And Ross Dress For Less rules!

S’okay. I’m laughing at you all the way to the bank.

Meanwhile:

“Did Starbucks steal your prom date or something? Why are you singling them out twice in a row?”

1) No. I didn’t go to my prom because I was doing time in juvie. (Take that all you “oh, such a suburban housewife perspective” reactionaries.)

2) I, actually, enjoy Starbucks. I go for a latte now and then as a treat. But I, being determined to see our family’s way out of debt (which includes our mortgage), know the difference between indulging in a treat and “me time”. As in: “me time” shouldn’t cost a thing. If it does, it’s some company’s time.

3) And, yes, I resent the fact that so many Mommies — and, let’s face it, outside of NYC and LA that’s the bulk of Starbucks’ customer base these days — view their trip to the Green Mermaid as an “indulgence” because, truth is, they’re getting RIPPED OFF.

Oh, and since I’ve got another PJM column coming up soon, you might want to be aware: I think it *might* mention the word coffee. So, go ahead: start preparing your knee-jerk responses which have nothing to do with the point of the column.

David Brooks, in his BoBo thesis says that a $4 cuppa coffee is right up their with a $75 garden trowel as a deluded, but superbly PC indulgence.

Umm, maybe because they almost perfectly represent something that the writer believes is dying as we speak. Namely to put it crudely — the More Money(borrowed at that) Than Brains model for economic growth and stability. Hard to defend something that is just so clearly WRONG and has had so many deleterious effects.

Always personally thought that Starbucks was a complete rip catering to the self-absorbed, so I consider myself to have been way ahead of the curve. Frankly I hope that they and their ostentatious consumption addicts disguised as customers both continue down the road to personal ‘revelation’. You know the one where $4.00 is a daily wage if you are lucky. The one in which most of the World really lives.

Faster Please. Much much faster.

The fact that Starbucks has had to close 100s of shops (and will no doubt have to close more this year) proves they are a luxury, not a necessity, and there were way too many in NYC and elsewhere. They have become an expensive joke that many in this economy are finding they can easily do without.

As an aside, we are going back to brewing our own coffee at home and mothballing the Keurig. K-cups are very convenient but ridiculously expensive, and our discretionary income is going towards paying off credit cards rather than luxuries.