The Pig In A Poke

Wikipedia: “Pig-in-a-poke originated in the late Middle Ages. The con entails a sale of a suckling pig in a ‘poke’ [which is a bag]. The bag ostensibly contains a live healthy little pig, but actually contains a cat. If one buys the bag without looking inside it, the person has bought something of less value than was assumed”

Tonight I tried my first con and it worked surprisingly well. Dani The Mark refused to eat a delicious medley of pasta and broccoli prepared by Jill The Shill.




Through careful listening, I learned that the mark did not want the pasta that was prepared for her but, what she did want was another undefined and unavailable option that she called “different pasta.”

The way I saw it, I had three choices:
1) Force the mark to eat the pasta that was prepared for her
2) Figure out what “different pasta” was and see if I could somehow get it for her
3) Try a con

Remembering the pig in a poke con, I found a Dutch oven to work as the poke; it was covered and opaque so the mark couldn’t see what was inside. Then I transferred the rejected pasta into a new bowl to give plausibility to the claim that it was “different” and placed the bowl of pasta into the oven.

Then I tried the con job. I pitched the pasta that was hidden away in the oven as the best possible “different pasta” that could be found in all the land.

The mark bought the con.

When I uncovered the oven and handed over the different pasta, Dani The Mark had some reservations, but was easily convinced that this was somehow a sufficiently different pasta to meet her demands.

Next time, I might employ Jill The Shill to claim that she had seen the metaphorical pig in the poke prior to the sale and verify its superiority.

Also, I might try to get more value from my con by getting the mark to do something, like eat broccoli, before I ever open the poke.