Every time a new version of a bill is introduced, the papers are full of information how it’s harder to counterfeit. They tell you about the color changing dyes and the microprint and the wording on the stripe and the watermark.
So why do clerks feel obligated to inspect every new bill?
Don’t they get it that counterfieters will continue making the older bills for as long as they are in circulation?
The older bills are demonstably easier to produce, and since they call no attention to themselves they are a billion times easier to pass.
So they fuss over my new bills, and squint and twist and hold to the light, all the while giving me the fish eye and delaying the line.
Cut it out!
Until they’ve been in circulation for a while, the clerk is probably just not all that familiar with them. The whole time they’re fussing and squinting and twisting, they’re probably going over a mental checklist of what the bill’s security features are. If not, any hack with a color copier can pawn off a few lazy knockoffs in the interim that are missing any number of security features. As long as they’re new, the merchant is wise to scrutinize the new currency. Whenever all the bills go to a consistent style, not two or three versions of each in circulation at the same time, you probably won’t get it so much and the line at the fish store will move along much faster.
I actually kind of like the new ten, at least from its picture. The only thing that’s weird is that they have the treasury shield, the word “TEN,” and the word “the” in “We the people” all on top of each other. But maybe that’s the anti-counterfeiting genius at work.
OK - so there are a few tiny bits of other colour in the note. But even the most fervent Yankee-doodle must admit that your paper currency is a bit on the lacklustre side. Compared with, say, an old Irish tenner or a hundred.
On top of the bajillion of other things the clerk has to pay attention to, here’s a new version of the ten dollar bill. He or she has to make sure it’s the real thing. Yet another reason why I am so glad I never have had to spend time in retail hell and why I respect those who deal with all this, plus store policy, plus pissy customers, and all the other stuff he or she is dealing with at any one time.
When I managed a large sports complex, we took in a lot of cash. We were aslo prone to hire younger kids because they related to our young costomers.
When the new colored funny looking bills came out a few years ago, I took them out to our cashiers to show them what they might expect. “Oh Jack, we knew about this AGES ago.” “Get real, I need a raise.” etc. The other three just turned away but not before I saw a few eyeballs raising up.
Point is, let the clerks know about the new bills, have them check maybe every tenth bill for a while but they probably know this anyway.
Ah, crap. My above post was suppose to contain a joke about dick measuring and hating America and other fun things, and possibly the most brilliant wit I’ve ever shown on a message board or elsewhere. But I seemed to have left the joke out, and now it would be just silly to try. :smack:
Two more predictable and useless confusions to come:
All money changing machines from the subway to the laundromat will not take the new bills in time, although the Feds have gone to great lengths to make sure all the manufacturers have all the right new templates ahead of time.
Excuses will vary, but someone in local government will be on the news saying this was “just sprung on them” come January.
Patrons will be shocked and outraged that they can’t use the new money to buy tickets from machines. Despite this problem happening every time for decades now.
