Last night, my wife called me to say that instead of taking the train home (which was shut down due to bomb threats from the ever-so-paranoid Boston police), she needed to be picked up. While I had planned to cook dinner before we headed to the “famous” Danvers, Massachusetts fireworks show, instead I had to grab my things, and figured we could just grab some food at the fireworks festival.

When we arrived, we spotted a chicken finger stand and decided to split one of those (luckily we had both had snacks earlier and weren’t too hungry). We ordered a chicken finger and fry combo, plus a sprite, for a whopping $11. I do believe my hand was shaking in disbelief as I handed over the change.

Then, as we were lying around waiting for the fireworks to begin, I spent nearly an hour brooding about the cost. Eleven dollars! Not only was it a complete rip off, but that same amount could have bought two days worth of meals for us.

I had re-learned my lesson that food in this type of closed environment (much like a fair or baseball game) would be a rip-off. Unfortunately I just couldn’t shake the feeling of being ripped off – even if it was my fault in the end for not expecting this.

In the end, I was able to enjoy the ten minutes of fireworks they had before the technical difficulties set in, mostly thanks to my wife who has become quiet adept at calming me down when it comes to financial matters.