Tired of all the jingling and weight, I started a conscious effort a couple months ago to quit with the change-carrying and stick with bills. After a good start, my new strategy has backfired in a big way.
Specifically, the majority of the purchases I've made in the past few weeks have all been slightly more than a rounded dollar amount. There is no embarrassment quite like a Duane Reade attendant's glare as you hand them two dollar bills for a candy bar that costs $1.13. "You don't have 13 cents?" No. No, I do not and yes, I want to leave.
and you feel shame.
Yesterday I was in a corner store, hoping to grab a soda for the road. I had a one-dollar bill and a 20-dollar bill. I also thought I had 35 cents in change. Bring it.
Instead of the safe, reliably-75-cents can, I noticed that the 20 oz. bottles were on sale - for 94 cents! Even if NYC's ridiculously high taxes blow this baby over a dollar, I have 35 cents to cover me, I thought.
I get to the counter and ready myself. The total is $1.08. I started digging through my bag for the change I thought I had, but it was then I remembered that I had earlier used this 35 cents on a banana. This was, in fact, why I had specifically brought 35 cents.
Had my ill-chosen soda been five cents cheaper, I could've convinced the clerk to let it slide. Three cents? Sure, use the penny tray. But eight cents? Get your dime, son.
Anyways, I was left with the second-worst option I had next to being a man in a suit who can't afford a soda - paying with a 20-dollar bill. The shame was complete, my apologies profuse, and I left a broken man.
Never again.
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