$10.71

Ten Dollars and Seventy One Cents is not a relative term. It stands for exactly that: $10.71. However, the value of it in terms of what it can buy might vary.

Last Thursday I had to make a delivery to Grand Rapids, about a five or five and a half hour round trip from Detroit. I was sure I had taken the complete order.  Yet it turns out I had forgotten a three dollar steel clip.

The customer called me in the late afternoon that Thursday, almost as soon as I was back home. I promised to ship it first thing Friday. I did: for $10.71.

That seems like a lot to send a clip which hardly weighed an ounce. But that's where I began to wax philosophic. I have made mistakes in the past which have cost me far more than $10.71, and I certainly wasn't going to make a round trip to Grand Rapids for Ten Dollars and Seventy One Cents. So it wasn't nearly the most costly mistake of my life, and it bought me five hours of time. I can live with that.