Oh, so many points of agreement!
How about clothing stores who sort the clothes first by manufacturer? So if you want, say, tan slacks, you have to look in three different places, one for each brand. Grrr.
There’s a certain store, let’s call it Lacy’s, that I refuse to enter again. Not only are the aisles narrow, they twist and wind about until you find yourself in a dead end and have to find your way out as if you’re lost in a hedge maze. If by some remote chance you do find what you want in the right size, then try to pay for it. Go ahead, just try. I used to seriously consider standing in the middle of the floor, waving cash around and yelling “Money! Who wants my Money? Anybody?”
BTW if you are paying in cash, in no way do you have to provide and i.d., address, phone number, whatever. Unless you’re buying a gun, of course. If they ask, just tell them you prefer not to provide it. If you don’t have the time to argue, just give them a phony one; 555-1212 works nicely and doesn’t inconvenience anybody if they do try to call it or sell it to telemarketers.
Actually, I don’t understand how asking for a phone number on a check helps a retailer, either. I mean, why would a person paying with a bad or stolen check write his correct phone number on it?
The coins-on-top-of-bills thing I have never understood. The only possible explanation I have is that once the machines started calculating the change for us, the clerk, seeing $4.65 on the screen just does what comes naturally, pulls out four singles and sets the change on top. I generally accept the change (say “thank you”) and then carefully put it all down on the counter, from which I then take the coins, put them away, and then stow the bills. I have this irrational belief that somebody will see this and learn not to give me the change in the wrong order. I think that when you had to figure the change out yourself, you learned that if somebody gave you a $10 bill for $5.35 worth of stuff, that you’d put down a nickel ($5.40), then a dime ($5.50), then two quarters or a half dollar ($6.00) and then the four singles. But do young people today know how to do that? Noooooooo.
One more thing: Eons ago I was buying cloth and other supplies to make curtains with. I was in college and a newlywed and was almost always broke. The store was having a credit card promotion, and every single clerk asked me if I would sign up. I noticed I was getting very close to the cash I had on hand, so I asked if I could charge the stuff I was getting if I filled out the application. Sure, no problem! So I did. About 6 weeks later there came a notice that I had been rejected. No surprise there. I figured the bill would come along shortly and I would pay it. The curtains I made then have since crumbled to dust, but to this day I have never gotten a bill for the cloth and thread I bought. If I get one, I’ll certainly pay it, though.
