That F***ing Juice

[frugalNYC]

Last Friday I forgot to bring lunch as I normally do and then pushed hard to finish a project around 3pm, just as my blood sugar levels crashed (not that I'm making excuses!). I popped out to grab something at the salad place near my work and when I was waiting in line with my rice and kale bowl, I picked up a juice near the register.

MISTAKE.

When the cashier rang me up, I was shocked by the price of the juice-- $14.00 --but my voice caught in my throat and instead of slapping the damn bottle out of the cashier's hand and running for my life, I handed over my debit card.

Mentally kicking myself on the walk back to work, I decided that if I had the f***ing juice anyway, I was going to enjoy it.

BUT NO.

It tasted disgusting. Like a wave of bile tinged with salt and lemon and a hint of cabbage. I even made my boss try it and she agreed that it was the most disagreeable substance on earth.

After paying double what I paid for my salad for that f***ing green juice, I was determined to drink it anyway and fully experience my stupidity. But boss made the point that it was probably engineered by aliens as a way to test human intelligence ("Will they consume even the dreadful things as long as they are branded and expensive?").

Please punch my face.

[Paulie]

Hahaha, at least you use your mistakes to make us laugh ;-)!

But $14 for a juice, wow! Next time, resist the temptation, they always put products near the cashier that people will buy more easily as an impulse.

[lentilman]

Like a wave of bile tinged with salt and lemon and a hint of cabbage. I even made my boss try it and she agreed that it was the most disagreeable substance on earth.

What do you call the people who drink that juice everyday?


The Aristocrats!

[pom]

When the cashier rang me up, I was shocked by the price of the juice-- $14.00 --but my voice caught in my throat and instead of slapping the damn bottle out of the cashier's hand and running for my life, I handed over my debit card.

This is also something that I struggled with. I used to feel too self-councious to just give it back. Now I do it pretty much each time and it feels like a huge victory against my own shy self.

[greenmimama]

Oh no, that is such a terrible price, but I can understand not wanting to make a big deal of it in the moment.

I drove into an oil change place not long ago, we moved so I was trying to find a good place, They didn't have any prices posted and no waiting, so I pulled in and asked about the price and they said $38, I said well then I am going to have to leave, sorry. They were quite nice about it, but I was still embarrassed, but they were the ones that should be embarrassed charging people that much, when other places are $15 for the same thing.

[aglassman]

You paid $14 for a juice to save face with a cashier that you don't personally know, and a handful of strangers you'll never see again.  Face punch! Face punch! Face punch!

Luckily this experience has made you stronger, and you'll be fully willing to accept the shame of random strangers next time.

[bomgd3]

One of my problems also used to be embarrassment about trying to save money.  I remember declining a cup of green tea at a Japanese restaurant for $2.50 a long time ago and getting poked fun of by my friends.  It took me several years, but now I'm very fastidious and fully comfortable about asking the price of everything, and never get embarrassed if I need to turn something down.  You know what bugs me to know end?  Restaurants where the price of beer isn't listed, and the waiter/waitress has no idea what they cost.

[schimt]

You know what bugs me to know end?  Restaurants where the price of beer isn't listed, and the waiter/waitress has no idea what they cost.

Yes! and if you are at a seafood or steak place and a plate is marked at "Market Price" which is fine because those meats generally vary a lot, but if you ask the price, they look at you like you have 3 heads and are just suppose to accept that it may be $100 plate or something, then they have to go find out.

[arebelspy]

Like a wave of bile tinged with salt and lemon and a hint of cabbage. I even made my boss try it and she agreed that it was the most disagreeable substance on earth.

What do you call the people who drink that juice everyday?


The Aristocrats!

Hah!  Well played.  :D

[dragoncar]

You know what bugs me to know end?  Restaurants where the price of beer isn't listed, and the waiter/waitress has no idea what they cost.

Yes! and if you are at a seafood or steak place and a plate is marked at "Market Price" which is fine because those meats generally vary a lot, but if you ask the price, they look at you like you have 3 heads and are just suppose to accept that it may be $100 plate or something, then they have to go find out.

I hate that, and really it's not very hard for them to put up a chalkboard with the three or four "market price" items every day.

[JessieImproved]

$14 is so far outside the realm of reason that I don't think I would be ashamed to make a big deal out of it. 

[Eric]

I got burned like that once.  We went out to eat at an Italian restaurant in the next town over that had just opened a few months earlier.  All of the entrees were priced between $15-$20 each.  The server told us the specials, and I ordered one because, hey it sounded good.  And it's the special.

When we got the bill, my entree was $32!  Oh, now I see why it was so special.  It makes a special profit for the restaurant.  I didn't say anything, but we never went back.  They closed down a year or two later.  I didn't have to guess why.

I always ask now.  Chalk it up to lesson learned.

[dragoncar]

I must know which juice this is.  Also I forgot to mention that similar (although far less egregious) things happen to me all the time.  On the other hand, I had no shame asking each of the 5 food vendors at the airport if they offered free refills on their sodas and picking the one that with the best offer (none of them did, but one guy said 2, and that was good enough for thirsty me).

[russianswinga]

I know what juice it is too :)

[Albert]

14$ juice? That would be really high even by Swiss standards :)

[mensa]

Lentilman - if I'd been drinking juice when I saw your comment, it would've come out my nose! Thanks for the belly laugh.

[frugalNYC]

Picture of the juice attached. Took it to remind myself to never make this mistake again.

[arebelspy]

Yeah no wonder it tasted like that.  Those ingredients do not sound delicious to me.

Oh well, lesson learned.  We all make mistakes like that.  :)

[frugalecon]

Wow, you could have bought a bag of the veggies for the same price and made some tasty meals for a few days. The whole juice obsession mystifies me. Why not eat the food and get the fiber too!?!

Picture of the juice attached. Took it to remind myself to never make this mistake again.

[Ian]

This is why I don't like places without clearly listed prices. I've gotten to the point where I can say "Nope" and hand something back, but it's much easier to just make decisions with adequate information.

[dragoncar]

This is why I don't like places without clearly listed prices. I've gotten to the point where I can say "Nope" and hand something back, but it's much easier to just make decisions with adequate information.

Yeah, if I see something without a price tag I usually just pass ... kinda like "if I have to ask I can't afford it" mentality

[frugalNYC]

Wow, you could have bought a bag of the veggies for the same price and made some tasty meals for a few days.

ugh. This is so true.

[Bruised_Pepper]

I know what juice it is too :)

The fact that the juice came from 1,000 years in the future means that $14 a bottle is probably a pretty good deal, with inflation and all.

[grantmeaname]

It's so nice that there's finally a community with the proper level of appreciation for Futurama. Even my other forum, an ur-nerdy computer hardware site, hardly mentions it. (And SMBC, too. Mustachians must have good taste.)

[Bruised_Pepper]

(And SMBC, too. Mustachians must have good taste.)

Mmmm...Wiener.