything will be OK in the end.
Finally, here's the bottom line thought.  After the conversation with my son, I realized that I had the perfect explanation for my sister-in-law.  You accept the money because that is the value that the donor places on your service for that event.  It may not always be the same, but it's not up to us to judge in these cases.  All we have to do is to respect the decision of the  payer.
Now c'mon, ain't that sweet?  She thought so.  So do I.