fine. let me burn my hand.

yesterday, on the way to whole foods to get ear candles, i stopped at the convenience store at whitsett and chandler for a cup of coffee. it's cheap and it's good and it's always piping hot. so hot, in fact, that despite their heavy duty cups, i like to slide a second one on just in case my hand can't handle the heat. a protective covering, if you will. i used to do this regularly when i worked at the burgess cafe at skidmore. granted, our coffee cups may as well have been made out of tissue paper, for even with two cups i often found myself hustling to a flat surface to sit my beverage down until it had cooled.

anyhow, while i know this isn't the most environmentally-conscious way to consume coffee, i can't afford to risk burning my hand while i'm driving. so i did in fact take two cups. i brought my drink up to the register, all smiles, excited about the chilly weather and about the fact that i had managed to leave the house in my slippers and that it somehow seemed publicly acceptable, even in los angeles. i knew the coffee was going to be $1.20, but i waited for the man at the register to tell me so.
instead, he just stared at my coffee, as if confused as to what i was purchasing.

"you took two cups?" he said, after a long pause.
"oh. oh, look at that! ha! how'd that get there?!..." i responded, really just wondering if he was actually serious.
"....."
"should i...do you want me to go put this one back?"
"no. just leave it here."
"ok..."
"a dollar twenty."

fuckin economy.
when i told matt what had happened he pointed out how strange it is that we might not be living in a better america than our parents did.
is this really true? are we living in a world where expecting two coffee cups is considered to be just a little too extravagant?
god, i hope not.
but i'm starting to think maybe we are.