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

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.

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