Next door to a very upscale French restaurant was a poor old Irish cobbler who owned a small shop.
Each day at lunchtime, Mike, the Irish gentleman, would step out the back of his shop to enjoy his soda bread along with perhaps a kipper or a piece of Irish blue cheese, all the while taking in the delightful aromas wafting from the restaurant’s kitchen.
One morning, the Irishman was taken aback when he found an invoice in the mail from the neighboring restaurant, charging him for “enjoyment of food.”
Perplexed, he promptly went over to the restaurant to explain that he hadn’t purchased anything from them.
The manager responded, “You’re enjoying our food, so you ought to pay us for it.” This led the Irishman to refuse payment, prompting the restaurant to take legal action against him.
During the hearing, the judge requested the restaurant to share their perspective. The manager explained, “Every day, this man sits outside our kitchen, inhaling the aroma of our food while eating his own. It is obvious that we are enhancing the value of his simple meal, and therefore we deserve compensation for it.”
The judge then turned to Mike and asked, “What do you have to say about this?” The old Irishman remained silent but grinned widely, reaching into his pocket to jingle the few coins he possessed.
The judge inquired, “What does that signify?” The Irishman replied with his broad grin, “I’m paying for the scent of his food with the sound of my money.”
