I Am An Idiot - And It Cost Me $80

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I left the house yesterday to do a bunch of shopping.
I had $300 in my wallet - one hundred dollar bill, a bunch of $20 bills and two $10 bills.

First error - I left the house and forgot my glasses. I don’t really need them to drive or anything, but I like to wear them to shop so I can see prices more easily and read labels.

First stop - get gas for the car.
Ran in - handed the attendant a $20 and a $10 and said, “$30 on number 3.”
Got the gas and left.
Total spent: $30

Stopped and got a refill for propane tank and beer for grilling this weekend. It came to about $25 and handed guy a $20 and a $10.
Total spent: $25

Next stop - SO was hungry so we made a quick stop at Burger King and got the special two for one deal, with drinks - and paid with a $20 bill.
Total spent: $10

Then to pool supply - we love our pool, but there are some pricey products to buy occasionally, so we spent a little over $70 there…handed the guy at the counter 4 $20 bills and took the change.
Total spent: $70

Then I went to buy groceries…the bill came to $80 plus change.
Handed women four $20 bills.
Total spent: $80

Total of about $215 spent for the day, out of $300.

And…what the fuck…I was left with only $6 in my wallet! I am about $80 short!

Crap!
I must have mixed in the $100 bill with one of the transactions where I thought it was one of the $20 bills.

I called all of the places to see if they had maybe noticed the fact after I left, but of course, nobody did.

Somebody got a nice tip today…a $100 bill instead of a $20 - so they got $80 extra. I am pretty sure it was the gas station attendant, but have no solid proof…but I think it was the first place I grabbed money out of wallet and didn’t really pay attention.

My own damned fault, but pisses me off anyway.

2

A fool and his money…something, something, something… :smiley:

3

if it’s bigger than a 20 keep it folded and separate from the other bills.

4

That’s a really good idea. I’ll have to remember to start doing that.

5

I’ve always wondered: is US currency all the same colour?

6

The older and newer bills respectively have the same basic design and color. The older bills I would describe as gray-green and the newer bills are sort of a pale peach color, but you can judge for yourself. The newer bills’ portraits are much larger and easier to distinguish than the older design, whose portraits were smaller, centered, and framed in an oval. When the bills were redesigned the one dollar bill got left out, and still retains the old design.

7

Definitely. I once accidentally mistook a $100 for $1 (A cab driver got a nice tip from me one day), and ever since then I keep my $100 bills separate.

8

This is why I don’t use cash.

Still though, I stopped by Kroger yesterday to pick up some ribeyes that were on sale. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized I didn’t swipe my Kroger card thus screwing myself out of $10.

9

Yes. It makes it difficult to use for foreigners and people with vision impairment.

But hey, where I come from, we came up with a solution.

10

I certainly wish that every time I have been an idiot it had only cost me $80. If I get off that cheaply in the future I will be grateful.

Also, the new bills are different colors but it’s fairly pale.

11

Call the store and tell them. They will give you an 800 number to call. They will give you the credit.
I’ve forgotten to show my Fred Meyers card (a Kroger subsidiary) several times. I’ve always called and got it fixed with no problem.

12

Which is why using debit card isn’t the most bone-headed thing in the world.

13

DMark, you are not alone. We are all idiots that way, until we get burnt. Then we start being extra careful. 80 dollars isn’t a cheap lesson, but it could have been worse.

14

I like the big head money. But, after several lost bills (I bankface my wallet even!), I started using debit cards for most things. Actually a bit easier to figure out where frivolous spending is happening, because I log every receipt onto a spreadsheet. Well, that idea is actually my wife’s but it has helped our budget tremendously.

15

I left a $20 on the shelf at a store once. I didn’t have the excuse of not wearing glasses. I was just distracted.

16

Just pretend you spent it on a hooker and some blow.

See how much smarter you feel now?

17

A lot of places don’t even take anything over a $20 any more, at least in my area.

I prefer debit cards anyway. Living where I do, I don’t feel like it’s a great personal safety move to carry large amounts of cash.

18

If it helps you feel any better, I had to pay a €10 reminder fee on a €40 bill today. Damn thing had just slipped my mind somehow.

19

Yeah. My rule is “debit for most things, but carry cash for things that require it.”

20

Most gas stations around here have CCTV recording the transactions. You could call the management and ask to see the tape from around the time you were there. If the attendant pocketed the $100 bill & substituted a $20 (which might be likely), the management would probably be interested in learning about this – they probably don’t want people like that working for them.