MusicMarketplace.com
The other day, I went to a supermarket that was five stations away by train from my home for the first time. I’d wanted to shop there for some time, as I heard about its low prices. The store was spacious and clean with a wide assortment of low-priced merchandise. It had a deli food section and a bakery too. What excited me most was its small cafe space. There were a few tables and chairs near the entrance with a machine that let customers draw two different kinds of Japanese tea and water, both iced and hot, for free! In addition to free tea, customers were allowed to eat or drink whatever they purchased at the store except for alcohol. It was a perfect place for me to eat lunch by saving money. I strolled around the store in rapture selecting what to eat for lunch at the cafe space. I was thinking I would go with deli foods or freshly baked bread when I noticed my partner’s somber face. He wanted a better place for lunch and suggested just having a snack here before looking for a restaurant. I agreed and started to hunt for a snack. I found a croquette at 30 cents each and bananas at half price because they went bad a little, and declared my findings to my partner triumphantly when he was choosing an expensive pastry from the bakery and a pack of cafe au lait. Questions poured out of my mouth one after another, such as “Do you pay for a drink even though there are free drinks waiting for us?” and “Do you dare pay much more money for a pastry than these bananas, which are 50 cents for four?”, and eventually, he gave in. We had 30-cent croquettes and half-spoiled bananas over free tea at the cafe and he looked unhappy while I enjoyed so much. We had lunch at a burger restaurant nearby later. The place had a cool atmosphere but the burger cost about three times as much as McDonald’s although it was a fast food restaurant itself. The lunch didn’t sit well with me, but my partner looked so happy…
