Paying Bills with Spider Drawings (Seven-Legged Spider) — Crude black drawing of a smiling seven-legged spider on white background

Paying Bills with Spider Drawings (Seven-Legged Spider)

2008viral email exchangeclassic

Published September 21, 2026

In October 2008, Adelaide resident David Thorne tried to settle a $233.95 utility bill by emailing a crude drawing of a seven-legged spider to billing clerk Jane Gilles, valuing the artwork at exactly the amount owed1. The straight-faced email chain went viral out of Thorne's site 27bslash6.com and became the most-Flocked news story of 2008 on Australia's ninemsn portal2.

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Overview

Paying Bills with Spider Drawings, also called Seven-Legged Spider, refers to the email chain in which Adelaide writer David Thorne attempts to settle an overdue utility invoice by attaching a childish doodle he values at exactly $233.95, then plays dumb through billing clerk Jane Gilles' polite refusals1. The comedy comes from the mismatch: a stick-figure spider missing one leg, offered with the deadpan formality of a corporate accounts email1.

Thorne kept the bit going for days, asking for the drawing back once his 'payment' was refused, wondering aloud whose spider Jane had emailed him after she returned the attachment, and pretending to negotiate its provenance1. The full transcript, posted on Thorne's site 27bslash6.com, reads as a slow-burn parody of customer-service email etiquette1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Email / 27bslash6.com (viral spread via Digg)
Creator
David Thorne
Date
2008

On Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 12:19 PM, billing clerk Jane Gilles emailed Adelaide-based writer David Thorne notifying him that his account was overdue by $233.951. Eighteen minutes later, Thorne replied with an attached spider drawing and the note: 'I do not have any money so I am sending you this drawing I did of a spider instead. I value the drawing at $233.95 so trust that this settles the matter'1. Gilles responded the next morning, formally noting the company could not accept drawings as payment, and the exchange kept going through October 10, 20081.

How It Spread

Thorne posted the transcript on 27bslash6.com in October 2008, and after Digg users pushed the story wide, his server crashed under the traffic3. American humor blog Neatorama ran the exchange on November 9, 2008 with a link back to the original page4. Australia's ninemsn portal later reported that its coverage of the spider drawing collected 18,203 'Flocks' by year's end, roughly five times the count of the next-most-popular story on the site and ranking it as the top news story of 2008 in Australia2.

Thorne auctioned the original spider on eBay in November 2008; a user named Patrick placed the top bid of $10,000, though Thorne later told 9News he had no real intention of selling3. On December 17, 2009, artist Enkel Dika uploaded a tribute illustration titled 'Value of the Spider' to Flickr, one of several homages that kept the drawing in circulation past the initial viral wave3.

Timeline

2008-10-08

Jane Gilles emails David Thorne about a $233.95 overdue account; 18 minutes later, Thorne replies with the seven-legged spider drawing as 'payment.'

2008-10-10

Email exchange concludes after several rounds of Thorne asking for his drawing back and questioning whose spider Gilles emailed him.

2008-10

Thorne posts the full transcript on 27bslash6.com; Digg picks it up and traffic crashes the site.

2008-11-09

Neatorama covers the exchange for U.S. audiences, linking to Thorne's original page.

2008-11

Thorne auctions the original spider on eBay; a user named Patrick places the top bid of $10,000.

2008-12

Ninemsn ranks the spider-drawing article as its top 'Flocked' story of 2008 with 18,203 Flocks.

2009-12-17

Artist Enkel Dika uploads a tribute illustration titled 'Value of the Spider' to Flickr.

How to Use This Meme

The exchange is typically shared as a template joke for deadpan replies to formal debt notices, with people quoting Thorne's original valuation line or attaching their own crude drawings when telling stories about creative excuses for unpaid bills1.

Frequently Asked Questions