No more free stuff -- I want crackers

So, I just returned from a long visit home for my youngest brother's wedding (I got a lovely down-to-earth new sis, Nicole. They got Shane. Best trade ever.) and to pay my respects to my loving late grandmother, Angelina, who passed away just recently.

She had lived a long and happy life, though, and did not suffer. My nana said she was ready.

I am preparing a blog discussing my trip home. It is filled with tales of the best friends and family a man could ever hope for.

I experienced debauchery, love lost and found, regret, physical pain, homesickness, pleasure, peace, hope and juicy lucy hamburgers with fresh-cut fries. I have quotes at the ready from Thomas Hardy, Shakespeare and Guy Fieri to express all these emotions and thoughts welling up from my little brain.

But first: Dear popular convenience store with grinds, I love your Portuguese bean soup and I'm a fan of the hard-boiled eggs ubiquitous on Maui and nowhere else I've ever seen on the planet served in a basket at room temperature next to the cash register for 59 cents.

My questions: Where are the crackers? I want crackers. If you have soup, you need to give me some crackers.

And for all convenience stores, especially you too, store, that have those eggs out, which I can't resist (It is the perfect food.), but I would feel a bit better about my decision if ya put them in the cooler.

The eggs were a bit of a red herring. And I am putting together something on how difficult it is to be so far away from the Mainland and why I believe it's made Maui a transient community of many like me, and not just us haoles. It's also damaged families who have been here for dozens of generations as they seek work.

But I just gotta say that I think a big part of the reason why our economy suffers is because of the desperation it's created for retailers and restauranteurs. There's hardly anything that is "free" any longer.

We are not a bunch of cheapskates. We are buying things. We just want to be treated with dose of reality and dignity in the process.

I honestly won't be surprised at all if we start getting charged a nickel a soon for each ketchup packet. They long ago stopped just putting them in the bag. And when ya want some, I frequently actually get asked how many do I want exactly. What?

Decisions such as these, like no free samples in most grocery stores except Costco, I'm sure is helping countless businesses with their margins, maybe saving some jobs, but we've become so cynical many of us believe the money just goes into executives' bonus checks. Not giving away matches, for instance, sometimes forces a smoker to buy a lighter on the spot.

Obviously, smoking is bad. But what's the cost to us, the consumers, when we just keep getting dissed by just about everyone who asks with a smile -- at the counter-- if we will be paying with cash or credit? It's gotten to the point where consumers talk about what stores don't charge them for not having a reusable bag handy and must take a paper one.

You better believe we talk about what place serves the heftiest plate lunch at the most reasonable price. We talk about everything. And if you're business is suffering, it's probably not because of anyone except you -- of course, aside from forces beyond our control such fuel and health care spikes. But we are no longer happy with the excuse that when a new regulation doesn't go your way, like the very well-intentioned bag ban, that "We'll just have to pass along the extra cost to the consumer."

As if that is a threat to anyone except the health of your own company. People don't see it, though. They wanna save a few hundred bucks on providing just two napkins, if at all, when delivering an entire pizza.

ATM withdrawal charges were probably the start. Then it was outsourced phone help lines or just prerecorded messages that take 20 minutes to find the right one. Then it was "go online for more information" about everything and hardly any 24-hour service reps.

Yes, like I said, I'm sure charging for every checked bag saves the airlines millions, but we are so so so sick of it. When a store exists with actual human employees who seem to care, like let's say Pukalani Superette or High-Tech (Notice these are mom-and-pop places usually.), people remain loyal despite perhaps some higher prices than the chains. They are still there, and I see lines.

People notice all of this nickle and diming and while most of us are in too much of a hurry to look for the lowest ATM withdrawal fees or best price on mac and cheese, word of mouth is powerful. And my prediction is that the companies who continue to not cut us a break will be gone soon, if the economy didn't destroy you already.

I'm not happy about this. I didn't want this. I don't think you deserve bankruptcy and layoffs for not including a fork, but with social media what it is today and the apps now available on phones, there's nothing you can get away with anymore.

I know I asked a friend and found a place with more expensive but tastier because of the better ingredients (a reason I understand) and a bigger variety of the hot bean soups I love so much, and which I eat three times a week.

And they all come with crackers.