Posts Tagged ‘Coffee shops’

Designer Coffee and My Personal Finances

May 19th, 2012

 

 

Can a blog article pay for 2 coffees and pastries?

I sinned this morning. Somewhere in the Bible there is a commandment, a lesser one, perhaps, but nevertheless a commandment, that says, “Thou shalt not forget”. I forgot, but in this case I paid the price with a smile.

 

 

I go along

This morning my wife had a chore in the adjoining town, saw me sitting blankly in front of the computer and asked if I’d like to come along. With a gasp of relief at having an alternative, I grabbed my car keys and off we went. The business was over in a few minutes and as we walked back to the car she said, “how about morning coffee in the mall?”  That was the moment of my sin. Too late, I remembered the last time we had morning coffee in the mall. But things were different then.

 

 

The mall

The mall is huge. Two floors of heavy shopping, and to my surprise as a Recession Writer, thronged with shoppers. And most of the people were carrying shopping bags, a sure sign that they are buying or at worst, exchanging something they bought that didn’t fit. The coffee shop is great. It features the latest in coffee shop architecture and serves designer coffee to designer housewives wheeling little designer babies. The place is pretty full and the babble of conversation drowns out the coffee music.

 

 

We order

 

My wife orders a small cappuccino and a Danish pastry, with cinnamon, she says. I order a medium latte with a shot of caramel syrup and the same Danish. Everything is delicious. The Danish arrive on plates with a small mound of cinnamon dust on the side meaning that the waitress or the chef almost understood the order. Whatever, it was great. Then we got to the finances. 

 

 

The bill

I am an article writer. An article takes me between 40 and 90 minutes to write, read and send. The average article brings in about $25.00. The coffee bill:

• 1 small cappuccino                                          4.25                
• 1 medium latte with a shot of caramel syrup  5.00
• 2 Danish pastries with cinnamon on the side  8.00
• Tip                                                                    2.15
• Total                                                                19.40

 

 

I’m satisfied

 

I never do exercises like the one above in case I come out losing. This particular one came out just fine – I’m quite content to devote an article to a coffee morning in pleasant surroundings which make me feel temporarily flush. Dinner, of course would be a 3 or 4 article affair depending on the restaurant and the menu. Has my financial life been reduced to an “article scale” in personal economics? I don’t think so, but the article writing side of my life definitely plays a part in what goes on a daily basis.     

 

 

Last time in the mall

I thought back to our last coffee morning in the same coffee shop in the mall. I was newly unemployed and it hurt everywhere. The bill for the coffee was probably the same but at that time there were no articles to the rescue. I vowed ‘never again’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Article writing, Coffee shop economics, Coffee shops
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