The Canadian Peso

I apologize for the lack of posts this week but I've been in San Diego and LA, and surprisingly, it was nearly impossible to find an Internet connection that didn't cost me more than my flight for the time I would need to type out a post...

Needing respite from the sunny sky I headed into a 7-11 for a iced beverage. Having just arrived in town, I was high on $20's and low on $1's so when I approached the counter I pulled out a $20 from my pocket to pay for my drink.

"Excuse me sir," Alice the cashier said, "do you have anything smaller than a twenty?". Alice's name tag said "Certified Assistant Manager" on it. Sit and reflect upon that title for a moment. That should give you some indication of how badly this interaction of money-for-slurpee is going to be.

"uumm, yeah." I replied, digging into my pocket for my change. I dutiful sorted through my American and Canadian change, and managed to find $1.60 in US, which put me $0.02 shy of my total. Fortunately for me I also had some Canadian change which I pulled two pennies from. I dropped my $1.62 onto the counter, and started to walk away.

"Excuse me sir!" I heard Alice call from behind me "You are short two cents!"

I stopped, turned around, and went back with the assumption I had mis-counted my change. Nope. I had counted right, but just not in her mind.

"You see," she said, pushing the two Canadian pennies back to me, "these ain't real money."

Ain't real money? I thought. I guess the "Certified Assistant Manager" has a counterfeiting program in the curriculum. That class was probably entitled "Make sure your customers don't pass of fake Canadian money."

I stared at her for a moment, then took my change back and dropped the twenty on the counter.

You know what she said to me?

"Do you have anything smaller than a twenty?"

I was so speechless I still don't know how to finish this post.