I CAME, I SAW, I CONQUERED PRICE DISCRIMINATION...SORT OF!!!

I have a very diversed group of friends and one of our favorite places to eat at is No. 1 Chinese on Woodruff and High St. The quality of the food is okay but the quantity (which really does a spectacular job in putting you to sleep afterwards) is what draws us to this place over and over again. We've gone there so many times and we never change our orders so as soon as we get in there, the girl behind the register just tells us our respective prices and we pay for it and wait. With our numerous visits, we noticed my Asian friend Nate always ended up paying a buck or two less than the rest of us. Initially, we didn't think anything of it since his order was always different from everybody else's, but as time went on we started getting suspicious because his food always came with soup or an egg roll which were not on the menu and yet he was still paying considerably less (our suspicions would've been proven right faster if we looked at the freaking menu for his order).

One day, while he was not with the crew as we went there to eat, I decided to order the same thing he orders and guess what, I paid $2 more and it came with neither an egg roll nor soup. I have to say I was extremely disappointed (not really) and to add insult to injury Nate didn't believe us when we told him about it, till I proved it to him the next time we went there. As usual, he got the soup and the -$2 price while I got neither. I figured his value for the food was less than us since he probably gets some of the same things at home, and also he had another edge on us, he could speak Mandarin.

I had decided to boycott the place till one of our friends came up with a better idea. We never eat in there, Nate orders all our food by phone and we give him the money (I might need to learn Mandarin so i can get discounts over the phone since Nate leaves after this quarter) or we all order the same thing but he orders first and hopefully they feel bad and charge us all the same price. The 2nd plan had a few loopholes in it (let's say it didn't work out when we tried it) so we stuck with the first and I have saved $12 (might not be a lot but it could build up if I learned Mandarin) on the five or six times we've ordered there. I was going to thank Econ for this great enlightenment but it's just common sense that you let whoever has the discount make your purchases for you. I'd still like to thank Econ for making my life miserable and making me overthink every purchase I make...