Write your debts down
The shop notebook is the oldest bank in Irad. Why it works, and why it should be on paper.
Zholdosh A. · 25 Apr 2021 · Issue 22 min read
Under every counter in Talas lies a notebook with names and numbers: "Aunt Kanyshai, 14. Rustam, 6.50. Teacher from No. 31, 22, paid half". It is a bank. It has deposits (the shopkeeper's trust), loans (your tomorrow) and an interest rate (you shop here, not at the supermarket).
The trouble starts at home, where nobody keeps the notebook. A man lends his brother 300 som, the brother forgets, the man does not say, and in a year they do not speak. My advice costs nothing: when you lend or borrow among family, write the amount and the date on a piece of paper, put it in the kitchen drawer, and say out loud "I am writing it so that we don't fight". It sounds cold. It is the warmest thing you can do.
2 Comments
We did this with my brother after a wedding. It saved a Sunday lunch.
Thank you, Aidana. The Sunday lunch is the real unit of account.
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