Calculated Risk

It can be hard to know sometimes whether one should take the cheap option or the more expensive one. I found recently that the pasta sauce I liked had become more expensive, and so I went with one a bit cheaper, only to find that I couldn't stomach the drop in quality. I will just have to suck it up and pay on that front, but there are other areas where it works out better to take a chance on cutting corners.

A good example is a pole dancing competition I went to recently. I was eager to go, but not so eager to spend the money on a good seat. The options seemed to be standing room, the seats right in front of that, tables and booths. It developed that my friends had those seats, which were the next step up from standing room. The tables and booths were seemingly the highest in price. I decided to take a chance on standing room.

Rich In Something

I bought tickets for the lottery the other day. You hardly need me to tell you about the historically high jackpot which had developed in the multi-state Mega Millions lottery. As of Friday, when three winning tickets finally brought an end to the mounting riches, it was at 640 million dollars. When the potential payoff is so high that even those who look down on lottery players buy tickets just in case, that's when I get involved.

I can convince myself that I have noble intentions. Some amount of the proceeds from lotteries will go to things like education, or to other worthwhile but underfunded areas of local government. The lottery in Arizona puts some towards the Game & Fish department, for which I have a soft spot in my heart. I would also be delighted to think that my purchase of a lottery ticket some kids are still learning the arts in a classroom instead of from the television.

The Dime? Not Small Time

I keep my loose change fairly well organized, and maybe better than some. Each denomination goes into a separate jar, with the smallest ones obviously accumulating most rapidly, being the heaviest, and amounting to the least in terms of value. I don't do much with those. I suppose that sooner or later I'll put them through one of those change machines only to be astounded at how little I get out of it. I have low expectations.

The larger denominations are really where it's at. The quarters are obviously for laundry, and for somebody else would also be for parking meters. The quarters are boring to me. The interesting denominations are the nickels and dimes. Those are the ones that figure into the time-honored expression about small-timing someone. I use them as a gateway to quarters. As you may recall, I buy sodas in the laundry room with them.

The Hard Way

As I write this, I am occasionally glancing down at the area in front of my computer screen where I have a disorderly little arrangement of some quarters. Two are badly mangled, perhaps having been run over by cars where I picked them up. It's distinctly possible that those ones are effectively unspendable, raising the very good question of why I took them. Perhaps the answer lies in the slowness with which I naturally acquire quarters.

Quarters are of course very necessary. I may not need them for parking a car, but I do need them for laundry, and the reality is that I use them at a rate which far exceeds that at which I come by them incidentally. When someone conducts a lot of cash transactions, a lot of change comes their way. Who does that these days? I myself deal in cash relatively little. That is the nature of finance these days- the money is mostly just numbers on a screen.

Two For Fun

There are the things I struggle with that everyone does, and these things make me relatable. I can make some remark about traffic or bargain shopping, and in this way people can identify with me. Not so with the many other things I must deal with but that no one else has a problem with. One is a particular kind of promotion for live comedy shows I go to. With a coupon, one can get two tickets for the price of one. This really is a good deal, but it has the downside of requiring two people.

As I said, almost no one would have a real issue with this. Maybe it's not any easier for them to round up a second, but I doubt they worry. I worry. I don't just feel the responsibility of coming up with someone for myself, but for everyone I know is going. It just snowballs. First I'm looking for someone to go with me. All I need is one person to fill out my two for one. Do I learn of just one person? No, I find out about two people who each need a second person as I do. One pairs up with me, but now I feel compelled to locate someone for this second person.

No Quarter Given

There are many things that are hard, awkward, weird or uncomfortable for me alone in this world. I'll avoid making a phone call at all costs. I sent someone a letter in the mail because I was uncomfortable calling. It's very fashionable now to text and not call, but I was there before there was a viable alternative. That's just one of many things that are a bewildering, exhausting ordeal in my mind. I don't recommend it as a way of life.

I find that there are two things which I now use far more than I ever have, and so steps must be taking to acquire them in unprecedented numbers. One is checks, and that was dealt with by getting a massive checkbook with register. The other is quarters, and I wish sincerely that I could resolve that matter for nearly as long. The main thing is that I need quarters for laundry, but of course they are also an essential thing for parking in this city (That just doesn't happen to concern me).

Checks And Balances

People seem to write few checks these days. It would seem to be so consistently the case that the Post Office is suffering a drop in general mail volume for lack of printed bills being sent out and printed checks being sent back. This is not about the beleaguered USPS, however. This is about checks. I know I write them seldom, with the rent check being a solitarily regular exception. I guess I nonetheless write more than ever before, since I actually have bills to pay now. I do have some thoughts on them.

I used to just have this stack of them unaccompanied by a register. When I finally ran out (after years), the time came to order new checks. I did not especially enjoy it. They have a lot of fanciful designs meant to afford customers the chance to express themselves when they pay people. I find other avenues for self-expression. Checks are not the place for that. I recall vividly the 'Seinfeld' episode wherein a character is humiliated by a a business displaying his bounced check, which features a design of clowns. Why risk that? I prefer a very plain check. It, like vanity plates on a car, has the additional practical benefit of being cheaper.

The Ultimate Test

I often write about things that surely hold no intrigue for anyone but me. Perhaps the reader is able to get interested through my eyes if I compose the thing skillfully enough, but they're subjects that wouldn't occur to the conventional, well-balanced person. I'm certainly neither of those things, and so it is that I have a significant fascination with that inevitable activity which caps off an otherwise lovely dinner at any sit-down restaurant catering to decent people. I've written about how interesting it is that such establishments trust you to pay after benefiting from their service, but I don't believe that I've written about the nuts and bolts of splitting the bill.

Let's set aside a small group of two or three and jump straight into the large restaurant group. Often such a group triggers an automatic gratuity, leaving unsatisfied diners no legitimate recourse. In such situations, there is no need to form a consensus on a tip. When there is, the groups I'm a part of usually settle on fair or generous regardless of service. I assume this is because most of us ourselves currently work in or previously have worked in food service. Figuring out a percentage can be tough for some, and out the calculator-equipped phones come. I usually move the decimal point over to get ten percent, and then multiply it by the appropriate figure. Some make an effort to make a nice, round number of the tip. I don't get hung up on aesthetics.

No Quarter Given

While doing laundry, I thought some about the currency with which I paid for the use of my apartment building's machines: the quarter. There have been considerable changes with it in my lifetime. There was the whole state quarters thing, for one. I think it's over, but for years and years, otherwise reasonable and intelligent people wasted time speculating about what the special design on the back of the quarter would be for each state. That's not so bad, really, but what really blew my top was to walk into stores and see a quarter- otherwise known as a 25-cent piece- for sale at prices well in excess of its face value. I'm not mollified by any argument that the little plastic case and foam liner make up the difference. They don't, and it wouldn't matter if they did. As a matter of principal, I won't ever pay more than face value for recently-minted US currency.

Where (And Whether) To Lay The Blade

The economy being how it has been over the last few years, anyone reading will have faced a budget which concerns them getting slashed. Whether it's that of your employer, your local government or your previously dependable morning newspaper, you must have given it more than a passing though. I know that I have, and have come to some conclusions (possibly of an erroneous nature, but at least I come by inaccuracies honestly).

The first thought is of whether budget cuts are the right thing to do. Certainly, it would seem obvious that when expenditures amount to 100,000 dollars and revenues less than half that, the two figures must be made to agree with one another. I don't think that cutting expenditures is for the greater good. You are then, of course, able to meet expenses- for the time being. I feel confident in saying, though, that this only leads revenues to drop further. You then cut the budget more, provoking another decline in revenues. When the axe falls, the one wielding it always claims that "we're going to have to do more with less". This is illogical nonsense. You can only do less with less. To do even the same, to say nothing of more, you must conjure up more funds.

The Psychology Of The Delayed Payment

I spoke of the wonder that is being asked to pay for your restaurant service only after you enjoy its every benefit. That had to do with a larger concept: that of the payment made for services rendered. As I believe I indicated then, there's nothing interesting or surprising about paying for something either at the time it is received or before. For the seller to do it any other way would be to practically dare the customer to default on their debt, and yet it happens, as I observed.