The chick at the bagel shop is finally onto me. I've taken up eating lox & bagel over the past few months (yes, a hazard of the job, but I should note that I'm the only one in the office who eats these things regularly so maybe the stereotype isn't completely true--but who cares if it were?) Anyway, a few days a week I go to the bagel shop next door and get one for breakfast. They're supposed to cost $6.50 but the bagel girl always gives them to me for $2.50 and then winks. I nod and just go with it, acting like that's what I should be paying.

After about a month of this, she raised the price to $3.10, then $3.50 and then finally, today, she raised it to $4.50. While I'm still $2.00 under cost, I want to figure out why she's raising the price on me before she raises it again. I can't exactly ask her and make reference to the fact that I know I'm underpaying, or she'll start charging me full price. Am I supposed to be tipping her? Asking her out? Promising her bagel-infused sex in the storage room? This is starting to sound like a very dimented "Dear Abby" letter, so I'll stop.