Pluggers by Rick McKee for October 07, 2011

Cash is indeed soooo 20th century….

And this is from a plugger in his 40’s.

Cash has no annual fee, no overcharge fee, no late fee, never expires, is completely fungible within national borders, and is good anywhere (except for large amounts in some places). Plastic is a trap waiting for people to slip up.

Maybe it’s easier – or maybe not!

I earned how to count change when I was a kid. I went to a fast-food place and the power went down and the young gentleman behind the counter was at a loss how to give me change. I showed him how to count it back and you’d think I’d taught him to walk on water. He showed a his co-workers, he was so proud. “I didn’t know you could do that!!” They checked it with a pocket calculator and it came out right every single time. We were amazed on both sides of the counter. One place I had to have a manager confirm to the employee that I was not trying to con him by doing what this cartoon depicts.

And I agree that plastic is a trap, but they are trying to make it so there is no other way.

My mom taught my this as a kid. We were playing Monopoly.

In this situation the plugger caused his own problem by changing the amount tendered. After the clerk enters the $20 the register shows the amount of change when the ’plugger then starts handing him more money he confuses the simple situation, the clerk has to completely rethink the situation to arrive at the amount of change to give back. If the guy had given him all the money to start with or indicated he was going to he would have his change in seconds.

Except that they automatically assume that you will pay in pre-determined amounts, hence the $5-10-20 keys.

My Dad taught me. He and his brother owned a small grocery store and I would stock shelves and work the register during summer vacation. My Dad taught me how to “count up” the change. One of the best things my Dad passed on to me.

Boy this strip sure reminds me how good it was in the “good ole days”. Kids really dont understand how hard it is for them now, they dont do any work they let computers, calculators and such do it for them.

Totally agreed there. When I was in school (in the 80s and 90s for the record), calculators weren’t allowed until high school (and that was just the upper level math classes and chemistry). I don’t get why kids (and seemingly teachers) think they are so necessary. :-s

I often think the person using plastic actually has no cash to back up the purchase, not so much wonder when I see cash changing hands.

Way back in the stone age when I went to school, making change was part of the math course in elementary school.

And sometimes those wet-behind-the-ears kids ask if you’d like the senior discount when you’re only 42. Smack!

I can do addition and subtraction just fine in my head, but I still find it annoying when people do this. Why do you care so much if your $5 is in four ones and some change instead of a five-dollar bill? Does it really make your life so much better, or save that much space in your wallet? Especially if it takes so much time to make the other person understand what you want?

I once saw a young sales clerk take out a calculator to calculate 10% of some amount of money. I blame public schools.

@beviekYes, good news! Thanks so much for thinking of me!