Our Wonkabout editor, Arielle Fleisher, packed up and fled D.C. for the fun lands of Europe and then the not-so-fun lands of Michigan (for grad school), but she managed to pop up in the Washington CityPaper before this vanishing act. Did she make the news section for doing a political crime in a neighborhood ward district or whatever? No! She wrote about “Groupon Etiquette,” which is apparently what is involved when you use the online coupons from that pyramid-scheme website instead of just paying for your food:
A friend and I trekked out to the dubious dining destination that is Bethesda to take advantage of a LivingSocial deal I had obtained for Robert Wiedmaier’s Mussel Bar. Once the check came — and I was over my disbelief that a bottle of Allagash White could possibly cost $9 — I found myself confused as to how much I should pay for the meal. It’s one thing when you go in on a deal with another person, but in this case, I had invited a friend along to enjoy the spoils of the deal I had purchased: $20 in exchange for a $40 discount.
The answer probably turned out to be “one person performs a sex act on the other person, as payment.” But you’ll have to read it, to find out! Also, is someone going to start writing Wonkabout blog posts again, about the food and the bars and the events and the music and such? Maybe this person should write to the Wonkette editor. [CityPaper]
Read More:
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- Obama Campaign's New Contest: You Could Win a Plate of Food
- Liberals Eat Fancy Healthy Food, Conservatives Eat Awful Garbage
- Tattooed Pig Urges Wonkabout To Leave DC (Goodbye Forever!)
{ 45 comments }
Groupon food coupons. It's like food stamps for the upper middle class.
I like food stamps. Their glue has a delicious minty flavor that complements any meal.
And the gelatin component forms an important source of protein for the poors.
So, I should expect to hear republicans talking about Saab driving young bucks buying shellfish at trendy-ish food places?
Yeah, buck their shellfishness and their Saab story. Get a real job! Wait, they already have one. Never mind.
Way back when (10 years ago?) they called $20 bills "yuppie food stamps". Now $20 isn't enough to buy you a real food stamp.
A friend and I trekked out to the dubious dining destination that is Bethesda
So dining is just like everything else in Bethesda.
~
Hey! I live in Bethesda and … Ummm, never mind.
Come on, show a little class and move to Chevy Chase. I still don't know the story behind that place's name, I bet it is a wacky tale involving a car trip
I wondered what happened to Arielle after stepping down as White House press secretary for Chimpy.
That article left me confused.
My portion of the meal (roughly $17 for mussels and $18 for two bottles of beer) totaled about $35. Add the $7 tip, that's $42. Now, that's without the LivingSocial discount. My portion of the discounted check, meanwhile, cost $16. Add the same $7 tip, that's $23. Now add the initial LivingSocial fee of $20, that's $43.
No wonder people living in DC have such trouble handling money.
I didn't know there would be math.
Man, the meth is the best part… oh… hang on… OK…
That's what happens when you get coupons from a Nigerian prince.
For an additional $60 in sneakers and $19.99 for a gym membership and some cardio classes, she could've skipped the $43 and just gotten a good run in immediately after the meal. Sneakers and cardio, assuming you're fast, could get you a lot more free meals than online coupons could. Or are waiters in the DC area fleet of foot?
Oh, Arielle, if tin whistles are made out of tin, what do they make foghorns out of…toot..toot…
I'll stick with a turkey burger and an occasional bottle of suds at the Anywhere version of O'Charley's.
I sometimes have a coupon for "Free Fries" but there is no sex act involved no matter how piteously I beg.
That's because 9/11.
If you thought golf on Memorial Day were bad, sex on Giuliani's birthday is worse.
Also, is someone going to start writing Wonkabout blog posts again, about the food and the bars and the events and the music and such? I think perhaps it's an idea whose time has come and gone since probably such a small percentage of Wonkette readers actually live in DC.
But I would gladly supply an article about the superb establishments and smoked whitefish to be had in the Cheboygan MI area… mmmmmm…. pasties….
This time of year Pig roast are the primary dining out option were I live so paying with sexual favors is discouraged because you end up sweating pork fat.
Also: don't tease us with the sex acts talk. We're already in withdrawl over the Fart-box Tongue-puncher leaving us….
How about readers from the greater Wasilla metropolitan area?
They're all named Lou, though, so we think it's a glitch.
Restaurant deal coupons with a cover charge aren't a great idea if the person doing to inviting then spends all their time worrying about the fact that her guest got a "better deal" by not contributing to the cover charge.
I found that article a trifle whiny, to be honest.
You forgot rural Minnesota (non Bachmann region), which I think is tied with Bay Area, or at least parts of Berkeley.
Non-Bachmann!!! Eiltists!
I loved the episode where Gingrich's lesbian sister presided over…
wait, what?
I feel so…so…low on the totem pole. It'll take me a few seconds to get over the shock that the south doesn't give you the highest numbers.
Oh, take heart. Let's face it, I'm the .00000001 of the Wonketteratti that makes up the "flaming glamorous liberal homos from Mississippi" demographic. REPRESENT, baby.
Sooo good to know you're close by. I'll remember you're there if I have to drive through that god forsaken hellhole again. (Me, to friend:"I'm running out of gas, how close is your house?" Friend: "It's near the synagouge." Me: "There's a synagouge here?" Her:"Ususally you can see it, because there's a cross burning outside.")
Ah, so you're from Alabama? Bless your heart!
If you bought grouper for a group of friends with a Groupon and then had group sex afterwards, who has to write the thank you notes?
(Gets up courage to forget about last bit of self-esteem…) ALL OF THEM, KATIE!
Am I alone here in NY 26? Are they any other outliers here in the cold hinterlands of upstate NY?
What could “Gropeon Etiquette" actually entail?
Oh, trust me, it entails a LOT!
You forgot Poland.
Yeah, but downfisty didn't. Corrected.
Ah wonkette…you know just how to lure me in to reading an article about Arielle Fleisher: "one person performs a sex act on the other person, as payment"….and then, NOTHING. I feel about as violated as one of the griftees Palin tricks into giving money to her PAC expecting contributions to go to candidates she supports and them come to find out instead that she uses the funds for her private jets, hotel rooms and choo-choo expenses because she's too much of a mooching bitch to pay for those expenses out of her book grift proceeds. Yes, I feel THAT violated and now I will shower to cleanse the shame….
No wonder we're all so fat, even sex is irrevocably linked with food now. Whatever happened to just having sex for the sake of having sex?
the problem is in America we've mixed it up with food so that we're eating for the sake of eating….
So you know you'll be catering to a minority… but will do it anyway.
That makes no sense. Whatever.
It's just one of those things.
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