DEAR Jasminda,

Due to my intense interest in the outcome of last year’s election result, and to show some solidarity, I signed up to help out.

It was quite an intense process involving an application, referees and training.

On my first (and only) day, the organisers said I wasn’t required.

Sometime later I received a $500 payment for the day I didn’t work. I’m now feeling guilty, but I also don’t want to waste more hours trying to work out how to give the money back.

It was hard enough jumping the hoops to register.

Geraldine P.

Dear Geraldine,

Let’s deal with this the way our former government would.

In fact, let’s use, say, the purchase of submarines, as a comparison.

We will call Party A the government and we will call you Party B.

For authenticity, perhaps Party B could don a beret and striped t-shirt, and maybe even dangle a baguette from their bicycle basket.

So, in this situation, Party B had arranged to perform agreed services for payment. There is paperwork to document this agreement and as far as Party B is concerned, it’s a done deal.

Then, in an underhanded manoeuvre, Party A decides to do a secret deal with another Party (let’s say, Party C – also known as the supposedly superior pencil hander-outerer, otherwise known as the British Nuclear Powered Submarine Dream Team).

Are you with me, Geraldine?

Now, none of this is the fault of Party B, so Party B deserves some sort of compensation for their time, their resource allocation and their wounded pride (let’s say … $835 million or, in your case, $500 because I can imagine it would have been disheartening to know that you were not the preferred pencil collector and sanitiser and a dodgy under-the table deal was done with someone else).

If you’re still feeling bad, why not donate the money to a worthy charity?

Carpe diem,
Jasminda