The Feynman approach to small monetary compensation
I just shared this approach with some friends, and thought I’d blog it here too.
When I get a relatively small amount of monetary compensation for something, I take the ‘Feynman Approach’ to it and buy something fun with the money, giving me a sense of satisfaction from the compensation (which, presumably, was to compensate me for something bad that happened).
This comes from a story related in Surely you’re joking, Mr Feynman:
Now, it’s some dopey legal thing, but when you give the patent to the government, the document you sign is not a legal document unless there’s some exchange, so the paper I signed said,
"For the sum of one dollar, I, Richard P. Feynman, give this idea to the government . . ."
I sign the paper.
"Where’s my dollar?"
…[he eventually gets the dollar]
I take the dollar, and I realize what I’m going to do. I go down to the grocery store, and I buy a dollar’s worth – which was pretty good, then – of cookies and goodies, those chocolate goodies with marshmallow inside, a whole lot of stuff.
I come back to the theoretical laboratory, and I give them out: "I got a prize, everybody! Have a cookie! I got a prize! A dollar for my patent! I got a dollar for my patent!"
…[everyone else wants to get a real dollar for their patent]
I don’t usually spend the compensation amount on sweets or baked goods (unless it’s really quite small), but I often buy myself a little something I wanted for fun – like a few electrical components, a 3D printing accessory (or filament), or just a second-hand book (or a new one if the amount is enough).
Recent bits of compensation I’ve used this approach with are mostly Delay Repay for delayed trains (it means I was inconvenienced by the train delay, so I ‘deserve’ something nice), but it can apply to other things too. I don’t usually apply it if the compensation is reasonably large, and obviously not if I’m really short of money (in that case the money goes into ‘general funds’), but for compensation less than £15-20 it’s often an approach I take.
(I should point out that I definitely don’t agree with Feynman on everything, particularly some of his views on women, but in general I enjoyed his books)
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This post originally appeared on Robin's Blog.
Categorised as: Short Interesting Things
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