I was drinking at a bar in Penn Station last night. A Jordanian dude asked to use my cell phone. I let him use it and, as a gift, he handed me some loose Jordanian change.
Fast forward to the White Castle drive-thru. I ordered 5 jalapeno cheeseburgers and a medium coke for my nightcap. Yeah, I feel disgusting right now. Anyway, the total was $5.13. I only was able to scrounge up $4.83…in US money. I noticed that one of the pieces of Jordanian change in my pocket was very close to the size of a quarter. So I handed it to the cashier.
I just wanted to announce my appreciation for Jordanian change. Plus, the 25 dinar piece is cool. It’s 7-sided.
I dunno anything about Jordanian Dinars—but I can absolutely, positively, guarrantee you that White Castle hamburgers are NOT good. They aren’t even hamburgers.
The 25 dinars are only worth $35 if he can exchange them for American money without spending most of what he’d gain in the process. Is there a well-stocked currency exchange near you, Jackknifed Juggernaut? I’d think you’d need one for money from Jordan.
Having been to Jordan and therefore having collected a few dinar and some coins, I can easily believe that someone would misunderstand the labeling system. I seem to recall standing in a hotel with someone who had her hand out, with coins on it, hoping that the Jordanian person we were interacting with could explain the coins.
The fact that we spent 3 days in Jordan out of 3 weeks in the Middle East might have had something to do with my failure to recall the details of the coins. I mostly thought about dinar in relationship to shekels.
I’d assume so too. That’s what I assumed the time I got a British 25-pence piece in my change at the drugstore, instead of a nickel. I was only surprised they’d taken it in the first place, since the coin’s actual resemblance to a nickel is very slight. It’s the same color and about the same size, but not only is the decoration completely wrong, it isn’t even round. Like the Jordanian coin, it’s seven-sided.
It’s worth considerably more than a nickel though, and I like foreign coins anyway, so I was happy with it.
I mis-remembered. I had 4.93 to begin with. I still had a nickel left. I really thought I had enough money. I forgot I spent $20 for a taxi earlier. I think that the coin I substituted for the quarter was a 5 piestres piece. I’m still left with the 10 piestres piece and, of course, the quarter dinar.
I don’t make it a habit of doing this. But this was just the easiest solution, given the time of night. I go through that drive-thru pretty regularly, so I don’t feel so bad. No cashier is going to get fired over a foreign coin in their register.
