REGULAR, DECAF OR EMPTY?

I feel like I owe you after spending much of October and November mocking you all for having to work on national holidays like Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, National Vinegar Day, Plan Your Epitaph Day and Notary Public Day http://www.classbrain.com/artholiday/publish/article_220.shtml to admit that I write this from my office, the day after Thanksgiving.  So, as you sit at home, enjoying the digestive and excretory processes that complete the circle of last night's gustatory orgy, cherish this day you have off that I do not and ponder this:

How much do drinks cost in TV world and are all characters in it profligate spenders?

Have you ever noticed how when characters order a drink at a bar they spend much of the time talking, then, two or three minutes into the scene, the drink is delivered, but by this time, one character is ready to move on?  No?  Well let you me tell you what happens.  Because I am not what you'd call a drinker, I still find the price of cocktails and other alcoholic beverages at bars shocking. I'm not saying they're overpriced I'm saying they're movie theater priced. The kind of pricing that leads you to regret having stopped reading newspapers and never bothering to re-locate the channel for CNN when your cable provider reaaranged everything that time, because now you're left wondering if unbeknowst to you the government has collapsed, food has become scarce and the time to start digging that bunker you decided to make for yourself after reading "The Road" is now in your rearview mirror.  (I may also be unreasonably cheap, this has been suggested, though I did just tip a waiter last week, so I'm clearly not)  Anyway, this character who for reasons beyond my understanding felt the need to order a drink even though he's leaving the bar in 180 seconds, stands up takes a sip from his drink,  says something to the person he was conversing with, puts the drink back down slaps down a twenty on the bar and leaves.  This happens at leats two or three times a night, more if you're flipping during commercials and I find it annoying every time. To me, that, not the Miss September playing a marine biologist, is the most unrealistic aspect of TV, it's like the writers aren't even trying.  At least the casting directors have the decency to make Ashley, Amber or Tiffani wear glasses and a bun, like all those other marine biologists.

While we're on the topic I thought I'd also bring the coffee shop scene.  My problem here isn't quite as prevalent as with the bar, but, in scenes in which a waiter or waitress is walking around with a carafe and filling up those huge ceramic cups every coffee shop on TV has, how is it that these people are OK settling for what is at most a third of a cup of coffee?  I understand it'd be weird on TV if the waitress had to keep going back for more pots of coffee, but you need to pour for a good three count if you're going to get anywhere near a full cup and these guys dont even get to two!