# I pit STUPID PEOPLE
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [February 13, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298 "2006-02-13T17:49:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/101 "2006-02-17T14:45:30Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#):
>
> If he had said, “sorry, I’m low on change early in the day, can you come back later”? he’s not a SFM. Still stupid to be hoarding change, but at least in a slightly more understandable way.
>
> If he had said, “sorry, I’m out of change”, he’s not a SFM. Shit happens. Not very often, but it happens. Hell, I’d go make change for him.
I agree, that’s the way he should have handled it. And by simply refusing you, the possibility exists that he was being a complete dick.
But you’re insisting that he’s stupid because a) he didn’t start out with a big enough cash drawer, and b) he didn’t get change on one of his many unscheduled trips to the deli. Answers to these points have been given to you many times now, and you refusal to acknowledge them speaks more about your own intelligence, or lack thereof.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/102 "2006-02-17T14:50:31Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#):
>
> b) starting banks are generally less than $20, and/or c) most people only carry around $20s (in which case b) is pretty stupid).
_sigh_
Let’s try this one more time.
Who do you think determines the guy’s start up drawer?
Don’t ignore this. Answer the fucking question.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/103 "2006-02-17T14:50:54Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#):
>
> Why does it not make sense if she will never gain more beverages? Wouldn’t it make even _more_ sense to hoard it if she has only a finite amount, with no chance of getting more?
No. She has a set number of people who can get drinks. Once she’s given them drinks, she’s out of drinks and can provide no more drinks to anyone. May as well do them in a first-come, first-serve fashion.
Are you clear on how that’s different from the situation under discussion?
Daniel
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### Author:  [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/104 "2006-02-17T15:20:23Z")
Since this is the first time I’ve seen you post **DragonAsh** , welcome. Here’s a few things to know about the boards.
1. No matter WHAT you say, there is going to be someone who will come in with a completely opposite position. Also you will find that it’s generally _certain members_ who constantly come in to threads simply to argue a contrary position. Honestly, I’m not sure that they even believe their own position or care about what the argument is about.
2. Sadly, you are now stuck in what I call the Ever Expanding Example Loop. This is where each side makes up increasingly wild examples that specifically support their own position. Frankly, the only thing that matters is the **actual** situation, as described in your OP.
3. The guy in your OP was a dick.
4. Hope you sign up.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/105 "2006-02-17T15:31:09Z")
> [@tdn](#):
>
> _sigh_
>
> Let’s try this one more time.
>
> Who do you think determines the guy’s start up drawer?
>
> Don’t ignore this. Answer the fucking question.
I don’t understand why this is such a big issue to so many here, either. The size of the guy’s drawer (hee hee) has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING HERE. The only pertinent fact is that he refused to give change to a customer standing in front of him, trying to give him his business, because of future, hypothetical customers.
Oh, welcome to the Dope, **DragonAsh**. You sure jumped in the deep end, but I give you full marks for continuing to argue long after I would have walked away. 😃
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/106 "2006-02-17T15:42:11Z")
> [@featherlou](#):
>
> I don’t understand why this is such a big issue to so many here, either. The size of the guy’s drawer (hee hee) has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING HERE. The only pertinent fact is that he refused to give change to a customer standing in front of him, trying to give him his business, because of future, hypothetical customers.
I hope it’s clear that I think that at least one person screwed up here: either the person that sent him out with inadequate cash, or the person who had adequate cash who refused to make change. I’m arguing here because the OP seems to give no credence at all to the idea that a guy with poor changemaking capacity should try to build up a cushion of change before giving the majority of it away to one customer.
At best, the guy making change was a dick–I think I said that in my first post here. At worst, he really was an idiot, as I’ve also said. However, he may have had a legitimate reason to hesitate at giving change, even if he was a dick about it.
Daniel
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/107 "2006-02-17T15:46:34Z")
> [@featherlou](#):
>
> I don’t understand why this is such a big issue to so many here, either. The size of the guy’s drawer (hee hee) has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING HERE.
Had **DragonAsh** merely argued that the guy was a jerk for not making the sale, I’d be pretty much on board with that. But **DragonAsh** is also making the argument that the guy posesses diminished brain function because he didn’t start out with more change. It’s that assertion that I’m arguing with.
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### Author:  [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/108 "2006-02-17T16:05:59Z")
> [@tdn](#):
>
> Had **DragonAsh** merely argued that the guy was a jerk for not making the sale, I’d be pretty much on board with that. But **DragonAsh** is also making the argument that the guy posesses diminished brain function because he didn’t start out with more change. It’s that assertion that I’m arguing with.
Close, but not quite - my assumption is that he was starting out with _ **a normal, ample amount of change** _, not that he was starting out short.
I think the guy was a few sammiches short of a picnic because he was still afraid he’d run out of change later.
I’d assume the guys’ boss is in charge of his starting cash drawer. After three years on the job at the same location, if in fact the guy was running out of change after his first one or two customers, I would further assume that the guy in the truck would have told his boss ‘hey, you’re starting me out with too little change’.
But as I’ve said many times, the size of his drawer (?!) is besides the whole friggen’ point, as \*\*featherlou \*\* and \*\*Dante \*\* have pointed out.
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### Author:  [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/109 "2006-02-17T16:12:52Z")
> [@Dante](#):
>
> Since this is the first time I’ve seen you post **DragonAsh** , welcome. Here’s a few things to know about the boards.
>
> 1. No matter WHAT you say, there is going to be someone who will come in with a completely opposite position. Also you will find that it’s generally _certain members_ who constantly come in to threads simply to argue a contrary position. Honestly, I’m not sure that they even believe their own position or care about what the argument is about.
> 2. Sadly, you are now stuck in what I call the Ever Expanding Example Loop. This is where each side makes up increasingly wild examples that specifically support their own position. Frankly, the only thing that matters is the **actual** situation, as described in your OP.
> 3. The guy in your OP was a dick.
> 4. Hope you sign up.
Thanks - I will certainly keep that in mind before posting again…
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### Author:  [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/110 "2006-02-17T16:13:06Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#):
>
> He asked me if I had a $10. Ergo, I infer he had plenty of singles. I asked if he was out of $10s, he said no, but he didn’t want to run out. This simply doesn’t jive with the ‘wanting to make change for many people at the expense of one’. What was he saving the $10s for, the one guy a week who tries to pay with a $50?
You know, I was iffy about which side to take until this information was provided. There is no smaller bill that can be broken with a $10 bill than a $20; hence, it makes no sense to horde the bill in this case and it would be most appropriate to make change using the $10 bill as part of the change. Thus, the guy must be a SFM. Unless he was hording the $1, but that doesn’t appear to enter the equation at any point. Considering that most of his purchases are in stamps, I expect he’d be giving out a lot of $2 and $3 increments, so I don’t see a reason to deny change expecting a higher number of $1 change increments.
However, whether he was a SFM or not, he should have just said he didn’t have enough change and left it, and not tried to make an excuse about running out. Don’t ask for special bills, just say you don’t have enough change for a $20. Then I’m sure DragonAsh would have had no problem going and getting change and then EVERYONE is happy, and no thread.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/111 "2006-02-17T16:19:04Z")
> [@Blaster Master](#):
>
> You know, I was iffy about which side to take until this information was provided.
I somehow missed this as well. My apologies, **Dragon** : with this bit of information, I agree with you that (if everything went down as you described), the guy was an idiot.
I still think the stewardess analogy is silly, though :).
Daniel
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### Author:  [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/112 "2006-02-17T16:34:41Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#):
>
> I somehow missed this as well. My apologies, **Dragon** : with this bit of information, I agree with you that (if everything went down as you described), the guy was an idiot.
>
> I still think the stewardess analogy is silly, though :).
>
> Daniel
I still don’t think that the ‘one vs many’ argument holds water, even if we’re talking about singles instead of $10. But apology accepted, and I retract any evil statements I made directed your way.
And the stewardess analogy makes perfect sense to me 😉
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/113 "2006-02-17T16:38:09Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#):
>
> I’d assume the guys’ boss is in charge of his starting cash drawer. After three years on the job at the same location, if in fact the guy was running out of change after his first one or two customers, I would further assume that the guy in the truck would have told his boss ‘hey, you’re starting me out with too little change’.
I think those are good assumptions. What would be a bad assumption is that the boss listened and increased the drawer. I know from experience that such requests often fall on deaf ears. In fact, I’m going to go ahead and assume that the amount is an official regulation made up by some clueless functionary in DC.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/114 "2006-02-17T16:42:37Z")
> [@DragonAsh](#):
>
> And the stewardess analogy makes perfect sense to me 😉
Hold on a sec – let me see if I’ve got this straight.
You wanted to buy seven dollars’ worth of stewardesses. But the guy was whoreding them? For _smaller_ bills?
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### Author:  [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-stupid-people/344298/115 "2006-02-17T16:46:45Z")
> [@glee](#):
>
> I’m at a international chess tournament in the Soviet Union (i.e. decades ago).
That’s really cool - were you playing or a spectator?
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