October 21, 2016 - “I’m a cheapskate at heart . . . or am I frugal?”

          Well, am I?  I like a bargain just like everyone else.  I also like quality and I know enough to pay for quality when I expect to invest in something that will last a long time.  But, I also get sticker shock and say out loud, “I’m too cheap,” and curtail possible purchases when something is not a necessity or I feel is too pricey.

          Today I overheard, “I am too cheap to pay $12 for a breakfast buffet, when all I want is a plain biscuit and cup of coffee  . . .” from an older, stylish woman who was on vacation deciding to opt for the FREE coffee in the hotel lobby and head down the road to the nearest fast food place.  [Unknown to her at the time was the 40 minute drive to the closest fast food place that sold biscuits.]   I smiled to myself as it brought back a wonderful memory.

          She was on vacation.  I critically thought, ‘Doesn’t vacation warrant at least one outstanding elegant breakfast?’

          Our trip to the Bahamas is a wonderful memory that we dust off and recap on many occasions as it was our actual ‘honeymoon’ vacation and the longest in total days of vacation we have ever taken in our lives. 

At the time I was working as a travel agent. [It was an unexpected job change and fun while it lasted.]  As travel agents back in the 1980s deals found you.  This was an air/hotel package and the hotel was being remodeled at the time so the rates were low.  The concept for the reduced rate was their might be some “hotel re-construction,” that the guest had to walk around or see, but that wouldn’t ruin the sun, sand, and exotic location – now would it?

          It was exotic with the beautiful white sand, crystal blue ocean feet from our patio hotel room and soft tropical breezes under the palm trees.  The hotel had an elegant dining room which we tested out the first night of arrival.  The first morning of our week, not knowing the lay of the land, we returned to the elegant dining room for breakfast. 

          It may be 38 years ago, but I can remember being ushered to the perfect table for two at a window with a view of the ocean.  White linen table cloth, china coffee cups, silver cultlery and on the table a circle of those island flowers called hibiscus.  Five red hibiscus blooms lay in the center of the table with no water or vase.  I found out the bloom lasted one day and they replaced them every morning.

          We had a charming Bahamian server.   Leather menus, linen napkins, wonderful coffee and a quick, hot scrumptious breakfast were ours in the twinkling of an eye.

          My husband felt the prices were reasonable, and we were pleased.  We were ready for our own sightseeing around the island.  The server suggested we take the “jitney bus” into town which cost 50 cents a person.  We did so, jumped on the bus that came to the front of the hotel every hour or so.  We held on for a careening ride into town. [I will tell you more of our exploits another time.]

          But, the real meat and potatoes of this blog is the other restaurant at the hotel.  When we left the dining room on the way back to our room to get my camera, we got turned around and ended up back in the lobby and spotted another restaurant  This one was a small snack bar type affair and we saw dozens of patrons at the small tables eating breakfast.  It wasn’t “posh” like what we had just left, but my husband mentioned, “We will try that tomorrow, probably cheaper.”

          I made a mental note of the name of the restaurant, “The chicanery.”

          The next morning we went down to “The Chicanery” for breakfast.  We found a seat and found the menus on the table.    I had barely gotten to the end of the first section of the menu when my husband said, “Let’s go.”

          “Let’s go?”  I quizzed.  I couldn’t imagine why.

          “Let’s go.”  He rose.  There was no discussion.

          I trailed him out wondering what the problem was.   In silence he escorted me back through the maze of the hotel to the elegant hotel restaurant with the linen table cloths, napkins, china coffee cups, silver creamer, the same delightful server and the familiar 5 red hibiscus laid in a circle in the center of the table we were immediately ushered to.

          When the menus were delivered my husband whispered to me, “I don’t understand it; the prices were twice as much at that snack bar.”   Back and forth we whispered as he explained why we were going to be eating in the luxurious hotel restaurant instead of the snack bar.

          It didn’t hurt my feelings, I felt elegant, pampered and, “on vacation”.  Heck, by the third day we had the same server every day, he offered me a choice of several newspapers and for fun I took the Wall Street Journal.  I read that every day for the rest of the week while I lingered over the perfect coffee in the perfect china cup looking out on the perfect ocean view.  And, I was enjoying living like a “Queen” because it was “cheaper” – or because my husband was “frugal”?

          When we returned from vacation and were discussing this curious event of the extraordinary high prices of the snack bar called “The Chicanery” to a well-traveled friend he said,  “It is like that at all beach resorts.  Later in the day, you will be on the beach in your bathing suits so you are a captive of the snack bar because of the no shirts and no shoes rules.  They make a killing.”

          Our more worldly friend added with amusement, “The Chicanery – ha, what a perfect name.”

          Later, I looked up the definition:

Chicanery: Noun – the use of trickery to achieve a political,

financial or legal purpose.

So the following quote rang true in the above situation:

Being frugal allows you to appreciate the simple

things in life.

            John Sachem