I have been thinking about value. One good by-product of a bad economy is you ask yourself more often when you buy something or do something, “Is it worth it?….”Or was that worth more or less to me than “X?”. That line of thinking spawns an appreciation of previously unnoticed value. There’s needs to be some thought given to value grading. For example, a formula could be: Personal Value Grade (“PVG“) = my level of enjoyment (it has to be personal)/cost (could be time or money or hassle…need to work that out…). Maybe put it on a scale of 1 to 100. I think it will be foolproof because it will your personal value grade. Who can tell you were wrong?
Here’s how it might apply to restaurants or gifts:
Restaurants: You go to one of your previous favorite expensive restaurants. Maybe with wine it costs $100/ person. (I know “expensive” is relative but go with me on this…). For that you get a nice wine, great food, great service, great atmosphere etc. For that you pay $100. PVG = 55 An average score for a great meal and experience, but you paid for it to be that great. Remember, the idea is relative enjoyment in the eyes of the one grading. By contrast, you go to a little dive restaurant and have chips and chile con queso…. I mean life-changing, killer, chili con queso. You fight over it with those at the table. You get more. You snarf it all down again. Less than $10 easy. PVG = 90 Way more delight than expected. You keep thinking about that queso…for weeks…
I have to work on this grading system leaving room for something else out there…something nirvana-like that I have yet to experience. I also need to get some R&D help from my kids and their spouses who know what I’m shooting for here. I just don’t have enough gray matter to raise the concept of PVG to the clarity it deserves.
Gifts: Let me say I had two 90-plus, PVG moments yesterday. My son, Luke, gave me a set of these:
I first experienced napkins with buttonholes when I got upgraded on airlines to first class in the early 90s. On occasion since then I have commented in passing to my son and others about how much I liked those napkins. Small things. High enjoyment. High PVG. The airlines don’t have these on domestic flights anymore. Well, enter Luke, my son. After conducting a search for these napkins, he decides instead to make them for me. So, he teaches himself how to sew buttonholes. By the way, he welds, does carpentry, does big church productions, fixes all my tech issues (easily I might add). He has this renaissance man air about him. So, he teaches himself how to sew and makes me these napkins for Christmas.No logos. No plans to make this a business. Just for me. Big PVG.
Then, Meg, Luke’s bride, gives me dulce de leche she made. Meg, knowing how ubiquitous this stuff is in Argentina, knew how much much I missed it. It is rather obscure in the states. A kind of divine nectar. She put it in its own little jar complete with a little spoon. A delight. If I find a picture I will post it later. Again, Big PVG
Somehow I need to figure in to the formula the cost to the giver or provider (in time, money, thought, hassle, etc.) because that kicks the PVG up dramatically. Kind of the idea of the widow who gave two mites (all she had) in the temple as recorded in the Bible story. This seemingly small, obscure act was the one that turned the head of Jesus. It was a delightfully high PVG moment for Jesus. Consequently, it is memorialized for all to read in 2009, a couple of thousand years later.
So give me some help here with the formula. In the meantime, high PVG moments to you.