You need to know a few things before you read this (likely over-long) post:
- I did not know what “bloopers” were until I read Swistle’s delightful and drool-inducing post on the topic.
- I do not particularly like chocolate, although I do like it sometimes. For instance, my mother sent me a box of chocolates for my birthday and I ate 90% of them, only giving a few to my husband VERY BEGRUDGINGLY.
- Whenever I write a post that forces you, Internet, to take sides between me and my husband – which I have done, to this point, exactly once, not counting this post you are in the midst of either reading or clicking away from – I feel morally obligated to reference Temerity Jane, who writes not-really-the-same-at-all-but-similar-enough-that-I-feel-morally-torn-type posts (only better and with more hilarity). (This is purely a moral obligation, not a Temerity-Jane-imposed obligation.)
Anyway.
I endured a situation the other day where my husband and I totally, fully, 100%ly disagreed with each other about a decision. And I believe that one of us is Right, and the other is Wrong, and I want to know where you stand.
I don’t really know WHY I want to know where you stand, other than that I really enjoy hearing your thoughts on things. Particularly on silly things that make no difference to the universe as a whole. Because these silly, meaningless things occupy a whole lot of my mind-time and brain-space.
Because no matter what you feel about this matter, and no matter how CONVINCINGLY you argue your position, it will not change things. Perhaps, if you agree with me, I will feel the sense of vindication and absolution that only comes from having hordes of faceless readers agree with you. Perhaps, if you agree with my husband, I will look at him and his decision-making skills in a different light. (Note: Unlikely) But you will not affect the actual choice, which has been made and stuck by although one of us is possibly still WHINING about the decision.
Anyway, as before, I am going to try to present both sides as fairly and unbiasedly as possible, which is a real challenge in this situation as you are about to see.
And once you, the jury, have gathered all the evidence from both sides (although I suppose it is a LITTLE one-sided, considering that my husband is a. not helping me write this post and b. likely does not care what you think) (he’s not a jerk, he just doesn’t know you and respect you like I do), I would like to hear your thoughts on who was Right and who was Wrong and whether there are any mitigating circumstances to consider yada yada blah.
Here is the situation:
My husband and I went to a local chocolate store to buy a housewarming gift for someone. (It was a box of chocolate covered pretzels, if you care.) (Dark chocolate.)
(Chocolates pictured not pretzels. Or in any way related to this post. I just thought all the words could use some sprucing.)
While there, I selected a smallish bag of Sour Patch Kids ($1.40). And then we wandered around the store so that my husband could choose a treat for himself.
The store was wonderfully Eastered out. There were bunnies and chicks and flowers and eggs and all sorts of Easter-y confections.
I mean, you should have seen the array of eggs. Caramel dipped in chocolate. Marshmallow dipped in chocolate. Caramel and marshmallow melded together into some magical concoction that defies naming (except by the store marketers, who named it, appropriately if not very inventively, Caramallow) dipped in chocolate. Plain milk chocolate. Plain dark chocolate. Both kinds of chocolate with nuts. Chocolate eggs filled with all sorts of things, from raspberry cream to chocolate fudge to coconut.
(They also had a section of chocolate crosses. Which… seems to cross [accidental pun] some sort of line, no? I mean, I’m not a very religious type of person. But I am not sure that what I can recall from Sunday School lessons and church sermons meshes well with an edible cross.)
Anyway, as we made our way around the store, we came across a little table near the back that held rows of white paper bags. Each bag was filled with a wide assortment of chocolates – the kind you find inside a variety pack of See’s or Russell Stover. There was a little window on each bag so you could see the chocolates inside, tumbling around together in a little sugary orgy.
They were called something like Sweet Slipups and immediately I recalled Swistle’s post on the bloopers and knew that’s exactly what they were and shared this information with my husband.
(Turns out there was a large notice on one side of the table that spelled out exactly what the slipups were… but I had my epiphany before I’d read it.)
Anyway, the sign said that each bag was $9.95.
BUT…
You could get three bags for $9.99.
One of us was PRO buying three bags of slipups for $9.99.
The other one of us was AGAINST buying three bags of slipups for $9.99.
The one of us who really wanted to buy the slipups felt like it was a fantastic deal. For one thing, each bag contained 16 ounces of chocolates. That’s an entire pound of chocolate for, essentially, $3.33.
That is… unheard of. Especially for high-quality chocolate produced by this local chocolate legend.
It is also a deal that is unlikely to be seen EVER AGAIN, especially considering that we have been to this store approximately eleventy billion times and this is the first time we’ve seen them.
The one of us who was opposed to buying the slipups pointed out that we did not go into the chocolate store intending to buy nearly $10 worth of chocolate for ourselves, so why would we do so now?
Plus, three pounds of chocolate – even at such a low price – is a LOT of chocolate. Who can eat that amount of chocolate? Who SHOULD eat that amount of chocolate?
[Again, chocolates pictured not affiliated in any way with this post.]
And aren’t we both trying to eat really well to counteract all the high-fat, high-calorie deliciousness we’ve been eating on our travels to seven gabillion Interview Locations?
The person who really wanted the chocolate pointed out that we could give away at least some of the chocolate.
The person who did not want the chocolate pointed out that we could not think of anyone to give the chocolate to. (And we agreed that giving it as a housewarming gift instead of the previously-selected pretzels seemed like cheating, somehow.)
The person who really wanted the chocolate pointed out that chocolate does not go bad all that quickly, and just think of all the money we’d save on desserty stuff in the future?
The person who did not want the chocolate acknowledged that having a lot of chocolates on hand for possibly months seemed like a not-horrible idea… But then noted that there was no way to tell which chocolates were in the bags. What if all three bags were full of [other person’s least favorite chocolate ever]?
The person who really wanted the chocolate had eyes only for the deal and brushed off the idea that the contents of the bags could be anything but delicious. And in any case, we would have such riches of chocolates, we could simply throw away any bad seeds and still have plenty to choose from!
The person who did not want the chocolate said, firmly, “We do NOT need three pounds of chocolate.”
The person who really wanted the chocolate wheedled, “But it’s SUCH a great deal!”
We left the store with:
1) One box of dark chocolate-covered pretzels
2) One small bag of sour patch kids
3) One chocolate egg filled with dark chocolate fudge
So, Internet, what do you think?
Is $9.99 for THREE POUNDS of chocolate not the absolute best deal in the whole universe?
Or is it TOTALLY and COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS to buy that much chocolate, on a whim no less, and be out nearly $10 we didn’t intend to spend and up probably 20 pounds by the magic of chocolate-consumption math?
And if you think that chocolate is stupid, what kind of deal would make you cave like a sad, pathetic, deal-caver?
And no matter what you think, what is your favorite kind of from-an-assortment chocolate?
I think my favorites are the caramels. Although I do like a good raspberry cream.
The ones with nuts or coconut – blech. I cannot deal with those. (Unless the nut is a solitary almond.)
And I hate raisins. (Do people even put raisins in chocolate? If they do, they should stop.)
There is no logical end to this post.
If you are the kind of person that would buy the chocolates anyway, but more one-at-a-time then yes, you absolutelty should’ve taken the deal.
But since you stated at the start that you are not a big chocolate-person then I would side with the TOTALLY and COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS side.
I would buy the chocolate though and still think its a totally bad idea. But I am a bad person like that.
Oh and New Commentator here – Hi 🙂
I’m definitely PRO buying the chocolate. But I’m pretty much ALWAYS pro buying chocolate, so no surprise there.
If it’s high quality chocolate (or really, any kind of chocolate), it’s totally worth the cash. You should have purchased the three bags. Seriously.
I probably would have purchased $30-worth. $10 is a fantastic deal for high-quality chocolate.
In principle I don’t think it’s always a good deal to buy something just because it’s on sale. But if it’s something that you really want or need, then you might as well stock up.
My favorite chocolates are the dark chocolate lemon truffles from See’s.
OBVIOUSLY you should have bought the three pounds of chocolate. You could have given one bag as part of the hostess gift: “These pretzels are the hostess gift, but we also got you this bag of slip-ups just for fun!” Then the other two bags would have been fun to pick through. I think fully half the fun of the Bloopers box was the GAMBLE of it.
My favorite from an assortment is a dark chocolate vanilla cream.
Hmm. I would have totally bought it. But I love chocolate, particularly good chocolate. I think I am on the side of doesn’t go bad, so buy it now!
My favorite kind…well that is hard. I do not like coconut at all. I’d rather starve. I don’t like walnuts. (Those are the two I leave in the box. And my mom eats. Those are two of her favorites.) I don’t really like caramels, but I’ll eat them.
If both of you are not big chocolate eaters, three-pounds of chocolate is a little much. Just because something is a great deal does not mean it is practical. And in your case, three pounds of chocolate is not practical. If the three-pounds of chocolate were to sit on your counter for months and then eventually get thrown away, essentially you would be wasting. I would have just bought the one bag for the same price.
This is the exact same argument I have with my mother regarding clothes on clearance. My mother sees a shirt for $5 that was originally $30 and gets super pumped. We have to buy it, says she, for it is on super sale. Did you come in here for the shirt? I ask. Of course not. So why buy it? It just adds junk to your life.
It’s a little different because chocolate will eventually be eaten, I suppose, but if it’s not part of your snacking plan, what’s the point of buying it? I don’t know. I think I’m a stick in the mud about the whole thing.
I wouldn’t buy the bloopers.
I would have purchased the chocolates knowing full well that they can be stored in the freezer, thus extending their shelf life, practically indefinetely (unless you live in my house where they would last approximately as long as it took for the children to find them hidden in the freezer. Damn you, children, damn you).
As an aside, today is the first day of Lent and, as I always do, I have chosen to give up chocolate for the next six weeks. This post reminds me of why I actually consider this a sacrifice. Oh, my lover, chocolate, I miss you, already.
Buy the chocolate! Always buy the chocolate! But then again, we both love chocolate so we wouldn’t need any convincing. My favorite is dark chocolate although lately I’ve been liking milk chocolate as well…
Ok so while in the store I would be PRO purchasing the three bags…but once we got home and put the bags on the counter I would suddenly turn against the chocolate-buying – who wants to buy that much chocolate?! (oh yeah, I DO). But then whenever I had a chocolate craving, or when I wanted something sweet, or when I was bored and wanted food that day (or any days following that) I would be pro again. But then I would probably eat more than 1 or 2 or 3 pieces and be against the choclate buying.
Yes I realize how ridiculous that is but that’s how my mind works. So in the store? I would have been pro.
No, this makes perfect sense.
Hmm. If my husband had been advocating for the purchase of said chocolate, I would have agreed to the purchase because it does seem like a good deal and I know it would get eaten. I, however – if left to my own devices – would never have purchased three pounds of chocolate because… HOLY THREE POUNDS OF CHOCOLATE! IN MY HOUSE! No. Just, no. We do not need that, now or ever. Because if it’s there, I’m eating it.
1. About the chocolate crosses: My husband has an idea to sell Chocolate Jesuses around Easter under the brand, “Sacri-licious!” (don’t tell him I just leaked his gold marketing campaign).
2. I would buy the chocolate (in theory, I don’t eat chocolate). But I’m trying to help my husband lose weight, so if he suggested it, I would probably have either said no or made him give it away. Like, Random Acts of Kindness style and give one bag to the really whiny kid in the store whose life is so unfair because he can’t have every single piece of candy in the store. It’d be good payback for the mom who raised her kid to be a brat. (Just kidding. Sort of…)
3. Chocolate and raisins – Raisinettes?!
Oh right – Raisinettes! Der. That is how totally off my radar chocolate-with-raisins things are.
I would have bought the chocolate, and given one bag to the hostess in addition to the pretzels (as Swistle suggested) and put one bag in the freezer. Chocolate can be frozen for up to 6 months. I might have even frozen both bags, and then just taken out a piece here or there when I wanted one. That way, it lasts longer and isn’t sitting in front of you, taunting you with it’s chocolateyness.
But, all that being said, I can understand the “it’s not practical to buy something just because it’s a good deal.” I make exception to something like this as long as you can afford it because you will use it. Things like knick-knacks and clothing that you might not wear are not the same as consumables.
ps. I forgot to mention that I LOVE anything with caramel. Especially those big pieces with nuts and caramel and chocolate, but even the little ones.
I worked at a chocolate store when I was first out of college and it was my favorite job EVER. People are so HAPPY in chocolate stores!
I think I would have bought it even though 3 lbs of chocolate sitting around my house is such a bad idea! My husband claims to not like chocolate so I would eat the majority and hope the bags were filled with carmels, nuts & coconut!
I love chocolate so I would have definitely been tempted by those bags! However, my husband would definitely have taken the same approach and I suppose ultimately for 10 dollars I’d rather walk out with what both of us want to eat right then than grab bags that could have alot of stuff neither of us like. Then again, it’s entirely dependent on where I’m buying chocolate. Some chocolate makes can do no wrong in my eyes and I will eat everything they produce. Others, I’m not so fond of their flavor combinations.
Hmm…
🙂
When I start freaking out about spending amounts of money less than $10, here’s what I think about:
“If we both went out for coffee, and each of us got a pastry… we would spend $15.”
And that situation is completely plausible. So why am I willing to spend that much of a snack, but not on… chocolate (or whatever else it may be at the time).
I am not my husband’s keeper, and it is his money as much as it is my money, so I feel like… if it were me wanting the $10 worth of chocolate, he would never say no to me – so why would I have the right to say no to him. This is something I really struggle with too. I always feel like I have to be in control of everything and snap decisions really bother me. But it’s not like he’s buying a wii with out consulting you (which… my husband did).
Yes, the money thing is tricky. We discuss pretty much every purchase, even if it’s some gadget my husband wants to buy with birthday money. But I definitely feel weird sometimes about him suggesting I should NOT spend money on something or vice versa.
Haha, great topic! I can very much relate to this post. This debate comes up so often in our lives and we have polarizing views as well.
I am of the belief that you should not purchase something simply because it is on sale, especially if you don’t need it or were intending to purchase it in the first place. Even if something was originally $50 and is now on sale for $20, I don’t see it as saving $30, I see it as spending an extra $20. I make exceptions for long-lasting consumable items such as toothpaste or tinfoil (which you’ll always need at some time and don’t spoil) providing you have the space to store it.
We once had a lengthy discussion at the grocery store about rice. I wanted a small bag of rice because I rarely eat rice and live in a very tiny apartment with minimal storage. He thought I should buy the much larger 10kg sack of rice because it was so much more economic and would last me a long time. Although I agreed about the economics, I doubted I could possibly polish off 10kg of rice on my own let alone find the room to store it. But I conceded and hauled the huge sack of rice home, stuffed it under my counter (it barely fit) and then proceeded to curse at how much space it took up. Four months later I finally decided to make rice. When I opened the sack it was full of rice mites (ew, ew, ew) and so I ended up throwing the whole thing out, driving to the grocery store, and buying a much smaller bag. We don’t talk about it anymore. Haha!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a great deal and making economically viable choices, but I definitely draw lines.
And anything hazel-nutty and chocolate gets my vote.
Rice mites – oh my! This is the best cautionary tale I’ve ever heard against buying in bulk.
Buy it. Buy six bags for 20 bucks. Heck, can you go back and buy it now? Do it do it! It’s too good a deal on something that is too delicious!
Pro buying chocolate! You can always give it a way, or put it in the freezer and just take a couple pieces out at a time!
I love pretty much any chocolate. I love dark chocolate even more. As long as there isnt any coconut in it.
I’m fairly certain I would have been ALL OVER buying that deliciousness. In fact I know I would. Would it have been worth the $10? In my eyes, YES! But eventually I would be shaking my head and saying NO.
I do that all the time though. Buy things I don’t need, and then when I am budgeting at the end of the month and looking at all the crap i spend (or I am barely making ends meet and I look at all the things that were “on sale”) I am usually kicking myself for having bought all that stuff.
So best bet was to probably not buy it. But I would have been the person begging to buy it. Does that make sense?
Well I hate chocolate so my opinion probably isn’t worth much, b/c I wouldn’t have been tempted in the first place, but I think that if I liked chocolate I would have bought it. I’m a sucker for a deal. I probably would have regretted it when I got home, but I would have succumbed to my love of a good deal.
I would have TOTALLY bought the chocolate. I can’t pass up a deal that good, especially for things we will and can eat over the long term!
I love chocolate. I love bargains. End of story. How could there have been a discussion over this except whether to go for 6 bags as opposed to 3?
all i can think of now is ‘choooocolateeeee droooolll”
So….I would have bought the chocolate. Who doesn’t love delicious gooey chocolate? And then I would have put ALL of it in the freezer and had a piece here and a piece there. Luckily, you can do that with chocolate. And I think that’s the only reason why I would have bought it. This can apply to other items as well, like Becky said, things that you will definitely use, but will not go bad. Which for the chocolate, given a shelf life of maybe more than 6 months, is easily enough time to finish it.
However, I can easily see the other POV. Now, I REALLY love chocolate and it is something I would consider worth it. But, there are certainly things that even this on sale, are not worth it to me. Like maybe alcohol. I don’t enjoy alcohol all that much (I know, I know) so even if its 95% off, No Thanks, I’ll spend my $5 on something else. But that’s just me.
My goodness, you wouldn’t think buying chocolate would make you think so much or require such introspection and self-analysis. I suppose its good to figure this stuff out about hypothetical chocolate buying than in the middle of a store arguing with my husband about spending $10 on booze.
I would of gone for the 3 bags, personally. But I heart chocolate!
Buy the 3 pounds of chocolate, of course!! But, then again, I’m not the wife of a student. We both have full time jobs and can afford a random $10, yah?
Also, my favorite random chocolates are the dark chocolates filled with dark chocolate cream. YUM!!!
Would have bought it in a heartbeat. (Did you get these in Georgetown? If so, I know where you got them and the owner used to be my roommate. I realise this makes me sound like a stalker.)
Hmm… I would have bought the three bags and done “random acts of kindness” with two bags and stored the third bag in the freezer for myself. (Out of sight, sort of out of mind.)
As an aside, you could definitely strike out with the slip-ups. So maybe I would have put on clean gloves (being anti-germ myself), sorted said choccies into gift bags and set aside a few favourites for myself!
I probably would have bought the chocolate. I know that finances are a steady concern for most medical families, but $10 is approximately the cost of one or two desserts at a restaurant OR about three boxes of cookies. I’m not going to lie…I eat cookies or chocolate everyday. Even though it would take months to get through, high quality chocolate is probably better than say, Oreos.
If the main argument was that the chocolates wouldn’t get eaten, that’s one thing, but I thought you and your dad make chocolate and love chocolates, etc.? No?
That’s quite a discussion about chocolate. I think it’s been said already, but I would have really really WANTED to buy the chocolate, but in the end I wouldn’t have. I don’t need the extra calories and I couldn’t hide it in the freezer because the rest of my family doesn’t have my metabolism, so they could eat it anytime. So I would have left it there..I also am sort of in the camp of ‘just because its on super sale doesn’t mean you buy it’. I get sucked into this too often at Bath&Body with the buy 3 get 1 free…but if I just buy 1 which is all i need…I’ve saved the cost of those other 2…sometimes I win that one. Sometimes not.
I like plain milk chocolate, but I can also down chocolate with caramel centers or chocolate covered cherries.
I would have bought them…. that was a great deal.
THen I would have sent them to work with my dr. husband, and he would have totally won brownie points with the staff. It would have just been a nice gesture to say thanks.
But I also love chocolate and they may not have made it to work.
I love chocolate with caramel, or with coconut, or with nuts. I don’t like the fruit ones.
Your husband sounds quite sensible, which is wonderful. I’m impressed. I would have bought the chocolate too – and then regretted it. Yum, I love how you describe it, now I need some!
I’m in the minority here, but despite my adoration of chocolate, I would be ANTI CHOCOLATE. Because you didn’t particularly WANT the chocolate, you just felt obliged to take advantage of a deal. Which is exactly like buying something because you have a coupon, even though you didn’t need the whatsit. If you liked chocolate and saw an advantage to having a generous supply, that could be acceptable. But in general, I find it’s best to buy things because I want them, rather than because some marketing genius caught me at a weak moment.
i would have bought the chocolate regardless of the other persons thoughts. if i can’t spend $10 without a conference than i think i would have to go live back with my parents. of course i am 55 and that is not possible but i would have bought the chocolate…
Since both my husband and I love chocolate, I absolutely would have bought it! If we didn’t eat, I would have given it away, chocolate makes just about anyone’s day brighter and what a deal!
I am not the type of person that will buy anything just because it’s a deal, but a deal like buying two more pounds of chocolate for an additional .05, ABSOLUTELY!
My favorite chocolates are the dark chocolate caramels, chocolate peanut butters and chocolate with vanilla or stream cream, mmmmm
I can answer both sides of this. One: I love chocolate and dessert. If it’s around I eat it. It’s a great deal. However, since I eat it if it’s around, that means it will just go from 3 pounds of chocolate to 20 pounds of flab. Not worth it.
BUT… as much as I could have persuaded myself of that if I were alone, if I were with my husband and he was implying that I don’t need to eat that much chocolate, I would have become stubborn and pissy about it and wanted it anyway.
Love dark chocolate with caramel, nuts or mint.
I vote for not getting the chocolate. My mother on the other hand has a fit if she has a coupon – for anything – and ends up not using it. She is some how wasting money if she doesn’t go to Macy’s when she gets their weekly 20% off and use it. She would have purchased the chocolate – probably several of them – and she would have mailed one big bag to me.
So……which side were you on???