From: Ronald Raygun 
Subject: Re: CGT - Proving a loan?
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:35:45 GMT
Bytes: 2433

Tim wrote:

>>> "Ronald Raygun" wrote
>>>> ...  Instead of your joiner, who has come round fix your window
>>>> sills, giving you a bill and you paying him for his work and
>>>> materials, he just works for nothing, throws in the materials,
>>>> and then you make him a "gift" of a couple of hundred quid.
>>>
>> "Tim" wrote:
>>> And what happens if you don't give him that "gift" at the end?
>>> He can't sue you for non-payment - can he?!
>>
> "Ronald Raygun" wrote
>> No, but I dare say he can call upon the assistance
>> of some scary-looking cousins to help show
>> you what "my word is my bond" means.
> 
> What "word"?
> If there is an agreement beforehand, then it is *not* a "gift"...

The point is that the agreement is unofficial, undocumented, and
(intended to be) invisible/nonexistant in the eyes of the law.
The archetypal cash-in-hand under-the-counter job.  Nudge, nudge,
wink, wink, and the tip is always rounded *up*.