Motto

Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, get your breakfast first.

--Josh Billings (1818-1885)

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

How Near Perfection Yet So Far

This is the breakfast I eat 5 days out of seven--Cheerios, blackberries, a cup of coffee with an equal part of skimmed milk and two tablespoons of raw sugar.  Yes, those are Honey Nut Cheerios, so the sugar content of the whole breakfast is exceptionally high.  The coffee's 71 cents, the milk 56 cents, 73 cents for the Cheerios, 1.39 for the blackberries, and 8 cents for the sugar.  That's $3.47 simply for the cost.  Now, I have to penalize for three things: 1) I put this together myself which means buying and preparing it. The only thing I like about that is that I get exactly the cup of coffee I want everytime; 2) I eat it at the office, so the service is bad; and 3) The ambiance is what you'd expect in an office.

Bottom Line:  $3.47 + 1.00 for having to make it myself -.25 because I always get the coffee exactly right + 1.00 for the cranky service + 2.00 for the bad seat (stool) and poor ambience = $7.22
Nobody should eat breakfast sitting on a stool or eat with a blue plastic spoon.  Have you ever seen a bigger mug of coffee?
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Scoring Guide

The best score a breakfast can receive is, of course, The Perfect $4.00. A base score is determined by the cost of the entree. That score could rise if the other factors that contribute to breakfast (service, atmosphere, and food quality, for example) warrant a penalty, scored in penalty pennies. The worst score a breakfast can receive is $10.00.

Theoretically, a breakfast could score better than a $4.00 if we walked in, were given the best seat in the place, got called by our names, were served pancakes, two eggs, bacon or sausage, and hash browns for $3.95 with great coffee or ice cold juice. But, if that happens, we won't tell a soul about it because we don't want a horde of other cheapskates messing up the place.

Let's say that Shelby ordered a plain Belgian waffle, a side order of bacon, and orange juice. Since the waffle cost $5.25 and the bacon and orange juice were sides, the breakfast's base score begins at $5.25, and Shelby could opt to begin the score at $5.00 if the conditions warranted it. If the service were bad, then Shelby might add a quarter penalty. If the seats were uncomfortable, he might add a dime, and if his syrup had that icky film on the top, he might add a nickel, resulting in a final score of $5.65. I have to say that $5.65 is a very respectable score.

Let us know how well the scoring guide works for you.