My Frugal Life: Coffee Wasters?

Inspired by Lucy's lovely essay on her move to England and coming in touch with frugality (not to mention her talk of wasting Starbuck's coffee), I was inspired to submit a piece I wrote a few months ago.

Coffee Wasters: Why, Oh Why, Dump Your Starbucks? And, May I Have It?

You know who I'm talking about, don't you? You have to have seen this.

A man (or woman, let's be fair) goes to all the effort of stopping off at Starbucks, waits in an enormous line, and digs deep into his pockets to pay for (let's face it) that very pricey cup of coffee, only to walk over to the condiment area and purposely spill about an eighth of it into the garbage. All to make room for cream.

When I see it, it's all I can do to stop from cupping a hand or opening my mouth beneath their cup to catch that liquid gold. Steaming hot or not, I'd risk singeing my taste buds for the stuff, and not because I like it so much. That's a good quarter of two's worth of fancy java.

Am I insane, or is wasting coffee (any coffee) one of the most illogical things you've seen another human being do?

First of all, don't Starbucks employees usually ask customers if they'd like room for cream? Even if they don't, can't you ask them for the space? Even if you forget to ask, can't you make some yourself by sipping it down? I actually know what I'm talking about here. It's happened to me before. I don't have quite enough room for all the half and half or milk I want, so I fill it up as far as I can, take a few gulps (it's cooler now), and fill 'er up again. There's no shame in that (I think, anyway).

And, second of all, there are people parched for coffee in India (or in some part of the world, surely). Did their parents neglect to tell them? Haven't they heard the same dinner time stories I heard growing up? My parents told us "eat your vegetables, there are children starving in the world (blah, blah, blah)", and "I walked five miles uphill to school everyday with holes in my shoes."

If that didn't encourage us to clean our plates, they'd charge us for the meal. I think skipping out on my mom's stuffed shrimp one night set me back about five bucks, thirty years ago!

Last time I checked, food and drink cost money, and even more dough for gourmet. Is it a sign of one's status or wealth to waste such luxurious things? Clearly, I haven't arrived.

Or is it a matter of copycatting; someone sees someone else dump, they figure it's all the rage, and so they hop aboard the wasting train?

Now, I've certainly heard of topping off a drink; I've never before heard of tipping off one. But, then again, I'm no expert.

Please, please, please can someone help me understand? Have you seen this? Are you a coffee waster who'd like to come clean? Tell us all about it!

By Jackie

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