And for my next experiment...

I had trouble saving. At times this trouble was caused by unforeseen circumstances, such as car problems. Other times I might have wanted to buy something and frivolously spent with no worry about anything other than getting what I wanted.

Before I started waiting tables I managed a car wash. The hours were long, the stress was exhausting, but the pay was good. I brought home a substantial pay check that not only consisted of a healthy salary, a chance to make bonus every month (which I did), and I received tips as well. I thought the money would never run out Never once did I think about saving for the proverbial rainy day. I even went through bankruptcy. As good as things were, the floor dropped, but not before I had a conversation with one of my customers.

In the exit area before anyone was called over to their vehicles, we corralled our customers. One reason we stopped them was for safety precautions, the other was we didn't need them pointing out every little detail until we were done the car. This spot was partially encircled by chains with a single egress next to a three foot high, one foot by one foot wide container. This hard metal object had a removable lid containing the word "TIPS" and a slit to slide them through. On good days it filled up nicely; on bad days... well, let's not talk about those. Mostly paper money was dropped but change would clang to the bottom too.

While the cars were being dried off I was able to chat with my customers. Some were about the vehicles and what else could be done to protect them; in essence I was suggesting services that we provided here. One time while I was "policing" customers to stop them from approaching their cars prematurely, a gentleman asked how much change could the tip box hold. I looked at the box, began to calculate the area of the hollow space and guesstimate how many coins the container could hold, thought about the most likely scenario of dimes and pennies taking up the most space by quantity followed by nickels and quarters by size. After seconds of calculation I told him "I didn't know". He replied he filled up a five gallon water jug with $10,000 in quarters. I was skeptical by the amount and figured I wanted to try it. I had an empty water jug at home but couldn't figure out where it was.

It wasn't till a year later I felt it better if I were to live alone. During my move I found the empty water jug. I started on the first day I moved in. I came up with a formula so I wouldn't miss the money that I was dropping, not to mention I wanted to know what was in there when I eventually would have to take it to the bank. It took time, patience, due diligence (I always wanted to add due diligence in a journal) and an amazing amount of self control but after six years and four days I finally figured out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop... Fourteen thousand and two hundred, now I only wish they were all $1 coins.

Thanks for Reading

Tnerb

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