Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity because it is the only day of the week I get off at my first job.  I got up at 8am, showered, and gathered my things to do laundry.  I packed all my things up in my car and stopped by the leasing office to pay my rent and to renew my lease for another 16 months.  Well, there were a gang of people in there, so I had to wait for awhile before I was able to speak with someone to handle that small matter.  Finally, I headed to the laundromat to do my laundry, and I had a lot of laundry, so I was there for an obscene amount of time. Then I had to fly (and by fly, I mean drive really fast) home to get ready for an interview at 12:30 in Marietta.  The interview went well. I got the job, but after more consideration, I decided it’s not for me.  After the interview I drove to Kennesaw to the AT&T store at Town Center Mall to see what was going on with my phone only to wait in line for over an hour and have them tell me that my warranty is with Apple. Oh, okay. Did I mention eating yet? Nope. By this time, it was 2:30 and I had to be at work in Alpharetta by 4:00 and I wanted to get my hair cut for my $8 Tuesday cut! (That didn’t happen.)

By this time I was starving. Like famished to the point of cannibalism!  Usually I have a salad at work or some nuts and crackers for lunch, but I didn’t go to my first job yesterday. I decided to go ahead and drive to Alpharetta and get something to eat in the area of my second job.  I don’t eat out a whole lot and when I do, I usually just grab something from McDonald’s and call it a good ole happy day. (I can feel your judgement, but trust me, sometimes the last thing I want to do when I get off work is eat, or sit somewhere while they prepare my food, or worse, COOK!) McDonald’s is my homie for dinner!

Anyway, yesterday I stopped at Steak N Shake to have a quick meal before I went to my second job. I sat down at my table and was sitting there for a really long time before “Ashley” as far as I could tell by her name tag, came over.  Kid you not, she said “I’m your server, what do you want?” If you know me, you KNOW the stages of rage that went through me. At first I was going to ask for another server, then I decided I wasn’t going to tip her, and then I realized, this was a great moment of comic relief. Can you imagine someone walking up to your table and saying “I’m your server, what do you want?” I mean seriously?

As a YBB, every dollar out of my pocket is important to me.  I pay for food as well as service.  When I do go out, I tip well above the standard so that’s why I don’t go out to eat a lot.  For the meal I received yesterday, I would usually tip about $2 because the overall cost of my meal was less than $5, but I only tipped Ashley a $1.

The point of this financial story is, Ashley doesn’t know me, and she definitely doesn’t know my struggle with money, but in this economy, it’s important to be as kind as possible to maximize your potential income. I know a dollar isn’t a lot in the greater scheme of things, but a dollar can go a long way when paying $3 for gas.