...but the bank was closed, so I went to deposit the check in an ATM, but I didn't have a pen to endorse it with. There was a girl waiting on line to use the ATM, and I asked her if she had a pen, and she said: "What!? A penny?" As though I was about to scratch off a lotto ticket and deposit the winnings directly into my checking account.
And I said: "No, a pen." And she didn't have one.
So I went across the street to an art supply store where they sell individual pens for something like fifty cents, and instead of buying one I whipped out my check right there, in the pen aisle, and endorsed it while the clerk wasn't watching, with a Bic I had no intention of paying for.
This despite the fact that I was about to bank a check worth many hundreds of Bic pens. (100% from writing for websites! For real!)
In that instant, I realized that I might be transitioning from merely thrifty to full-on cheapskate. I'm not yet to the point where I'm stealing ketchup packets and squeezing them into an empty ketchup bottle to avoid buying ketchup, though.
But another thing I've caught myself doing lately is using paper napkins for multiple meals. There was a time when I lived like some kind of paper-products king, all using a piece of Bounty to wipe the merest drop of peanut butter off my lip and tossing that napkin in the garbage. Now, unless the napkin is completely without any large patches of unsoiled wiping surface, it's still good. And that's because I don't want to buy more.
I'm not worried yet, but if I start to feel the uncontrollable urge to finish the dregs of other peoples' lattes in coffee shops, at that point I might seek therapy.
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