The Money Mustache Community
Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: luchorpan on July 10, 2017, 12:23:59 PM
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I've lurked here for amusement in the past and now I finally have a story to share in return.
A quick note: the relative in this story has moderate intellectual disabilities (IQ in the 60s), so I don't mean to ridicule him for anti-mustachianism by any means. Just thought I'd share a laugh!
So: a mid-20s relative (we'll call him Joe) works at a movie theater. Under the previous ownership, a coke for employees cost 50 cents. So Joe's leave-the-house routine was to grab wallet, phone, and two quarters for a cold drink during his break.
Well the movie theater changed owners, and Joe's had to adjust to all sorts of new routines and policies. A few weeks after the switch, Joe and Joe's mother (JM) are at the theater to see a movie. They go to concessions, and Joe gets a coke. He doesn't pay anything. The following conversation ensues:
JM: Aren't you going to pay 50 cents?
Joe: No, it's free.
JM: It's free?
Joe: Yeah, it's free now.
JM: So what have you been doing with the quarters that you take to work?
Joe: Just throwing them away.
JM: ?!? What? Why?
Joe: Because, I didn't need them. (with the "duh!" implied by his tone)
JM: Then why didn't you just keep them in your pocket and bring them home with you?
Joe: Because I didn't want them to rust. (again, as matter of fact as you can be)
So there you have it. Literally tossing half a buck into the trash can every shift for a couple of weeks. Because you don't need them for a drink, and they might rust in your pants pocket, duh. (Needless to say, Joe now checks his pockets for wallet, phone, and no quarters before leaving the house.)
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As someone who spent many years working with people with disabilities this is not amusing. If he has an IQ in the 60's this type of thing makes perfect sense to him. It is awesome that he is holding a job. Your Aunt must have taught him to be independent and had him do chores at home, etc which is the key to success.
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Sorry, I have to agree with above. I can think of better stories to share as a first post...
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Come on, the OP is sharing a fun anecdote and not at all making fun of his relative. I'm mildly bothered by the story's placement on the Wall of Shame and Comedy but rookie posting mistake hopefully. OP, this board in particular tends to be nasty and judgy about people making money blunders.
I enjoyed the story not in a "look at that dope throwing out his quarters" kind of way, but rather as a "of course, that's totally logical" way for someone who has an alternate perspective on money to behave.
And good for your relative for having a job and getting a kick out of life. I love the concern that the quarters might rust; it's oddly touching.
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That was a good story,made me laugh. Thank you for sharing it. It's nice he has a job, and the new management retained him.
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I have a lifelong friend who has no intellectual disabilities, and when we were at school he used to throw his change in the bin after he had bought something from the shop.
He is now a colleague and needless to say he goes out to buy his lunch every day. If he pays with cash and only gets a small amount of change he still throws it in the nearest bin or bush - often passing people collecting for charity before he does so.
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My husband used to throw money away. My parents always had a change jar to collect pennies and other small coins, then when there were enough they'd count them out and take them to the bank. If I did the counting, I got to keep half.
I once saw my husband take a load of pennies out of his pocket and throw them in the bin. I went nuts. He just said, "Well what else am I supposed to do with them? It's not like I can spend them." So I explained about paying them into the bank and he was like, "You can do that?!?!" He actually though that pennies were effectively worthless because nowhere would accept them as currency in exchange for anything else.
We now have a joint change jar...
(Also +1 to those letting the OP know that this board is usually not the best place to share a gentle laugh. It can get heavy pretty quickly. Just a pro tip for the future!)
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Some people need to take a step back and count to ten before posting. The OP stated that no ill will was meant by the post and some people (me included) can see the humor in this.
Kudos to Joe for his independence, enjoy that Coke!
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Wow. He didn't see the quarters as money; just small pieces of metal to be exchanged for a break soda - very limited/narrow usage, period. Once that was gone, the meaning/value of the quarters was gone as well. I totally get it, but it does make you wonder about how he views money in general or if he'll ever be able to be completely independent if he's unable to make the leap if circumstances change again for him and there is no one to tell him how to adjust. But good for him for being easily adaptable once someone told him how to change his pattern.
My own experience is with vapid teen girls:
As I was going into a store, two teens came out and one of them glared at the change in her hand and then pitched it at the trash can nearby. She didn't hit it with a single coin, but ended up with a small handful all over around it. She said something about how she didn't want this garbage as she threw the coins, she and her friend laughed about it, and walked on.
I stopped and picked it all up. It was just over 85¢. 3 quarters and various other coins. Not even just a few pennies or something...
Oh well. Guess it was good for me. But I still can't believe there are a whole group of people that literally do throw money away.
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I play low stakes (nickel ante, quarter is usually highest amount you can bet/raise, max 3 raises) dealer-choice poker with some elder members. We only use nickels, dimes, and quarters. Any time a newbie stops by to play and has a penny or two by mistake in their coin jug, inevitably one of the old timers pipes up and tell them to go pitch the pennies out in the yard.
Always good for a laugh, but I have seen on occasion someone literally throw a penny into the trash can after a penny inevitably ended up in their own stash for the evening's poker round.
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Thanks for the amusing replies shared - I love the husband who didn't think of pennies as legal tender! :) Not so much the guy who passes charity collectors to throw his money in the trash - yikes.
Sorry to anyone whom I upset/offended by the post. I love my brother dearly, of course, and he's a full-fledged human being who can be ribbed for silly things that he does (especially when he can be rather an arrogant punk in his explanations of them.) This was a story shared with amusement and affection in my family, so I meant it for the "comedy" side of this topic rather than the "shame" - thanks to those who clarified.
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:) That was a lovely story! [I'm raising a teen with a light ID and we have conversations like this, lol.]
I heard the sweetness and love in your telling.
If you want to move it from the Shame thread (because it is indeed the place people focus on mocking others, ugh), you can just ask a Mod to do so (maybe to General/Welcome or Off Topic).
I love how your brother sees things. It makes more sense to me than how society in general views money! Welcome to the forum.
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I did a bit of a double take at this post, since I have a mid-20s brother named Joe with an intellectual disability! His job isn't at a movie theater, though :)
He definitely comes up with some funny ideas sometimes, although he'd be more likely to hoard the quarters for YuGiOh cards than throw them away!
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Fantastic story, luchorpan. It's funny how some habits can be so ingrained that we forget the purpose behind them.
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I follow the blog of someone who picks trash for a living and he's always finding small loose change. Sometimes he even finds little baggies and boxes of change. I moved into an apartment that had about $75 in small change in a couple jars. Some people seem to think it's not worth it, but it really adds up. Cute story, I think it falls under comedy and not shame but it's definitely antimustachian.
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I follow the blog of someone who picks trash for a living and he's always finding small loose change.
Reminds me of a small town bank owner who would go in each morning with his kids and spend an hour looking through the coins they've collected to see if there are any rare ones in them. Always loved this story.
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I follow the blog of someone who picks trash for a living and he's always finding small loose change.
Reminds me of a small town bank owner who would go in each morning with his kids and spend an hour looking through the coins they've collected to see if there are any rare ones in them. Always loved this story.
That's super cool, my mom works at a bank and whenever she gets interesting currency she buys it, I have a couple $2 bills and 50 cent coins and stuff like that. I love collecting currency from around the world, especially if it's no longer in circulation.
The blog is https://garbagefinds.com/ if anyone is interested.
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I've watched one of my more spoiled pupils walk up to my classroom bin and discard 61p, three twenties and a penny. As this was during first period, the bin was fairly empty, cue boy and his mates being utterly disgusted (with sound effects) that I would reach in to fish them out!
I always discuss with wasteful kids the simple calculation of "picking up a penny only takes a second" so until I actually earn £36 an hour, it is still worth it for me to do that. I can only hope that idea sticks for a few of them.
As a result of my spoiled brats, most often throwing away mummy and daddy's money, I currently have a fairly healthy classroom/corridor roadkill stache that will pay for a few pens and pencils come September.
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That's a sweet story. And it really shows that money is worth nothing if you don't need it or want anything it will buy!
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I follow the blog of someone who picks trash for a living and he's always finding small loose change.
Reminds me of a small town bank owner who would go in each morning with his kids and spend an hour looking through the coins they've collected to see if there are any rare ones in them. Always loved this story.
That's super cool, my mom works at a bank and whenever she gets interesting currency she buys it, I have a couple $2 bills and 50 cent coins and stuff like that. I love collecting currency from around the world, especially if it's no longer in circulation.
The blog is https://garbagefinds.com/ if anyone is interested.
Me too! I have a casual coin collection and have amassed currency from about 30 countries. Often it's a friend who's been on holiday and has brought back the equivalent of a few pennies and finds it in their purse when I'm out with them and says "What am I going to do with this? I can't change it back!" So I say "I'll have it!" and they're happy to be rid of it. I have lots of pre-Euro currency (pesetas, lire, drachmas) and a few pre-decimalisation UK coins and it never ceases to amaze me that you used to be able to exchange it in a shop for stuff and now you just...can't.
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I'm a penny trasher myself. I just deal with physical money so rarely, that there's no point in keeping pennies around. It would likely be years before I used the penny again. Sometimes I'll put them on top of the trash can in case someone wants to collect them, but I usually feel bad for littering.
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I'm a penny trasher myself. I just deal with physical money so rarely, that there's no point in keeping pennies around. It would likely be years before I used the penny again. Sometimes I'll put them on top of the trash can in case someone wants to collect them, but I usually feel bad for littering.
I keep small change in a piggy bank. When I was little I used to wrap them and bring them to a bank for cash, but with Coinstar I don't bother with that anymore. Even though Coinstar charges a significant fee ($0.14 per dollar if I remember) it's still worthwhile to me. I'd say this habit pays for groceries about once a year, even though I rarely use cash.
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Even though Coinstar charges a significant fee ($0.14 per dollar if I remember) it's still worthwhile to me. I'd say this habit pays for groceries about once a year, even though I rarely use cash.
If you choose the giftcard option, no fee is charged. It's the best way to go if a merchant on their giftcard list is a place you'd likely shop anyway.
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I'm a penny trasher myself. I just deal with physical money so rarely, that there's no point in keeping pennies around. It would likely be years before I used the penny again. Sometimes I'll put them on top of the trash can in case someone wants to collect them, but I usually feel bad for littering.
I keep small change in a piggy bank. When I was little I used to wrap them and bring them to a bank for cash, but with Coinstar I don't bother with that anymore. Even though Coinstar charges a significant fee ($0.14 per dollar if I remember) it's still worthwhile to me. I'd say this habit pays for groceries about once a year, even though I rarely use cash.
Not sure how much "groceries" is, but it sounds like you spend a couple orders of magnitude more cash than I do. I'll leave the silver coins in my car for parking meters, but it would take me perhaps 125 years to acquire enough pennies to buy groceries. I'm thinking a $10 grocery bill, assuming I get 4 pennies in change twice a year. There are just better things to worry about than handling pennies.
What do you guys buy with cash these days? Most of what I buy with cash doesn't involve small change at all - if they only take cash it's usually a round number like 5 bucks.
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I'm a penny trasher myself. I just deal with physical money so rarely, that there's no point in keeping pennies around. It would likely be years before I used the penny again. Sometimes I'll put them on top of the trash can in case someone wants to collect them, but I usually feel bad for littering.
I keep small change in a piggy bank. When I was little I used to wrap them and bring them to a bank for cash, but with Coinstar I don't bother with that anymore. Even though Coinstar charges a significant fee ($0.14 per dollar if I remember) it's still worthwhile to me. I'd say this habit pays for groceries about once a year, even though I rarely use cash.
Not sure how much "groceries" is, but it sounds like you spend a couple orders of magnitude more cash than I do. I'll leave the silver coins in my car for parking meters, but it would take me perhaps 125 years to acquire enough pennies to buy groceries. I'm thinking a $10 grocery bill, assuming I get 4 pennies in change twice a year. There are just better things to worry about than handling pennies.
What do you guys buy with cash these days? Most of what I buy with cash doesn't involve small change at all - if they only take cash it's usually a round number like 5 bucks.
Anything that is under $2-3 usually gets cash unless I'm in a rush. And our local dollar theater is cash only. And several venues we frequent are also "minimum charge X" for credit/debit transactions, so they get cash too because I'm not buying something I don't want or need to get the amount up over the minimum.
I also use a piggy bank. It is a real pig-shaped bank painted to look like Frankenstein, so of course it's name is Frankenswine. I usually empty it every year or so and end up with close to $50 in change.
Why not just look at your change when you get it, pick out the quarters if that's all you use, and leave the rest on the counter? Sort of a "take a penny/leave a penny" thing since you don't want them anyway and it happens so rarely for you... either the cashier will take it, or the someone next in line might. At least they won't be cluttering your pockets uselessly or going in the trash that way.
But by all means, please keep leaving your change somewhere others can take it if you don't want it. I also collect coins, and happily one of those times I found some change over the years, I've found some nice pre-1965 90% silver quarters and even mercury dimes and wheat pennies.
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Years ago, I was finding coins at the bottom of my trash bag, every time I took out my trash to the dumpster. I thought it was strange. It kept happening. And it wasn't just pennies. It was quarters, dimes, etc. Then I realized that my boyfriend, when he came over, would throw loose change out of his pocket, into the trash. Eventually, he wound up living with me because he was broke. No surprise there.
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I'm a penny trasher myself. I just deal with physical money so rarely, that there's no point in keeping pennies around. It would likely be years before I used the penny again. Sometimes I'll put them on top of the trash can in case someone wants to collect them, but I usually feel bad for littering.
I wouldn't say leaving money out is littering. It would be picked up shortly.
Rather than actually trashing them, why not just take them. Just don't take the change from the cashier.
I also agree that "pennies turn to pounds" relatively quickly. Even if you rarely use cash, putting all your coins in a jar will likely yield a few dollars over the year. My bank takes loose change, cornstar is at most grocery stores, or you could give the jar away to a kid at the end of the year.
Throwing money away, literally, feels SO wasteful.
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I'm a penny trasher myself. I just deal with physical money so rarely, that there's no point in keeping pennies around. It would likely be years before I used the penny again. Sometimes I'll put them on top of the trash can in case someone wants to collect them, but I usually feel bad for littering.
This is a weird post for this particular forum! I get where you're coming from but it would still feel insane to me to actually throw away money. I would happily carry that penny around in my wallet for years!
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I keep a big jar at home and a small bucket at the office and throw all my change in there. Once a year, I cash it all in at the bank and then donate the result to my temple. The amount varies, but I've had as much as $180. :D
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I'm a penny trasher myself. I just deal with physical money so rarely, that there's no point in keeping pennies around. It would likely be years before I used the penny again. Sometimes I'll put them on top of the trash can in case someone wants to collect them, but I usually feel bad for littering.
I keep small change in a piggy bank. When I was little I used to wrap them and bring them to a bank for cash, but with Coinstar I don't bother with that anymore. Even though Coinstar charges a significant fee ($0.14 per dollar if I remember) it's still worthwhile to me. I'd say this habit pays for groceries about once a year, even though I rarely use cash.
Not sure how much "groceries" is, but it sounds like you spend a couple orders of magnitude more cash than I do. I'll leave the silver coins in my car for parking meters, but it would take me perhaps 125 years to acquire enough pennies to buy groceries. I'm thinking a $10 grocery bill, assuming I get 4 pennies in change twice a year. There are just better things to worry about than handling pennies.
What do you guys buy with cash these days? Most of what I buy with cash doesn't involve small change at all - if they only take cash it's usually a round number like 5 bucks.
Small vendors, tolls, etc. It depends on where you live. I also keep some cash on hand for tips and what not. When traveling abroad, I often end up with coins that won't be useful to me at home. I just leave it with the last check stop or something. Money is still money, even in trivial amounts. If I don't want to carry change because I'm traveling light, I'll leave it with the vendor or a beggar. Throwing coins away in the trash can just seems so wasteful in the long run towards the environment, and the potential use someone else might gain from it. Not judging you, as apparently this is a common thing, it's just something that seems foreign to me.
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Yes, if there is a tipping venue or a "leave a penny" tray I will use that. If a place has a minimum purchase, I get pissy because it's technically against merchant agreement (or used to be?) and ignore it or take my business elsewhere. I usually only carry an emergency $100 which I'm not going to break for a kit Kat bar or whatever. Actually a pretty good money saving technique. Most small purchases are faster with cars (2 second approval) and I get at least 1% back so as you say "money is money" why not use a card and get the cash back?
There is a "support your local business" argument, but unless they offer a cash discount that's a bad transaction- their prices inevitably reflect the assumed cost of credit card transaction. If there is a cash discount, GREAT, but usually debit qualifies in which case I still don't get change.
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I wouldn't throw pennies in the trash for environmental reasons, I guess.
I'd rather collect the coins and then use them at some point.
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It could be just me, but I find something horribly arrogant about literally throwing away currency regardless of the amount. It just seems so shockingly repulsive. But financially and mathematically speaking it's not that different from being mildly wasteful by paying more for a particular product than is necessary. The latter doesn't produce the same visceral response for me. I wonder why.
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I wouldn't throw pennies in the trash for environmental reasons, I guess.
I'd rather collect the coins and then use them at some point.
Which environmental reasons?
Guys, I hate to break it to you but I used to have a large collection of random leftover screws. The collection kept growing until I finally realized that I was never going to use the screws. Although the technology for screw recycling technically exists, no garbage company is going to accept them in the recycle bin (it breaks the machines and causes worker hazards). So I threw them away. Yes, someday I may need to buy a screw.
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I wouldn't throw pennies in the trash for environmental reasons, I guess.
I'd rather collect the coins and then use them at some point.
Which environmental reasons?
Guys, I hate to break it to you but I used to have a large collection of random leftover screws. The collection kept growing until I finally realized that I was never going to use the screws. Although the technology for screw recycling technically exists, no garbage company is going to accept them in the recycle bin (it breaks the machines and causes worker hazards). So I threw them away. Yes, someday I may need to buy a screw.
Sure, but pennies can easily be recycled. They can be spent.
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At university there was ONE vending machine with a special trait. It accepted any amount of money and would let you cancel. Not special yet? It was the only machine on campus that would not return the coins you put in. It would return the same amount of change but in the highest denomination coins it could.
It was wonderful. I loved that machine. It helped me through four years whenever I needed quarters for the washing machine.
The machines for the self-checkout at my Grocery store suck. Once my basket of groceries cost 7.35$. I decide to put in 4.35$ in nickels and a few dimes. I wanted to get rid of them. After the long task of feeding the machine, I put a 5$ bill in. I expect to get a toonie out. Nope. I get forty nickels.
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I wouldn't throw pennies in the trash for environmental reasons, I guess.
I'd rather collect the coins and then use them at some point.
Which environmental reasons?
Guys, I hate to break it to you but I used to have a large collection of random leftover screws. The collection kept growing until I finally realized that I was never going to use the screws. Although the technology for screw recycling technically exists, no garbage company is going to accept them in the recycle bin (it breaks the machines and causes worker hazards). So I threw them away. Yes, someday I may need to buy a screw.
Sure, but pennies can easily be recycled. They can be spent.
No pennies can rarely be spent without receiving more stupid hard currency in return (and I'm not gonna be the guy paying with $50 in pennies). Better not to feed into the coin industrial complex at all
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I wouldn't throw pennies in the trash for environmental reasons, I guess.
I'd rather collect the coins and then use them at some point.
Which environmental reasons?
Guys, I hate to break it to you but I used to have a large collection of random leftover screws. The collection kept growing until I finally realized that I was never going to use the screws. Although the technology for screw recycling technically exists, no garbage company is going to accept them in the recycle bin (it breaks the machines and causes worker hazards). So I threw them away. Yes, someday I may need to buy a screw.
Sure, but pennies can easily be recycled. They can be spent.
No pennies can rarely be spent without receiving more stupid hard currency in return (and I'm not gonna be the guy paying with $50 in pennies). Better not to feed into the coin industrial complex at all
In Canada, they've eliminated the penny because each of those coins cost more to produce than it was worth. Everything is rounded to the next 5 cents and none of the kids have a problem with the concept of rounding to the nearest 5.
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I wouldn't throw pennies in the trash for environmental reasons, I guess.
I'd rather collect the coins and then use them at some point.
Which environmental reasons?
Guys, I hate to break it to you but I used to have a large collection of random leftover screws. The collection kept growing until I finally realized that I was never going to use the screws. Although the technology for screw recycling technically exists, no garbage company is going to accept them in the recycle bin (it breaks the machines and causes worker hazards). So I threw them away. Yes, someday I may need to buy a screw.
Sure, but pennies can easily be recycled. They can be spent.
No pennies can rarely be spent without receiving more stupid hard currency in return (and I'm not gonna be the guy paying with $50 in pennies). Better not to feed into the coin industrial complex at all
What? If anything, pennies reduce the needed change. If you have to pay $1,59 and give $2,09 (using only 9 pennies), you get less change.
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At university there was ONE vending machine with a special trait. It accepted any amount of money and would let you cancel. Not special yet? It was the only machine on campus that would not return the coins you put in. It would return the same amount of change but in the highest denomination coins it could.
It was wonderful. I loved that machine. It helped me through four years whenever I needed quarters for the washing machine.
I used the same "hack" when I was at university as well. Laundry quarters were valuable tokens!
One of the other old coin "hacks" we used to do was using bunches of pennies at toll road plazas. The automated collection baskets seemed to need an eternity to count them all. And then one day pennies were no longer accepted in those machines. :(
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I wouldn't throw pennies in the trash for environmental reasons, I guess.
I'd rather collect the coins and then use them at some point.
Which environmental reasons?
Guys, I hate to break it to you but I used to have a large collection of random leftover screws. The collection kept growing until I finally realized that I was never going to use the screws. Although the technology for screw recycling technically exists, no garbage company is going to accept them in the recycle bin (it breaks the machines and causes worker hazards). So I threw them away. Yes, someday I may need to buy a screw.
Sure, but pennies can easily be recycled. They can be spent.
No pennies can rarely be spent without receiving more stupid hard currency in return (and I'm not gonna be the guy paying with $50 in pennies). Better not to feed into the coin industrial complex at all
What? If anything, pennies reduce the needed change. If you have to pay $1,59 and give $2,09 (using only 9 pennies), you get less change.
My point is that I'll still probably get change unless the total is X.01-X.04. Unless you want me to also start walking around with other coins, too. Like three quarters, two dimes, a nickel, and four pennies. That's 10 coins jangling in my pocket... not worth it for the 4 cent "payoff" every 6 months. Using the 4% rule, I'd gladly pay $2 to never have to deal with pennies again.
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I really enjoyed that story :) Agree with the poster that you could hear the love and sweetness in the telling. (And also with the OP that part of truly loving/accepting someone is being able to rib and tease them)
My found coin story: When we moved into our current rental home, I found dimes tucked in all of the baseboard - like between the floor and baseboard. I picked all of them up and added them to the piggy bank. It's been over 2 years since we moved in, and I'm still finding dimes when I clean the house! (some sort of house-fairy? maybe if I cleaned more often I'd get a better return....)
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I very rarely use cash for anything, but I can't bring myself to throw away money, even if it is just a penny, so I had a jar of coins on my bookshelf that they would all go into. I've probably been putting coins into it for 5 years and I thought it was mostly pennies, but I took it to the coinstar machine a few week ago and there was over $130 in it! By choosing an amazon gift card I didn't even have to pay the fee! It's the same idea as using ibotta or Checkout51 for grocery rebates. Each one is only $0.10 or $0.20 but it adds up. So far I've got over $100 between the two apps.
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I would never pay for some large amount using pennies, but I use them to pay for coffees, donuts, etc. I'll use a few pennies to get back even change. I get the occasional cashier who doesn't have the patience to wait for me to count out a few coins. But I'd rather use cash for small purchases. I know it's probably easier for them if I swipe a debit card, but I don't want to use that for small purchases.
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I wasn't sure I would like it when Canada dropped pennies, but it makes life so much easier. It feels odd to use pennies when I am in the U.S. Of course it also seems odd to have $1 bills given in change there, they make my wallet so fat when they could be space-saving loonies.
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I wasn't sure I would like it when Canada dropped pennies, but it makes life so much easier. It feels odd to use pennies when I am in the U.S. Of course it also seems odd to have $1 bills given in change there, they make my wallet so fat when they could be space-saving loonies.
Before the all-electronic was possible, I used to be a dollar hoarder. I didn't want to carry those bulky ones around, but unlike the penny they were actually worth something. So I had a "dollar box" where I threw all my dollars. At some point I had to cash them in for something but was busy that day, so my girlfriend at the time volunteered to do it for me. Poor naive girlfriend probably got some strange looks from the teller.
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What do you guys buy with cash these days? Most of what I buy with cash doesn't involve small change at all - if they only take cash it's usually a round number like 5 bucks.
If you want to park in front of the post office in my town, the meters take only pennies and nickles.
I did find it interesting when I was in Germany, pre Euro, that I never saw coins smaller than 1/10 of a Deutche Mark used until I went to a grocery store. Only there were prices in units which could add up to less, the equivalent of pennies in the U.S.
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What do you guys buy with cash these days? Most of what I buy with cash doesn't involve small change at all - if they only take cash it's usually a round number like 5 bucks.
If you want to park in front of the post office in my town, the meters take only pennies and nickles.
I did find it interesting when I was in Germany, pre Euro, that I never saw coins smaller than 1/10 of a Deutche Mark used until I went to a grocery store. Only there were prices in units which could add up to less, the equivalent of pennies in the U.S.
In my town, nickels have pictures of bumblebees on em. Gimme five bees for a quarter, we say.
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I find it funny how y'all have all these names for money! In England there might be a couple of regional nicknames but I've never heard them. We call a 10p a 10p and a pound a pound!
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I find it funny how y'all have all these names for money! In England there might be a couple of regional nicknames but I've never heard them. We call a 10p a 10p and a pound a pound!
I still miss the farthing and groat
Yeah, good thing England never had any weird names for their money (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_banknotes_and_coins)
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There was at least some rationale being used in the first post even if "I didn't want them to rust" seems funny to us.
I was in the grocery store last week. The woman ahead of me dropped her change (coins). Me being me quickly calculated the value of $0.65 (two quarters, one dime, one nickel). The women looked at them and then turned and left. It blew my mind.
I picked up and kept the money.
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Thanks for the story, I found it amusing and touching. As someone who once worked at a movie theatre, I've worked with a couple "Joe" types. I do landscaping now and routinely find half a roll of pennies or random change scattered around the base of a garbage can or bench. I laugh and pick it up and add to the change jar.
I go to a lot of garage sales and I always ask if people have a coin collection they might sell, and one time a lady told me her friend had a big collection (like a bunch of boxes and binders full) but thought it was worthless and couldn't spend or sell it, so she threw it in the garbage. There's a good chance it was worth a shitload of money. Facepalm
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There was at least some rationale being used in the first post even if "I didn't want them to rust" seems funny to us.
I was in the grocery store last week. The woman ahead of me dropped her change (coins). Me being me quickly calculated the value of $0.65 (two quarters, one dime, one nickel). The women looked at them and then turned and left. It blew my mind.
I picked up and kept the money.
Speaking of clean coins, https://www.pcgs.com/News/The-Man-Who-Washes-Coins-For-A-Living
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I find it funny how y'all have all these names for money! In England there might be a couple of regional nicknames but I've never heard them. We call a 10p a 10p and a pound a pound!
Apart from the wiki list from dragoncar I can think of:
Quid
Grand
Ton
Pony
Monkey
Nugget
Score
Shrapnel, though that really means a collection of coins
perhaps fiver, tenner e.t.c but guess that is commonly used everywhere. Then you could of course include cockney e.g. Lady Godiva, Ayrton e.t.c.
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I find it funny how y'all have all these names for money! In England there might be a couple of regional nicknames but I've never heard them. We call a 10p a 10p and a pound a pound!
Apart from the wiki list from dragoncar I can think of:
Quid
Grand
Ton
Pony
Monkey
Nugget
Score
Shrapnel, though that really means a collection of coins
perhaps fiver, tenner e.t.c but guess that is commonly used everywhere. Then you could of course include cockney e.g. Lady Godiva, Ayrton e.t.c.
The only ones I have ever heard used are quid and grand. (Which, to be fair, I had forgotten about.)
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My husband is from Scotland and he says Quid, for money, although I"m not sure what amount he's referring to.
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There was at least some rationale being used in the first post even if "I didn't want them to rust" seems funny to us.
I was in the grocery store last week. The woman ahead of me dropped her change (coins). Me being me quickly calculated the value of $0.65 (two quarters, one dime, one nickel). The women looked at them and then turned and left. It blew my mind.
I picked up and kept the money.
Speaking of clean coins, https://www.pcgs.com/News/The-Man-Who-Washes-Coins-For-A-Living
I remember seeing a show on TV about that. It started to keep the ladies' gloves clean (back when ladies wore gloves).
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The above was a Simpsons quote. We don't call nickels "bees".
OP. I don't like when people make fun of retards.
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We both empty our pockets and she empties her purse if we have coins. Just throw it into an old fast food cup...when it fills up, we stop by our credit union which has a free coin counting machine. It spits out a receipt, and a teller deposits that amount into checking/savings. I don't understand throwing away currency. It seems arrogant.
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If a place has a minimum purchase, I get pissy because it's technically against merchant agreement (or used to be?) and ignore it or take my business elsewhere. ...
Possibly of interest: under federal law, "[a] payment card network shall not ... inhibit the ability of any person to set a minimum dollar value for the acceptance by that person of credit cards", provided among other things that the minimum does not exceed $10, subject to certain exceptions and qualifications. 15 USC § 1693o-2 (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1693o-2)(b)(3)(A).
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If a place has a minimum purchase, I get pissy because it's technically against merchant agreement (or used to be?) and ignore it or take my business elsewhere. ...
Possibly of interest: under federal law, "[a] payment card network shall not ... inhibit the ability of any person to set a minimum dollar value for the acceptance by that person of credit cards", provided among other things that the minimum does not exceed $10, subject to certain exceptions and qualifications. 15 USC § 1693o-2 (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1693o-2)(b)(3)(A).
Thanks, I thought I heard something about a law being passed. I personally believe any minimum should be displayed alongside the Visa/MC logo, so I know not to enter the store and waste my time.
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I've always kept a container in my wardrobe for loose change. Every night any change that I have gets put into the container. I don't use a lot of cash, and occasionally I dip into the pot, but over the last 5 years or so I've accumulated over £130.
I considered taking it all to Coinstar but the Mustachian in me made me get some of those coin bags the next time I passed the bank. I then spent a couple of hours one evening sorting the coins by value and putting them in the bags. The next day I took them to the bank and kept 100% of the money.
I even took the time to check each coin for mint errors, as these tend to be worth more to collectors. I didn't find any but I wouldn't have been able to sleep if I didn't check!
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I get rid of my small coins at the self-checkout, then pay the balance by card. Problem solved with a minimum of fuss.
If that was too much trouble, I could always give them to a busker.
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As someone who spent many years working with people with disabilities this is not amusing. If he has an IQ in the 60's this type of thing makes perfect sense to him. It is awesome that he is holding a job. Your Aunt must have taught him to be independent and had him do chores at home, etc which is the key to success.
I think the term OP meant wasn't amusing, but rather 'endearing'.
We went on a trip the the USA with the kids. I got out all the US coin we had stashed in the drawers for over 3 years, counted it, rolled it as best I could, and split it into two baggies, one for each of them. I told them it was spending money (it was about $20 each, and I marked the bags with the amount).
They rolled their eyes.
When we get there, on the last day, one wants to buy a souvenir, the other some snacks at the airport. I said, OK, get out your money and pay for it!. Turns out one kid did not bring it, left it behind thinking it was not actually money or something, and the other was surprised to see it turned into a softdrink and chips for him.
I mean, he carried through an airport, through a trip, and back to the airport in his backpack, and it was heavy. He thought I was just being mean or something... They were 12 and 14 years old.
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In Canada it is easier to collect and keep your change as we don't have a penny but have $! and $2 coins. A roll of twonies is $50, and definitely worth keeping track of.
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In the downtown area of my city we have donation stations set up for loose change. The stations are old, decorated parking meters with signs on them that collected loose change will be used locally to help the homeless.
I was just reading that this is not a new concept; other cities do it as well:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/sharing/2010-09-30-parking-meter-donations_n.htm
So I hope people will read this an realize there are really good alternatives to tossing loose change you don't want.
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In the downtown area of my city we have donation stations set up for loose change. The stations are old, decorated parking meters with signs on them that collected loose change will be used locally to help the homeless.
I was just reading that this is not a new concept; other cities do it as well:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/sharing/2010-09-30-parking-meter-donations_n.htm
So I hope people will read this an realize there are really good alternatives to tossing loose change you don't want.
In my area, parking meters don't take pennies
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In the downtown area of my city we have donation stations set up for loose change. The stations are old, decorated parking meters with signs on them that collected loose change will be used locally to help the homeless.
I was just reading that this is not a new concept; other cities do it as well:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/sharing/2010-09-30-parking-meter-donations_n.htm
So I hope people will read this an realize there are really good alternatives to tossing loose change you don't want.
In my area, parking meters don't take pennies
To clarify, these are meters specifically repurposed to take all spare change (including pennies) and collect it for the homeless. My point, is that everyone's spare change adds up, and could be doing some good. No one should be tossing currency in the trash.
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In the downtown area of my city we have donation stations set up for loose change. The stations are old, decorated parking meters with signs on them that collected loose change will be used locally to help the homeless.
I was just reading that this is not a new concept; other cities do it as well:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/sharing/2010-09-30-parking-meter-donations_n.htm
So I hope people will read this an realize there are really good alternatives to tossing loose change you don't want.
In my area, parking meters don't take pennies
To clarify, these are meters specifically repurposed to take all spare change (including pennies) and collect it for the homeless. My point, is that everyone's spare change adds up, and could be doing some good. No one should be tossing currency in the trash.
But if the meter fills up with pennies, it means no room is left for real money
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In the downtown area of my city we have donation stations set up for loose change. The stations are old, decorated parking meters with signs on them that collected loose change will be used locally to help the homeless.
I was just reading that this is not a new concept; other cities do it as well:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/sharing/2010-09-30-parking-meter-donations_n.htm
So I hope people will read this an realize there are really good alternatives to tossing loose change you don't want.
In my area, parking meters don't take pennies
To clarify, these are meters specifically repurposed to take all spare change (including pennies) and collect it for the homeless. My point, is that everyone's spare change adds up, and could be doing some good. No one should be tossing currency in the trash.
But if the meter fills up with pennies, it means no room is left for real money
I think you just made a joke......
....?
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In the downtown area of my city we have donation stations set up for loose change. The stations are old, decorated parking meters with signs on them that collected loose change will be used locally to help the homeless.
I was just reading that this is not a new concept; other cities do it as well:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/sharing/2010-09-30-parking-meter-donations_n.htm
So I hope people will read this an realize there are really good alternatives to tossing loose change you don't want.
In my area, parking meters don't take pennies
To clarify, these are meters specifically repurposed to take all spare change (including pennies) and collect it for the homeless. My point, is that everyone's spare change adds up, and could be doing some good. No one should be tossing currency in the trash.
But if the meter fills up with pennies, it means no room is left for real money
I think you just made a joke......
....?
..?
I never joke
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For a dude who never jokes, you're pretty damn funny.
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I don't know if this is true for other places, but our local Coinstar machine dispenses various types of gift cards without charging a fee, so every once in a while I will convert my coin counter and get something like movie tickets for it. It's turned out to be a decent way to get a little entertainment without using any money from our bank account.
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I mean, he carried through an airport, through a trip, and back to the airport in his backpack, and it was heavy. He thought I was just being mean or something... They were 12 and 14 years old.
Foreign currency is hard. It's always a bit "monopoly money" like, even for many adults.
I was a little sad this weekend when I watched a youtube video and the youtuber kept talking about how many pounds something cost her. Half the comments were "What the hell is a pound?" or "Is a pound slang for a dollar?" I'm hoping these were young kids, but youtube requires you be 13 to have an account (not that anyone pays attention to that, so man, I'm hoping these are young kids.)
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In the downtown area of my city we have donation stations set up for loose change. The stations are old, decorated parking meters with signs on them that collected loose change will be used locally to help the homeless.
I was just reading that this is not a new concept; other cities do it as well:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/sharing/2010-09-30-parking-meter-donations_n.htm
So I hope people will read this an realize there are really good alternatives to tossing loose change you don't want.
In my area, parking meters don't take pennies
To clarify, these are meters specifically repurposed to take all spare change (including pennies) and collect it for the homeless. My point, is that everyone's spare change adds up, and could be doing some good. No one should be tossing currency in the trash.
But if the meter fills up with pennies, it means no room is left for real money
I think you just made a joke......
....?
..?
I never joke
Cue picture of your Avatar.... (A visual joke in itself)