Is it possible to still buy a doughnut in Las Vegas for a dollar?
I asked myself that question after a visit to the barbershop on Saturday morning. After parting with a portrait of Andrew Jackson and leaving a generous tip, I had exactly one dollar left.
One lonely buck. A solitary singleton. One slightly worn but perfectly acceptable U.S. American greenback.
What would a dollar buy, I wondered. Then a thought crossed my mind. It had been a long time since I had a doughnut. I briefly fantasized about jelly doughnuts and classics and glazed versions and those tasty pastry crullers with tangy cream centers.
Doughnuts, in case you wondered, are made from flour, yeast, butter, egg yolk, salt, milk and oil for frying. The dough rises for about 30 minutes. The result is a very light pastry. So no, the doughnut is not a health food.
There was a doughnut shop nearby so I wandered in the direction of Mazzoa Donuts. I vaguely recalled buying a doughnut at the nearby grocery store perhaps a year ago, and it had been under a dollar. Of course, a specialty doughnut shop might be higher. Also, there was the dreaded monster known as inflation.
So I pushed through the door, and a clerk greeted me. I held the lonely dollar bill high in the air.
“This is what I have to spend,” I said.
She eyed me carefully and nodded. “Which one do you want?”
Wow, that was easy. I spent a few seconds perusing the doughnut displays and settled on a full-sized doughnut with pink icing and a Crayola-like array of sprinkles. I pointed at it. She carefully reached into the case with her plastic-gloved hands and put it in a small brown paper bag.
We walked to the cash register, where she proceeded to rummage through a tip jar and fish out some change. She took my lonely dollar, plunked some change from the tip jar into the register and handed me the bag.
I waited. She paused. “Do you need a receipt?”
“No. … Do I get change back?”
A faint smile. “Doughnuts are $1.68.”
Ohhhhhh. Which explained the foraging through the tip jar. She was covering my shortfall. Or treating. Or being kind to a stranger with a lonely dollar. Or helping build a customer base. Or all of the above.
I had the doughnut with breakfast. It was crunchy on the outside, seductively soft on the inside, and the icing and sprinkles sent waves of pleasure coursing through my sensory zones. It was, in a word, delicious.
So can you get a doughnut for a dollar in Las Vegas these days?
No. And … yes.
