Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

In which I consider what is the ultimate purchase for the home, family, and home business: the table.

Consider the humble flat horizontal surface. Narrow the consideration to the kitchen table with four chairs. A quick search shows plenty of choices from $100 on up. Let’s settle for $150.

A family eats two to three meals on this table six to seven days a week for 40 or 50 years. A quick napkin estimation shows about 30,000 uses. That’s about half a penny per use. Pretty darn inexpensive for a valuable experience.

Friends drink coffee, wine, or something at the table another three or four times a week. Children do their home work three days a week, nine months a year for twelve (or more) years each. A work-from-home professional sits at the table when all these other uses are not in progress.

Laughter, sorrow, love, angst, staring into another’s eyes, grasping hands in desperation.

All of this over a table.

The per use cost is now less than a tenth of a penny each. Is there a better value anywhere in the home or in a person’s life?

In 1983, my wife and I married. Her parents bought us a table and chairs. It sure seemed expensive to me at the time. Silly me. It was one of the best values in my life and it continues to be so.