Old people and exact change

[Chimera]

Having coin operated vending machines at work will tend to alleviate any issues of having mounds of change on hand.

[Zulema]

My grandmother, when she was very little and very old wouldn’t search around for the exact change, she would search around for the correct wad of bills. We would be at the checkout and she would pull a huge wad of cash out of her pocket, look at it for a few seconds, then say “no, that’s not it” and start searching her other pockets and purse for the correct huge wad of cash.

[applebetty]

Yes , to use up spare change so you’re not carrying too much, but also because that is the correct answer to the question. Not the story of how you have a five dollar bill and that makes it easy for you. You have been asked for 3 dollars and 97 cents. Old school says that is what you give, yes ma’am and thank you.

Sorry if strange for a first post, glad to speak up after a while of lurking.

[StarvingButStrong]

In honor of this thread, this evening I paid for a $3.99 bag of Smart Food popcorn in change. With 15 quarters 2 dimes and, yes!, four pennies.

Okay, yeah, it was self-serve and there was no one else in the front end of the store except a bored clerk restocking the candy bars and gum at each register. But it still amused me, and my purse seems to weigh two pounds less.

[Cunctator]

I always pay the exact change if I can, and have done so for years. That’s what coins are for.

[brujaja]

@Acsenray

(I guess my real complaint is – why don’t women’s clothes have pockets?)

Yes!! This!! I have been griping about this for years!

I hate carrying a purse. I won’t carry one unless I absolutely have to; and even then, only a teeny one with a long shoulder strap I can put over my head and one arm through.

But I’d MUCH rather carry everything in my pockets. There is nothing more frustrating than an otherwise awesome pair of jeans with little stupid pockets that only go as deep as your first knuckle. Or, worse yet, the evil and sadistic Fake Front Pocket. <shudder! flinch!>

[Becky2844]

@surrounded_by_literalists

I think an ADD/OCD view might be that:

you think you might have exact change handy and its making a mess in your purse, bag, pocket, shoe, bra, whatever, so you reach for it, but its not EXACT change, so you keep searching because the whole purpose is EXACT change, and you can hear hear it jingling, so you keep digging, but then you realize that its not really worth the effort, but DAMNED if you can give up the search because you know, without a doubt, it can be found and you’re not going to beat by something like exact change any your unorganized bag (which begins to open up a whole nother’ can o’ worms right at that moment, but intel duo core processors have yet to be installed in a human cranium and the whole process locks up like granny on opioids), I mean Im supposed to be smarter than change and my unorganized bag, right?

So at this point, the only answer is a tranqualizer dart, nekkid Antonio Banderas walks by, or actually finding the elusive EXACT (HELL YEAH!) CHANGE.

oh…

GET OFF MY LAWN!

I love this!

[Becky2844]

@Chimera

It isn’t always old people, but old people do seem to be the most oblivious to whether or not there are people around or behind them.

Age is not an excuse to stop paying attention to the world around you.

If you are not capable of being aware of the world around you, then it isn’t the responsibility of the rest of the world to accomodate you. At that point you present a danger to yourself and others and it is your responsibility to take whatever steps are necessary to correct this. Driving and drivers licenses is only the tip of the iceberg.

Some of the rudest people I’ve ever encountered are the young women pushing a cart with their one (perfect) child in it, leaving it in the middle of the aisle as they reach past your face for their selection, talking on their cell phones and not noticing that (perfect) child is throwing food in the path of other carts, and look past you like THEY are zombies…I love it when their cards aren’t approved.

[Dogzilla]

@moejoe

This makes no sense to me at all. You have jars of change (and your mom has shoeboxes full of it) just sitting there waiting for some day when you’ll have time to lug it down to the coinstar. This is hundreds of dollars just sitting there, but that nice old lady who pays with exact change has actual stuff, rather than boxes and jars of coins. She doesn’t have to lug anything anywhere. That seems like the smarter move to me.

Also, there’s a pretty good chance that someone on social security simply can’t afford to leave hundreds of dollars just sitting around in a jar. A lot of people can’t afford to do that these days.

I did not claim that my mother and I make any sense. Spending the change is probably the smarter idea. That does not negate the fact that I am too lazy to lug my jars of change the whopping three blocks down to the Coinstar machine.

I also cleaned out my closet about a year ago and still have several boxes of clothes just sitting there at the top of my stairs, waiting for me to drop them off at a donation center. I’ve been pillaging some of the fabrics for sewing projects, but yeah. I’m a procrastinator about stuff like this.

[kayaker]

@PSXer

What else am I supposed to do with a $50?

I use them as cigar lighters.

[Hypno-Toad]

@Crackrat

27 year old dude here, and I pay with exact change when I can. Too much change makes my wallet uncomfortable to sit on, so I try to keep from accumulating too much. But I don’t make people wait while I dig through my wallet. I have my change out and in my hand before my total is calculated, and I try to sort the pile into useful amounts so I don’t hold anyone up.

Change 27 to 41 and this is my exact response.

[FluffyBob]

@picunurse

Could it be that being old, they have very little money and every penny counts? When Im husband was ill, and we had only my income from social security, I counted out change because it was all I had.

If you want her out of your way, pay the $0.97 for her. Remember, “Pay it forward?”

This. Especially elderly women because they are that much more likely to be living on a very restricted income.

Also the context is different for them. A lot changes as the decades pass and people tend to think and act in terms that made sense in their formative years. You will likewise exhibit behaviors that are ridiculous and inconvenient to younger generations when you are older; you may already.

Yes I get impatient too, but remember you have options. Use the self checkouts, or shop at a different time of day. If that doesn’t work try some compassion and respect for your elders. Lets see how fast and appropriate you all are when you are 75 or older.

[MeanOldLady]

This is no place for compassion or understanding. This is the place where we fume because Grandma added an additional 45 seconds to our Safeway shopping trip. :mad:

[Shodan]

@Chimera

If you are not capable of being aware of the world around you, then it isn’t the responsibility of the rest of the world to accomodate you. At that point you present a danger to yourself and others and it is your responsibility to take whatever steps are necessary to correct this.

Oh come on - how many people do you know of who died in the check out line because someone was counting out exact change?

I don’t like carrying around change, and if I can get rid of a lump of it by paying a $1.47 bill with five quarters, a dime, and twelve pennies, you can just possess your soul in patience while I count it out.

Go ahead and grumble under your breath if you want - I can’t hear you anyway.

Regards,
Shodan

[Sudden_Kestrel]

@Chimera

It isn’t always old people, but old people do seem to be the most oblivious to whether or not there are people around or behind them.

Age is not an excuse to stop paying attention to the world around you.

If you are not capable of being aware of the world around you, then it isn’t the responsibility of the rest of the world to accomodate you. At that point you present a danger to yourself and others and it is your responsibility to take whatever steps are necessary to correct this. Driving and drivers licenses is only the tip of the iceberg.

I totally get this in regard to driving (I’m looking at you, Mom), but really, what dire circumstances will arise because it takes a little longer to get through the line at the grocery store?

Older people sometimes do have to concentrate harder on the tasks they’re performing, thus tuning out your fuming, eye-rolling and foot-stamping, but are you seriously proposing that they should just hang it up and retreat to the nursing home because you’re in a hurry to get home with your soy milk?*

• No offense to drinkers of soy milk intended.

[Acsenray]

@Sudden_Kestrel

are you seriously proposing that they should just hang it up and retreat to the nursing home because you’re in a hurry

I don’t know what he’s suggesting, but I’m suggesting they switch to a form of payment that requires less attention to detail. Like paper money or debit cards.

And also that they keep their forms of payment readily accessible, not buried inside a bag of holding.

[Anaamika]

I don’t have a problem with exact change - I use it, too, when I have it, or when there’s not a line. I even have a separate change purse, although the majority of it goes into a change jar at home (which I do roll periodically.) It’s the rudeness I can’t abide, and if you’re going to tell me no old person has ever been rude just because they could, and they’re old, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

This woman

• waited until the cashier was all done to begin pulling out money from her cavernous purse
• handed her some money, when the cashier was almost done, turned around and saw three people in line, and then said “Wait, I have exact change”
• then began pulling out her change purse and counting the change out laboriously.

So basically delaying us just because she could.

I don’t really understand the “Have a little patience” crowd either. What do you think we do? If I feel like rolling my eyes, I might, but mostly I just sigh and wait. I also resent the implication that my life is super rushed because sometimes I am in a hurry at the store, oh noes. HEY OLD GUYS! I work, and have to get back to my job. I understand if you have a hard time, but to deliberately inconvenience me and other people is just rude. Plus I just love the people who imply I should have a little more Zen. Yeah. Grocery store is a great place for Zen!

Put it this way: I do not respect old people merely for having gotten old. Neither will I expect respect from people when I am old. Everyone needs to earn respect in my book. That’s just a product of the Old People Lobby, anyway.

[Dogzilla]

I used to have an idea that, once you hit 65 or retire, whichever comes first, you forfeit your right to shop whenever the fuck you please. You must remain in your home during both rush hours 8-9 am and 5-6 pm, and during the lunch hour 12-1. You have all day long, the rest of the day, seven days a week, in which to complete your errand running. Save the busy hours for those of us who only have one hour for lunch and cannot spare the time to wait for some little old blue-hair to count out $8.99 in change. If you need to take your sweet time about it fine, then you need to reserve your errand running and purchasing to the hours in which people with jobs are actually working so you won’t be in anyone’s way.

Yeah, I realize this would be a terribly asshole-y policy and I’m not suggesting anyone actually implement it. But I promise when I am unemployed or retired, I will confine my lollygagging to times when I won’t be inconveniencing other people. I promise to not forget that, just because I have all day, doesn’t mean the rest of you do, too.

[MeanOldLady]

So I changed my mind about old people being cute after being forced to endure a minor tech-ish project with an older gentleman. The very small project involved maneuvering a computer program that neither of us is all that familiar with into performing a somewhat simple task. Fast forward to nearly an hour of said old man slowly clicking on buttons, commenting on how confused he is and completely ignoring my suggestions before I got up and said I’d tinker around from my desk for a moment, as I’m better at figuring things out when I’m in the driver’s seat. Seven minutes later, the whole damn thing was done.

Jesus, I wanted to pull my hair out. He’s very sweet, but if you’ve spent an hour puzzling over something, and someone else is offering up suggestions, why not try one of them instead of being a stubborn old fart, periodically cleaning off your glasses and looking puzzled?

[LurkerInNJ]

I try and pay with exact change, but I keep my coinage in something called a coin purse. It’s very easy to reach in and grab what I need.

What kills me are the old people who stand at the bus stop for 15 minutes, but make no effort to get their fare ready until they are in front of the fare box on the bus, with a line of 25 people standing behind them. God forbid they buy a Metrocard.