# The stamp is the only part nobody wrote by hand

> A small chest print of a filled-in deposit receipt, dated and signed, with one word stamped diagonally across the corner in a different ink than everything else on it.

August 22, 2026 · https://justog.club/stories/the-deposit-slip-that-doesnt-come-back

A small receipt sits high on the left chest, the rest of the shirt bare. DEPOSIT RECEIPT across
the top. Four ruled lines under it, each filled in by hand: a date, an amount, what it was for, a
signature.

Across the corner, stamped at an angle in red: NON-REFUNDABLE.

## What does the receipt actually say?

DEPOSIT RECEIPT, then DATE 3/14/24, AMOUNT $150.00, FOR Custom Piece, SIGNATURE with a name
signed beneath it — and, stamped diagonally over the lower corner in a heavier, different ink,
NON-REFUNDABLE.

Everything above the stamp is written by hand, in one ink, filled in at the counter. The stamp is
the one mark on the slip that wasn't written for this specific booking — it's pressed onto every
slip the same way, before anyone's name goes on it.

## Why does a deposit exist before any work happens?

Because booking a chair for a custom piece takes that slot away from everyone else who might have
booked it.

The FOR field says Custom Piece rather than naming a design, which is the point of a deposit at
this stage — it isn't paying for artwork yet, because the artwork hasn't been drawn. It's paying
to hold time on the calendar against the chance that the person who booked it doesn't show. [The
same time gets recorded in full once a session actually happens](/stories/the-appointment-that-took-nine-hours);
a deposit is the record of that time being set aside in the first place.

## Why is the amount written by hand instead of printed?

Because a deposit isn't a fixed fee — $150.00 here reflects this particular booking, not a rate
printed the same on every slip.

A longer piece, a bigger stretch of chair time, a design that needs more than one sitting: each of
those changes what's reasonable to hold against a no-show, so the number gets filled in at the
counter rather than pre-printed. The date beside it, 3/14/24, does the same job for time that the
amount does for money — it's the one fact on the slip that pins this exact booking to this exact
day.

## Why does the stamp not have to match the handwriting?

Because it isn't part of the booking — it's the policy the booking sits inside.

Everything written in this receipt describes one transaction between two people on one day. The
stamp describes a rule that applies before either of them showed up and after they've both left.
Printing it in a different ink from the handwriting, struck across the corner rather than written
into a ruled line, is what a rule looks like sitting on top of a record instead of inside it.

## What happens to the deposit if the appointment goes ahead as planned?

It's usually the amount that comes off the final total, not money on top of it.

The slip itself doesn't say that here — nothing on it distinguishes a deposit that gets applied
from one that's forfeited, because from the paper's point of view $150.00 changed hands for a
reason and got signed for. What decides its fate afterwards is what happens on the appointment
date, not anything printed on the receipt itself.

## Who owns a document like this one?

Nobody — a deposit receipt is a standard business record, not anyone's design or intellectual
property.

What's invented here is the specific booking: this date, this amount, this signature. A real
studio's actual paperwork, with its actual name and layout, belongs to that studio the way any
branded material does. Nothing readable on this slip points to one.

## Does this work for something other than a custom booking?

The same shape of record covers any appointment that takes a slot off a calendar in advance — a
consultation, a touch-up session, a multi-sitting piece booked out weeks ahead.

What stays constant across all of them is the stamp's job: marking, once and for anyone who reads
it, that the money secures the slot rather than the outcome. The FOR line is what changes with the
booking; the stamp doesn't.

## Does it print well?

Yes, kept to a small scale on the left chest with the receipt's own torn and punched edge forming
the print's edge rather than a drawn box around it.

The ruled lines and handwritten fields stay legible at that size because they're kept to short
words and short numbers, cropped in close enough that nothing has to shrink past the point fabric
can hold it. [The same close crop is what keeps a small chest print readable rather than
decorative](/stories/print-size-on-the-body) — at 8cm, detail that isn't cropped tight
enough just disappears into the weave.

## How do I get one made?

Describe the receipt at [JustOG](/) — what the deposit was for, and what the stamp across the
corner should say. Pick a direction, drag the crop frame, see it composited on the real garment,
and it's made to order and shipped.

Designs other people have published are in the [shop](/shop).

Whatever the date on the slip, the stamp reads the same on every one that's ever printed.