My lovely wife used the term "ka-ching" the other day. I hadn't heard that phrase in a long time. It represents the sound of a cash register as it rings up the money you owe.
It is the sound you hear when you go to the grocery store to get some pickles and you come home with two bags of groceries. Ka-ching! You just blew your budget.
You go to buy a skateboard for your favorite grandson and the better board costs "just a little bit more". Ka-ching.
Your car is getting serviced and they tell you the brake pads are shot. Ka-ching!
You go to a restaurant with the 5 Grasshoppers and you tell them to pick something modest off the menu. Chris orders steak. Ka-ching!
You buy a new microwave and they offer you a 5-year warranty for $20. You take it! Ka-ching! By the way, never take the insurance programs offered by retail outlets especially on items costing several hundred dollars.
You decide to have a simple wedding with just a few guests. Suddenly the total soars because you don't want to leave anybody out. Ka-ching!
You rescue a kitten from the Humane Society and then you buy a portable animal carrier, kitty litter and special animal dishes. And then there are the toys. And there are special vitamins. A collar. We need a special collar. Shots! We need to make sure they get the shots. Did I mention neutering. Ka-ching. Ka-ching. Ka-ching. All the photographs are free. Bottom line? Who cares, he is cute!
Which brings me to the event that triggered this rant. We needed mulch put around the house. One solution was Collin and myself working side by side to spread mulch around. I know how that goes. Collin goes to soccer practice and Chuck spreads mulch alone becaise it is clogging the driveway. We needed 19 yards of mulch. That is a full dump truck of mulch. So we hired a couple guys to bring it in and spread it. While they were working, they invited me out to look at some things that they had found. You know, "this bush is dead" and it should come out. Being the quick decision maker that I am, my response is "yah, go ahead". Ka-Ching! When the bill came it was higher than they quoted and I had apoplexy. When I mentioned it my bride, she said the work crew had asked her also about moving some bushes and small trees and she said "go ahead". Ka-Ching! Ka-Ching! Ka-Ching!
So my message Grasshoppers is lookout for the Ka-ching Factor. It will grab you when you least expect and it can be avoided. It is a sneaky phenomenon.
Love,
Dad