Month: November 2020

The Monday Peeve — Price Gouging

Fandango33 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve post, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off. Today my peeve is directed at me for not realizing that I am the victim of price gouging. I’m peeved with myself for not paying enough attention.

Most restaurants in our local town have been closed, except for takeout or delivery, since this quarantine thing started back in March. So my wife and I have been using various meal delivery services like DoorDash or Grubhub for meal delivery.

We probably have had prepared meals delivered once a week over the past eight months. And we have found a Chinese restaurant that we both like and have been having their food delivered a couple of times a month. I typically go to the DoorDash app, place my order, and within an hour, it’s delivered to our house.

Last Friday, though, I had to pick up something at the hardware store and I decided to order takeout directly from that Chinese restaurant and to pick it up myself on my way back home. Included in the bag with the food was a paper menu.

I noticed that the food I picked up at the restaurant seemed to cost less than the same items when I ordered them from DoorDash. So when I got home I looked at the paper menu from the restaurant and then went back to look at my last electronic receipt from DoorDash for the exact same items.

Now I expected there to be a delivery charge from DoorDash that I wouldn’t be paying if I picked up the order myself. But what surprised me was that DoorDash also charged more for each item I ordered than what the restaurant charges.

For example, I ordered two orders of vegetable fried rice at $8.95 each on the restaurant’s menu. But on the DoorDash receipt, the charge was $9.85 each. We had two main dishes. On the restaurant’s paper menu, each was listed at $12.95. But on the Door Dash receipt, the charge was $14.25 for each. We also ordered some extra Chinese veggies — $10.95 on the menu and $12.05 on the DoorDash receipt. Finally, spring roll appetizer that was $6.95 on the menu was $7.65 from DoorDash.

Bottom line: the cost of our Chinese carry out from the restaurant came to $61.70, while the cost of the exact same items from DoorDash cost $67.90.

Now I know what you’re thinking: $6.20 is not a huge price to pay for the convenience of home delivery. But, on top of the prices for the individual items, DoorDash added a delivery fee of $6.99 plus a service fee of $13.58. So between the upcharges for the food, the delivery fee, and the service fee, the additional cost for the convenience of having my Chinese food delivered came to a whopping $26.77. That’s a 43.3% premium of what I paid when picking the food up myself versus having it delivered to my door. That’s a hefty chunk of change, especially if you multiply that by 16 for twice a month delivery over the past eight months

So yeah, I’m pissed at DoorDash for price gouging. But I’m even more pissed at myself for ignoring the fine print and for not paying attention to the details.

I Told You So

Fandango9 Comments

Ryan ran into the bathroom and vomited into the toilet bowl. When he felt there was nothing left to throw up but bile, he sat back on his haunches, breathing heavily and sweating profusely.

His wife, Michelle, waked into the bathroom to see how he was doing. “Oh my god, Ryan, flush the damn toilet. That shit smells putrid.”

“I feel awful,” Ryan said. “Can you please cut me some slack?”

Michelle reached around her husband and flushed the toilet. Then she stood back and put her hands on her hips. “I hate to say I told you so, but I did try to explain to you how important is was to get a flu vaccine this year. I even gave you a copy of that article about how severe this year’s flu strain is expected to be. They said it was crucial for everyone, especially people of our age, to get a flu shot. But did you listen? No, of course not. You always have to play the part of the macho man. And now here you are, sick as a dog and stuck in the bathroom with your arms wrapped around the porcelain goddess. It serves you right for being such a stubborn asshole.”

With a pitiful expression on his face, Ryan looked up at his wife and had just enough time to sarcastically say, “Thanks, honey, for all that slack you’re cutting me,” before throwing up once again into the toilet.

Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (flush), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (putrid), Word of the Day Challenge (explain), The Daily Spur (copy), MMA Storytime (vaccine), and Your Daily Word Prompt (crucial).

Share Your World — Men in Pink

Fandango7 Comments

Share Your WorldIt’s another Monday and that means we have another Share Your Word edition from Melanie at Sparks from a Combustible Mind. Here we go.

What would you enjoy if you could do so without someone getting annoyed with you for enjoying it? It MUST be something you aren’t supposed to enjoy because it is “bad for you.”

Okay, my answer is going to be pretty lame, I admit it. It’s not so much something I would enjoy doing because it’s “bad for me,” as much as it is something that I would enjoy doing even though it might be bad for my marriage. And no, it’s not what you’re thinking. My wife is not a big fan of science fiction or horror movies, but I’ve always enjoyed them. So, when watching TV with my wife, I’d probably watch more such movies if I didn’t care that she would be annoyed with me for doing so. See, I told you it was going to be lame. But you know what they say, right? “Happy wife, happy life.”

Is it okay for men to wear the color pink?

You know my theory on most things: Whatever floats your boat. So if men wish to wear the color pink, they should wear the color pink. I have some plaid shirts that have pink in them.

Can you curl your tongue?

Yes. And not only can I curl my tongue, I can take a maraschino cherry stem, put it in my mouth, and tie a knot in it using only my tongue. This unique talent proved to be very handy back in the day, you know what I mean, ladies?

What, in your opinion, is the best room to put a fireplace?

We have a fireplace in our family room and I think that’s a great place to have a fireplace. In one of our previous homes, we also had one in our bedroom, which is a good place for a fireplace.

Blogging Insights — What’s In a Name Part 2

Fandango11 Comments

Blogging insightsThis week’s edition of Blogging Insights from Dr. Tanya is a continuation of last week’s edition, where she asked if we use all or part of our actual names for our blogs or if we use pseudonyms. This week she’s asking about our blogs’ titles. She wants to know…

Why did you choose your particular blog title? Was their a reason behind it or was it just a random choice?

My blog’s title is “This, That, and The Other.” I chose that title for my blog because it doesn’t have a specific niche. It’s about whatever I feel like posting at the time. Sometimes that involves writing flash fiction posts. Some of my posts are political in nature. In some I’m expressing my observations, opinions, and perspectives on a wide array of topics. Some of my posts are word and/or photo prompts meant to inspire other bloggers. Sometimes I write posts in response to prompts from other bloggers. So, since I write about this, that, and the other, I thought that “This, That, and The Other” would be the perfect title for my blog.

Do you think that a catchy, “click bait type” title does better or is a blog name that indicates the general purpose of the site more attractive for readers?

I guess that depends upon the nature of the blog and each blogger’s intentions. If the blogger has a specific niche and the blogger is trying to attract others who are interested in that niche, then the blog’s title should probably give prospective readers some clue about that niche. But if, as is the case with my blog, there is no niche, then I’m not sure what the blogger titles his or her blog is that important.

That said, sure, a clever, catchy, or memorable blog title might pique some initial interest on the part of some readers. But it’s the content of the posts, more than the title of the blog, that will keep readers coming back.

Some bloggers have the same user name and blog title. What is your opinion of this? Or, are you one of them? If so, could you share your reason for this?

This blog is my fifth blog and, in all five instances, my blogging pseudonym and blog title have been different. I think it’s relatively rare for a blogger’s user name and blog title to be exactly the same. But I’m fine either way. My philosophy of life and my philosophy regarding what bloggers use for their user names and for their blog titles are the same: whatever floats your boat.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #94

Fandango15 Comments

Welcome to “Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge.” Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenge bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the photo. There are no style or word limits.

The image below is from Ryan McGuire at Pixabay.For the visually challenged writer, the photo shows a person who has partially jumped into an upper dryer along a row of stacked dryers at a laundromat.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Thanks to all of you who have participated in these challenges. Your posts have been very creative. Please take a few minutes to read the other responses to this photo challenge.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.