V12 Mercedes

I will start by saying this has nothing to do with dating, this is simply a social observation.

Every morning I arrive in the parking garage of my office and back my car into my space. Parked next to me each morning is a white Mercedes SL600 V-12, MSRP:$139,000. It is always there before I arrive (I get in very early) and is impeccably clean, like it had just come off the showroom floor. After I park and stare at the car for a few second I go into my building. On my way to the elevator I get a bagel at the deli in the lobby run by a nice Asian couple, tip the lady at the register a buck, then head to my office.

I could afford to drive pretty much any car on the market, but I would never spend $140K on a vehicle at this point in my life. I think the car is beautiful, but it's also pretentious and I would be embarrassed if someone in my office saw me driving it, especially in this economy. I also think that unless you are so wealthy that $140K is a rounding error to you, that vehicle screams "I have a small dick".

Though I had never seen the owner of the car, I had already written his bio in my head. The owner was a man (a woman would never spring the extra $30K for the twelve-cylinder engine), in his early 60's, in shape but grey and balding. He would be a partner in one of the law firms upstairs, and would likely be a trial attorney. He would be dressed to the nines but would play Frank Sinatra just a little too loud as he drove out of the lot.

Monday morning I left work early and as I was walking out of the stairwell in the parking garage I saw the white Mercedes rounding the bend and coming towards me. I was excited to see if the driver was as I pictured him in my mind. I couldn't see in the windshield until the car got very close to me because the florescent lights left a glare on the uber-clean windshield. When the car got about ten feet from me I was able to see the driver was the bagel cook at my deli, and his passenger was the cute little Asian woman I tipped a buck each morning. They waved to me but I just stood there with my mouth open. A second later I pictured her in her mansion wiping her ass with my $1 bill, the tip from that morning.

The dilemma I face is do I continue to tip the woman at the deli now that I know she drives a car that cost more than my first house? The service hasn't changed, but I probably need the dollar more than she does.