Headscratchers / Risky Business

• Miles found an ad in the newspaper and called Jackie to set up a "date" for Joel, then Miles ripped out the ad. Why didn't Joel buy another newspaper so he could call Jackie and cancel the date? He might have had to call a handful of numbers if he didn't remember the name, but not that many.
  • We don't know how old that newspaper is. For all we know it was the previous week's newspaper and that particular issue isn't available anymore. In addition, we do not know of it's a regular ran ad or if it was had been run one time. Ads cost money to run in newspapers, so keeping it up week per week may not be optional. And, we also do not know if the newspaper is a weekly or daily newspaper either. Ads can often change regular per new edition. And, unless he happens to know exactly where the nearest newspaper kiosk is at, the chances of him being able to run, buy another add and then run back to find the ad, by the time he called, she would have already been on the way there. But, the biggest thing is, Joel is a guy and probably hasn't had any sex. After a few minutes, he probably figured, "Well, she's on her way here. Why bother to call it off?"

• What was the purpose of the scam? What did the scammers gain that they didn't already have? Almost all of the money that Joel lost came from the operation he had set up WITH THEIR HELP, and he ended up with more or less what he had started with, maybe minus a couple of hundred dollars—hardly worth the level of effort they put into the con. These were people who surely made loads more money every night than what they would have netted from Joel.
  • I agree I don't think it really stands up to much scrutiny, but they did a whole lot more volume in a short time than they normally would. They don't have to drive all over, the customers were probably, er, quicker, etc.
• Is the Porsche a family car?
  • Looks more like it may be a weekend car for one of the parents, most likely Dad.

• Joel really wants go to Princeton, understandable because it’s a prestigious Ivy League school. However, when he thinks he messed up his interview with the admissions officer, he nonchalantly proclaims “Looks like University of Illinois!” Why is it that Joel never entertained the notion of attending either Northwestern University or the University of Chicago, two universities that are comparable to Princeton in prestige?
  • It could be possible that the reason why he wants to go to Princeton and not Northwestern may be because his father (and maybe even his grandfather) may have gone there. It's clear that Joel's family is a little bit Ivy League, so it would make sense that Joel wants to go because it's a familial alma mater.