Change

This post is about change--you know, the kind of change you get when you buy something and give the cashier more money than is actually required to make the purchase.

Maybe I'm strange, but on the rare occasions that I have cash and use it to buy something, I think about the change I'll get back.  Sometimes this means I pay with a larger bill but also provide the necessary coinage so that I get only bills back.  However, sometimes my monetary combinations are not understood by the cashier.  A few weeks ago I was buying something that came to a total of about $7.  I had a bunch of ones, but not 7 of them.  I also had a ten.  I gave the cashier $12--the ten and 2 ones.  He gave me the strangest look, showed me the money I gave him, and restated the price.  I nodded and told him that I wanted a five back.  To me it made perfect sense.  I'd rather have a five and 3 ones in my wallet than 8 ones.

Today I had another interesting change exchange.  My ultimate objective was to break a $20 bill and get $2 in quarters.  So I went to a little convenience store and bought a soda.  When I pulled out the twenty, I asked for $2 in quarters.  The cashier did something unusual and added $2 to the purchase amount.  The soda was $1.75 plus $2.00 is $3.75.  The cash register accurately calculated that the change from a $20 for that purchase is $16.25.  But then the cashier gave me a ten, 4 ones, and 8 quarters, you know, $16.25.  I pointed out that he owed me $2 more.  We spent the next five minutes going over the receipt again and again.  He eventually gave me the $2, but said, "That still doesn't seem right."  I offered to talk him through it again, but by that point there was a line and I think he just wanted me gone.  In the end, he never gave me the receipt--I think he wanted to ponder it some more after I left.