The Master Speaks:
So many things besides cash are filthy.
Door handles, grocery carts, waiting room furniture, sink faucet handles, etc.
I do my best and carry on.
Yeah, give the guy some credit: maybe he’s actually cleaning his fingers (by licking them) before he counts out your cash.
Something more explanatory, for those of us who never go into casinos.
(This is not me putting my nose in the air about casinos. This is me knowing a) that I’m too broke to afford losing money and b) that if I’m playing solitaire and losing I find it really difficult to stop. Some chunk of my head keeps saying “I don’t want to stop till I get a hand that brings me out ahead!” which seems like a really bad frame of mind to go out gambling with.)
Primarily because you may not have enough change in the till, especially if multiple people do this in short order. Or, and rather more likely, you may have enough change in the till for the character with the $100 – but then after giving them all their change you may not have enough change for the next person or the one after, who gave you two twenties for a purchase of 20.73; and you’ll have to make that person and everyone behind them in line wait while you call your manager to bring you more change. You dumped your minor inconvenience (sorting out, or bothering to have, the $3) onto multiple other people down the line, and very likely didn’t even know that you did that.
Also, possibly, because you look like you’re waving your money around to make a point of how much of it you have.
Also, possibly, because they may be worried that you’re trying to pass a counterfeit bill; or that somebody palmed one off on you. Which may require them to take extra time to check the bill; or which, if they don’t check it or aren’t able to check it thoroughly enough, may wind up coming out of their paycheck.
That’s where I remember seeing it recently; though I didn’t recognize it as a line from a recent song. I’m not flat out opposed to listening to rap music but I don’t hear much of it and when I do I often can’t catch half the words; as the words seem to be most of the point it doesn’t seem to me to make sense for me to listen to more of it unless I’m going to put significant time into figuring out what the words are.
The term’s quite old (well, at least old in a USA culture sense of “old”; it can’t very well be older than whenever they first put Ben on the money); I’ve read it a number of places before, though I can’t now recall where – detective stories maybe? And I think that I may have known somebody who said it, though I can’t remember who.
And yet, most of the time most of us are not sick. Possibly the situation is not as hazardous as it’s sometimes made to sound. (Possible exception for the immunocompromised.)
I handle a fair amount of cash; that’s what I mostly take at farmers’ market. I don’t worry about whether it’s germy. I don’t want it to be obviously sticky with something, however; that’s just yuck. I will say I’ve never seen anybody pull their cash out of their bra or underwear, though I’ve seen one place with a sign telling you not to; which sign must have been put up for a reason. I would think that carrying cash in one’s bra would be uncomfortable; I don’t want anything stuck inside mine.
I do wash and/or sanitize my hands with reasonable frequency, especially when handling customers’ produce.
My local Little Caesars here in North-Western South Carolina was cash-only immediately after getting power back days following Hurricane Helene, which was understandable. But for some reason it is still cash-only today. And more recently became exact-change only.
My (somewhat amusing) cash story:
Some years ago, I was in line to check into my hotel. Right ahead of me were three older (maybe early 70s) people checking out and paying for their room.
They paid in cash. OK, nothing noteworthy there, but they paid one at a time, their share–down to the penny!
Recently my daughter called to tell us she had scrounged up a few bucks to stop by a neighborhood kids’ hot chocolate stand. When she got there, she was told it was $5 a cup, and they accepted Venmo and CashApp.
My daughter laughed and said something to the effect of, “Good luck with that!” (She’s somewhat lactose intolerant and didn’t even want the damned drink - just thought she’d toss a couple of bucks the kids’ way.)
One store we frequent somewhat regularly instituted a 3% surcharge for credit card transactions, so we always make sure to bring cash with us. I’ve never had any difficulty or experienced any weirdness about using cash. If someone doesn’t want to accept cash, well, I understand that as an expression that they do not want my business. I’m happy to go elsewhere or go without.
(I’ve never used a debit card or any e-payment method other than Paypal - which I’ve likely used <10X. Somehow have managed not to die from lack of an ability to buy what I need/want.)
I spend way more time in casinos than I want to ( my husband’s the gambler, not me). I’ve never heard anything called TITO - and it doesn’t make any sense. The slot machines accept tickets (ticket in) and dispense them (ticket out) , but they are called “slot machines”. And the machines that exchange tickets for cash and are also ATMs accept tickets (TI) but dispense cash ( no TO) and are called ticket machines/ATMs/redemption machines. What machines are you talking about that are Ticket In, Ticket Out?
Back when I bought fuel for cars, multiple times I’d pull up to a pump, find that the credit card reader was non-functional, and then drive to another station. Besides the inconvenience mentioned above, I sometimes got the impression that the pump remained “broken” to get more customers into the shop. Since the profit center for gas stations is all the things they sell in the shop, and not the fuel itself. If I’m going to be inconvenienced, it’s going to be at someone else’s station.
I bet they all had coin purses.
Exact change only is ridiculous though perhaps they expect people will overpay, rather than bring the exact amount.
Maybe they don’t maintain a cashbox to provide change. They do have to accept cash for payment but they don’t have to provide change on the spot.
A lot of gamblers regard fifties as bad luck. Try dropping one on a BJ table in Vegas and watch the reaction from everybody. Bad juju!
In one of Heinlein’s juveniles the father of the young protagonist tried to make a point by paying his taxes in cash. It was refused but he pointed to the "legal tender for all debts public and private" printed on the bill. They figured out how to work it because the guy was ready to dig in his heels and make an issue of it.
Wait, just trying to narrow down where this location is. Are you talking about Eastern North-Western South Carolina or Western North-Western South Carolina?
I mean the part of South Carolina hit hard by Helene.
You’d think that they would be distracted by the BJs.
I’m wondering how long ago this was, if a BJ was only $50.
It’s just an incredibly dated and corny phrase. I picture someone using that phrase carrying around a tacky money clip trying to impress the waitress at Denny’s.
Wow. I find that surprising. I can name a number of places in Chicago and the area, mostly small-business food stands, also some specialty groceries, that are cash-only. (35th Street Red Hots, Red Hot Ranch, Mr. Beef on Orleans during some days of the week [I think on weekends? I popped in a day last year where it was cash only], Johnnie’s Beef in Elmwood Park, Freddys’ in Cicero, etc.) Surely Philly’s gotta have some? If I search “cash only” on Yelp in Philly, I find a bunch. Most of the places here have a cash station nearby, if not in the establishment, but Freddy’s you have to drive down the street to the gas station if you forgot their cash-only business practices.
ETA: Oh, Gene and Jude’s, too. So the area’s arguably best hot dog stand (Gene and Jude’s), according to many, and the area’s best Italian beef stand (Johnnie’s) are both cash-only businesses. (So not just some random ones I’m picking out of a hat.)