# Paying Bills with Spider Drawings (Seven-Legged Spider) 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 owed[1]. 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 portal[2]. ## Origin 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 $233.95[1]. 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, 2008[1]. - **Platform:** Email / 27bslash6.com (viral spread via Digg) - **Creator:** David Thorne - **Date:** 2008 ## 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 refusals[1]. The comedy comes from the mismatch: a stick-figure spider missing one leg, offered with the deadpan formality of a corporate accounts email[1]. 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 provenance[1]. The full transcript, posted on Thorne's site 27bslash6.com, reads as a slow-burn parody of customer-service email etiquette[1]. ## How to Use 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 bills[1]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Paying Bills with Spider Drawings (Seven-Legged Spider)? It is an October 2008 email exchange where Adelaide writer David Thorne tried to pay a $233.95 overdue utility bill with a childish drawing of a seven-legged spider, which billing clerk Jane Gilles politely refused[1]. ### Where did Paying Bills with Spider Drawings (Seven-Legged Spider) come from? The exchange happened between David Thorne and Jane Gilles on October 8-10, 2008; Thorne posted the transcript to his site 27bslash6.com, where Digg users pushed traffic high enough to crash the server[3]. ### What does Paying Bills with Spider Drawings (Seven-Legged Spider) mean? The joke plays creative in-kind bill payment against corporate accounts formality, with Thorne insisting his stick-figure spider is worth exactly $233.95 and demanding the drawing back once his 'payment' is refused[1]. ### How do you use Paying Bills with Spider Drawings (Seven-Legged Spider)? The exchange is typically shared as an early example of email comedy, cited in stories about creative excuses for unpaid bills or as a template for straight-faced absurdist replies to formal notices[2]. ### Is Paying Bills with Spider Drawings (Seven-Legged Spider) still popular? It is a classic late-2000s email joke, ranked as the top 'Flocked' news story of 2008 on Australia's ninemsn portal with 18,203 Flocks, five times any other article that year[2]. ## References 1. [https://www.27bslash6.com/overdue.html]() 2. [https://www.9news.com.au/technology/ninemsn-readers-flock-to-crazy-spiders/1e4f1c6b-5e3f-4b94-be35-dbafd02e0f4c]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/paying-bills-with-spider-drawings-seven-legged-spider]() 4. [https://www.neatorama.com/2008/11/09/im-paying-you-with-this-picture-of-a-spider/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/paying-bills-with-spider-drawings-seven-legged-spider Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library