Spending money like Phileas Fogg

I'm currently re-reading "Around the World in 80 Days", which I've been reading since I was a kid. Yes, I've seen all of the movie versions, and I like them all, too. For someone like me there's a lot to like in this book, the best part seeing how the technology of the world was changing in 1872. Going around the world had always been possible, but it had never been so convenient, and all it took was a big satchel of money, which the main character, Phileas Fogg, spent effortlessly.

Of course, the character was supposed to be very rich, but I've known people who have a ton of bucks who act as if they're getting a tooth pulled if they have to spend any of it. But Phileas Fogg would just hand over banknotes with a quiet dignity. Yes, I know that it's fiction, but it's cool way to spend money, and it's something that I've been working on all of my life.

No, I'm not rich - far from it, but I move money around. I've always evaluated value, and if I think something is worth it, I pay for it, without a murmur. I've never failed to pay a bill, or a debt, even if it meant that I had to borrow the money, and pay it back later, which I also do without a murmur.

When the cashier at the QT where I get my morning coffee told me that the price had gone up eleven cents, just to let me know, I just thanked him, smiled and asked how his day was going. I know a lot of people for whom eleven cents would create a temper tantrum, and they might even go back and dump the coffee out, storming out of the store. Phileas Fogg wouldn't have done that, and neither will I.

What the price of things were in 1872 I have no idea, nor do I really understand the exchange rate between the dollar and the pound, especially in a different century. I just know that Phileas Fogg wouldn't balk at a price, or try to use a coupon, he would have found that undignified. And maybe Jules Verne was mocking this typically upper-class English attitude, I really don't know. It's clear that Fogg is portrayed as a stuffed shirt, and is guided by the end of the story into acting a bit more human because of his wonderful manservant Passepartout and the beautiful Aouda.

Around the World in 80 Days is the story of a lonely man discovering adventure, and romance late in life. His heart went from cold to at least tepid, and it opened up, along with his pocketbook, with quiet dignity.

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