At the beginning of this year, the leasing agent emailed my roommate and I a notice about what our rent would be if we renewed our lease. They’d unwittingly crossed into the “ya’ll niggahs must be crazy” realm. As if we’d pay nearly $500 more.
When one of my nephews was a little kid, he’d race to the brightly colored shiny bubble gum machines and ask one of us adults for some “buh guh money.” He wasn’t much of a gum chewer. It was more about the entertainment of watching the colorful piece of gum travel through its dispenser.
I don’t know at what age the magic waned from watching bubble gum dispensers or when he started referring to “buh guh money” as “quarters,” but I thought of my nephew when I saw my pay raise. Buh Guh Money.
I couldn’t muster my nephew’s young childhood enthusiasm for twenty-five cents, especially when the cost of practically everything had increased way beyond my raise.
Even the cost of gas, which I don’t often have to buy, thanks to working from home, shot up as soon as Putin invaded Ukraine. These assholes couldn’t wait for any excuse to jack up the prices, which caused some people to jack up their fellow citizens for gas. As soon as I’d paid Putin prices for my gas, the cost started to lower. Much better to stretch my buh guh money.