Sunday, May 25, 2008

Ebay - For babies too !

I am still working and no they haven't fired me for updating my blog.Hell I am waiting for one of them to come and ask me what it is that I am doing.The Editor-in-chief aka the captain of the ship keeps checking on me every two hours or something and the whole place is wired.Its a newspaper org so you do have the whole place setup in a network FYI.
The first thing that I am supposed to be doing when I start the day is to come and check for the latest news through this network or forum or software installed in computers which goes by the name Front Desk which keeps filtering news every minute from various news agencies around the world - AFP,AP,Reuters etc. The place that I am working at has tie ups with the NY Times so we keep throwing in headlines from there too. So at once I have 8 pages open - BBC,NY Times, Google etc etc, just to check what they are running as cover stories for the day.
So, I was as usual going about my days work when I came across this story that rattled about how a couple from Germany used ebay as a source to sell of their 8 month old son.The couple when questioned by police said that they had done it in the form of a joke (what sense of humor is that anyway??) and that it wasn't meant to be taken seriously.What were these people thinking really when they did something like that.Did they think that the authorities wouldn't find out or the Internet is just plain dumb to have not registered the auction as a joke ! Come on ! They need better defense than that.
The offer on ebay was something like this;
"Baby — collection only. Offer my nearly new baby for sale because it cries too much. Male, 70 cm long." and the opening bid was one euro,$1.58.
No one else really thought it was a joke and many people across Germany reported this to authorities who went ahead and busted the young couple.The women who is 23 years old claimed that it was a joke and she just basically wanted to see if anyone would make an offer.Her baby was taken to the hospital and she needs to be taking tests at the psychiatric clinic. I don't think thats enough for a woman who actually wanted to sell her own self and blood.
I wonder why people go ahead and have babies if all they want to do is sell them off.
Unwanted pregnancies you say. Use contraceptives. There are loads to choose from in the market. Maybe you can even let them be adopted.They are hell loads of agencies around who work for children welfare.
Selling?! really?!

5 Thoughts:

Sharada said...

Maybe they are just morbid people like me. Have been wanting to sell my brother and puppy too. (Both bite:p) Must be fun eh santey? The whole work gig! Congratulations for becoming gainfully employed!

shuuuu said...

first of alll ... ney york times .... lucky shit ... second.... heheh germans have always been a little wonked .. with all the nazi thing .. pooor guys r pretty scarred ... but really ... here we r all dying to have that little podgy thing which gurgles and burps.... and that idiot .. goes sellin it off on ebay .. for a EURO .... she needs more than just treatment ....

Srinidhi said...

first things first! i love your job! can we switch places right now?? its my calling! :( secondly! people are def losing their minds! this is one such example! maybe they... hmm i cant come up with something to do with someone who auctioned their baby!

V said...

what's the place you work for?
a magazine or a website?

Sana said...

To v ....

I was working at a newspaper publication...