i'm not a big starbucks fan, but i am a big coffee fan. if i had to guess, i'd say i go to starbucks 2.5 times per week (the turkey bacon breakfast sandwich is amazing). so i obviously buy giftcards on ebay for less then face value. grace drinks coffee too, so i bought her a $100 giftcard on ebay, for $78 dollars. cool, so every time that we go to starbucks, i get satisfaction knowing that i'm only paying 78% of the original price. simple

after work the other day, grace tells me something like "so i went to starbucks and my co-worker said he wanted a drink. so he gave me $4..."

i'm a dumb guy, so i said 'ok kewl, so you kept the change?'

she continued with "no, don't you see, he gave me $4 cash, and i paid for his starbucks with my gift card, he's paying 100% of his drink, and i'm paying with my 78% giftcard, and i'm keeping the difference $$$."

i was like. holy. shit. I was blown away, genius.. instaaaaa

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i was feeling lucky so i asked grace 'just a hypothetical, 'would it be ok if a guy bought his girlfriend a gift card for her birthday, even if it was 3X the value of a "thoughtful gift?"

she said of course NOT. 

oh ok, just making sure