h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have this weird quirk, and I was just wondering if anyone else ever catches themselves doing this...

For example, I'll use last night's dinner. We'd gone to that little Columbian restaurant we like so much. I ordered a rice dish with fried plantain ($8) and a margarita ($7), K ordered a 1/2 chicken dinner ($9) and a soda ($1). It came to a little under $25, an even $30 with tip.

And as I'm signing the credit card slip, I find myself thinking ($30... I had to work an hour and 20 Minutes to earn that...)

Does anyone else find themselves mentally calculating just how long it took you to "earn" something, in order to justify the expense, either beforehand or afterwards?

Or am I just a freak? Or paranoid about money...

Oh, and I'll add that I'd think that calculating whether or not one can actually afford something, and figuring out what all else you'd have to do without (i.e., if I spend $30 on this dinner, I'll have to bring my lunch from home tomorrow and Friday) is something else entirely. I'm sure *that's* perfectly normal behavior, budgeting that way.

My attitude to my bank account is a bit like the way I see my cooker: 'Never look behind your cooker. You'll only have to clean there!'

It gets me into a lot of trouble. Your approach has its advantages.

Well, truth be told, the fact that I can't afford to do something doesn't always deter me. It's not always possible to delay gratification. I've developed the naughty habit of "floating" checks... meaning that while I've carefully monitored every deposit, debit card purchase, or cash withdrawal (K and I share my checking account and have for about six months now, we both use ATM/debit cards) and checks I've written out, I have been known to spend money that's meant to cover a check which hasn't cleared yet, in hopes that check won't clear till one of our payroll direct deposits hit. That's gotten me into trouble twice.

Well, aside from that fact that a margarita cost $7 (gaaa!) I was pleased to hear that you left a decent tip.

That was always my thing when I lived in Toronto. If I couldn't afford to leave a proper tip (providing the service was good, of course) then I shouldn't go out to eat.

Still, it's kinda sick that a cocktail cost almost as much as K's dinner.

Since moving to Spain where eating out is just sooooooooo cheap and a 5-10% tip is considered generous, I go out a lot more to eat, especially since I've been with Noggin and we share the bill.

I'd say your 'paranoia' about mentally calculating stuff is simply because you don't - yet! - have enough 'through away' income to indulge yourself from time to time. I've been there (especially when I lived in Toronto) and unless you can shut that part of your brain off you may not enjoy your meal as much.

But it is still necessary to have the occasional treat. And those are the times to just go - f**k it - I'm out having a nice meal and who cares.




az

I think it also exascerbates the situation that we've both been at the absolute rock-bottom, scraping just to get by, and often feel guilty when we do have a bit of 'throw-away' money, if we do indulge "too much".

$7 for a margarita's about average- the food at this particular place isn't as pricey as a lot of places. Luckily I don't drink much when we go out, one margarita is fine.

I nearly always leave a 20% tip, unless I've had pretty mediocre service, in which case it's about 15%. I've only ever had service so poor that I didn't want to tip at all once, and the management had to rectify that situation. I once went on a date with a guy one of my friends worked with and introduced me to. We had a decent dinner, and afterward, he stiffed the waitress the tip. I went back in, tipped the lady myself, and asked the young man to take me home. I never spoke to him again after that. It's not like we'd had poor service.

I remember when I was in Puerta Vallarta (western coast of Mexico) several years back, and we ate a lovely dinner in a cozy little restaurant. Dinner for myself and my friend, with two margaritas apiece, came to about $20 or $25. I left a $5 tip. When we left the restaurant, the waiter followed us down the street, running and shouting that we'd "forgotten" our money. Apparently it's not customary to tip that much in Mexico. But it's customary that *I* do it, so I insisted the gentleman accept it.

You're right, though. Sometimes you do just need to say "f*ck it!" and treat yourself. I find a bit of retail therapy almost necessary after a particularly grueling work week. Sometimes you need something tangible to show for all your hard work.

the moths in my wallet, stop me counting my money, they get in my face as they fly out

http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=9455


he must have known a Yorkshireman first

That was an amusing anecdote there, Prof. Thanks.

So are you implying that I'm just cheap?

Who first coined the term 'anecdotage'? Was it Churchill?


az

possibly someone with a lisp, might of thought it was "antelope"



PC, you cheap..never!! would I think anything like thaterr! how much can you afford

Well, however much it might be, Prof Animal, you'd at least get a decent tip!

az

its the only thing I would get, apart from a clip round the ear


and by the way, how are you Azahar, you have been quiet on these threads of late

<>



No way, I continue to get into trouble left right and centre - you obviously don't visit the same places I do.


az

your like me then

You a 'troublemaker' too, then?

You can't possibly be. Have seen your photos - far too adorable looking to be a 'troublemaker'.

az

I just seem to put my foot in at the wrong time now and again, as in wrong word said in fun, but can be taken the wrong way by others, can't change

Well, now I'm confused. Um . . . help?


az

s'easy, I can never see anything seriously, I treat life as a joke, so sometimes my PR gets confused and a joke to me, isn't to some others