Sunday, January 11, 2009

Sold to the highest bidder

Being Asian is not the only thing that defines me.  Being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a pretty integral part of my life.  I bring this up because I am going to use a lot of terms that may not make sense to those of you not within this faith.  

Relief Society:  The church's women's organization--the largest women's organization in the world.

Enrichment:  Quarterly meetings (outside of Sunday meetings) that allow the women within Relief Society, and friends gather, have an activity, and share in each other's company.

For one Enrichment Activity, the ladies set up a service auction.  Women signed up to donate something or serve somehow, and their donations were auctioned off using fake money that was earned (check off items you have done in past day/week/month and tally points).  Items auctioned included beautifully painted wooden blocks with the word, "Simplify" on them, scrapbook pages, baby sitting, cleaning, weeding, flower arrangements, framed mirror, porceline art, cookies, cakes, pies, and so on.  

Since most ladies probably had earned over $500, there was plenty of money to be spent.  The auctioneer, my neighbor, began the bidding of most items at $50.  Most were sold between $150 to $250.  Some went up as high as $800.  

My service was up for auction now.

"[Token Asian Friend] has donated tutoring services for your kids in Math and Science," the auctioneer said.  "Pretty much, ladies, we are bidding on her intelligence."  A light wave of laughter rippled across the room.  He continued, "We'll start the bidding at $10."



It sold for $30.


:(

12 comments:

Kristina P. said...

Obviously, they have not read your blog. Poor them.

Karen said...

that is just sad, on so many levels.

and it says so much about society today... I'll take a scrapbook page over helping my child increase intelligence. (shakes head sadly)

Tiffany said...

Your blog is killing me. In the good way.

Anonymous said...

I'd love to think that your ward is so full of bright, successful students that your services just weren't necessary, but somehow I doubt it....

Brownie Bites said...

Ummm...I'm in your...and I didn't even bid...

...but I wasn't even there.

Phew! Anyways, my child IS brilliant! Just so you know. :)

Token Asian Friend said...

In defense of my beloved RS sisters, we had very few Senior primary, more youth leaders than youth, and a Huge junior primary and nursery, so not many people needed it. Since then, I have tutored 4 people in my ward, soon to be five. :)

Karin, your children are brilliant!

Brooke said...

I award you the "best use of emoticon" prize for the end of your post! I've always dreaded RS auctions, but I suppose they are unavoidable.

Veena said...

I bet you just LOOOOOVE that autioneer.

Mary P said...

Ouch! Don't they know your background?

This is gonna happen to me someday, lol, I just know it.


Your blog stalker: ~Mary

Token Asian Friend said...

Veena, wrong auctioneer. I was talking about J to the D to the little e B.

You are right, quixotic. Next time I will make it MORE obvious that I am Asian. I will dress up as a calculator.

Nicole said...

Kust think of it this way..

Those $30 may be the best this person will invest in their child, and they won't have buyers remorse for buying a $200 centerpiece.

Nicole - another blog stalker and friend of Quixotic

StuTheWise said...

You just don't have many stupid kids in your ward. In my ward, your service would have sold for $100 billion at least!

Seriously though, as a frustrated home schooler, I would have made sure my wife did all in her power to win that one.