Man Must Pay 124,000 Rose Dowry

by Tom Miller

An Iranian man has been accused by his wife of being stingy and now must pay the piper. In Iran a woman can claim her dowry either during her marriage or at the time of divorce. And this broad has had enough of her husband’s tightfistedness, claiming that he refused to pay for a cup of coffee for her when they went to a café or diner. And the court ruled that she should receive 124,000 roses from him.

We’re not sure if Persians are prone to hyperbole (though they did refer to Cyrus the Great and subsequent shahs as the king of kings), but this sounds mildly excessive and possibly wasteful. The man claimed the he could only afford five roses per day which means that he would have the next 68 years or so to make up for it. And that doesn’t even bring in the total cost. We’re sure that he’d probably be able to get some bulk discount but a rose in Iran retails for 20,000 Rials (which is currently about $2.13). So, this guy needs to raise roughly $264,000 to pay for being a penny pincher. The good news is that his apartment is worth roughly $70,000. So that leaves him with only about $195,000 to raise.

Evidently, failure to pay a dowry can land a man in jail. Dowries are currently set with little regard to a man’s financial standing. We’re willing to bet that a fantastic industry exists (or could exist) in Iran for financing absurd dowries. And if their financial markets are sophisticated enough they could begin to make bonds out of these dowry notes. We’re guessing that could facilitate a whole new generation of Persian men making extravagant promises. “I shall pluck the very stars from the skies for you. Barring that I will give you 10,000 cherry blossom trees. And if that fails, I will grow such a magnificent chest of hair for you that Magnum PI shall weep at my manliness.” Maybe buying stuff isn’t how he shows affection. Maybe he’s more of a words of affirmation kind of guy.

Read more about the flowers of her discontent at The Daily Telegraph…