Money, money, money!

This subject is a bit taboo – but it’s something I’ve been noticing a little more prominently than ever before.

The media industry isn’t exactly known for its fat pay cheques – people do it because they enjoy it – and not for the bank balance it promises at the end of the working day. The majority of my friends are in similar industries and we’re all pretty much in the same tax bracket.

But recently The Fugitive was in town and on her final night her friends wanted to have dinner together to bid her farewell. One of her friends, who’s roughly my age but excessively wealthy with a vast array of political links, decided that a simple braai wouldn’t do – so he flicked out his Blackberry and speed dialled Pigalle Restaurant in Sandton and booked a table. And this irked me a little. Pigalle, with an average price of about R120 per main course, is completely beyond the budget of almost every single one of her friends. But with this being her farewell – we all wanted to go to say goodbye.

R300 and a barely full stomach later – I was definitely annoyed. And this was further exacerbated by the fact that the boy that made the booking ended up joining us only for coffee afterwards.

And this past weekend it almost happened again. It had been one of those weekends where FD and I kept on eating out and by Saturday evening we didn’t really feel like spending loads of cash all over again. We met up with The Ron and his girlfriend for drinks, which turned into dinner at another fairly expensive restaurant. FD and I weren’t that hungry, and didn’t feel like splashing out for a pricey meal, so we just went for some of the cheaper items on the menu, while the others went for seafood and steaks. A little later, when the bill came, they suggested we split it four ways. Now how on earth can a person broach the subject of not finding the suggestion fair without looking cheap?

Joburg is a pretty materialistic city – those with cash flaunt it and those without it try to do everything they can to keep up appearances. But I’m really not keen to play that game. In my case, and FDs, it doesn’t even really come down to not being able to afford expensive restaurants – as we both have minimal living expenses – so most of the cash we earn is for us to spend with free abandon – but I’m not that keen to blow it all on pretentious restaurants.

And on this subject – restaurants have officially gone bonkers – when did it become okay to charge, on average, between R70 and R90 for a really average main meal? A cocktail alone at Espressos in Parkhurst will set you back R35, and a glass of crappy house wine at Moyos around R40. It’s not a matter of being able to afford it - it’s an issue of not being okay with being blatantly ripped off.