The stubborn carrot cake

I found myself waiting for my brother at the mechanic this morning, and the mechanic had a snack machine, and the snack machine had carrot cake. And I wanted carrot cake.

I pull a dollar out of my wallet and the machine feeds it back to me. I folded the dollar and reinserted it. The machine resent it. I folded the dollar another way...the machine did not like that way either.

I tried another dollar. The machine tried my patience.

After the third dollar wouldn't work, I gave up. I didn't want the stupid, moist carrot cake with the lovely cream cheese incing anyway. Nope. Didn't want it. Not at all.

I wonder if the party store has carrot cake. I'll have to check when it opens.

Never mind the denomination

It's all about the Benjamins, the saying goes. The Benjamins are cool, yes. But so are the Georges, the Abrahams, and the Andrews. Money comes like religion: by denomination. I have been paid by several denominations, often in a nice mix. Sometimes those payments have been a bit unusual.

Yesterday a customer's order came to $140.00. He said, "I hope you like change," and paid me in all five dollar bills. Yep, 28 Lincolns. Another time on a $470.00 tab a guy from Canada gave me 47 tens. He said it was what they gave him at the currency exchange. Hey, I don't care. It all spends.

But about 40 years ago Pops was paid off in the most unusual way I've seen so far. For a $1900 dollar machine he was paid with 1890 singles and a ten dollar bill. Yessir, One Thousand Eight Hundred Ninety dollar bills. The customer owned several laundry mats and most of income was dollar bills, from change to run the washers and dryers to buying the single load boxes of detergent from the self service machines. He lived on singles.

Pops didn't even bother to count it. The stack was impressive enough that he took the guy at his word. And it all spent.