Monday, January 12, 2009

Coins

Yesterday, I stopped by a quickie mart, and purchased a Diet Dr. Pepper with some coins in my purse. I used a one dollar coin like the one in the picture to the left, two quarters and a few smaller coins. Exact change.

The woman at the quickie mart took a look at the dollar coin and said, "I am not sure we can take this coin." A co-worker looked at the coin and said that she could. If that co-worker was not there, I am fairly sure I would not have had my Diet Dr. Pepper.

I normally don't like receiving fifty cent pieces or dollar coins in my change, and I ditch them as quickly as possible. And now it seems that some people don't think dollar coins would be legal tender in the United States.

I know, you are saying to yourself, "Leesa, why do you care? This person is only an employee in the local quickie mart." And if you were thinking that, shame on you. You know, employees of the quickie mart have lots and lots of power. They can say, "We don't accept dollar coins." They can also say, "We will no longer be ordering" [Leesa shudders] "Diet Dr. Pepper."

Little things. Not accepting coins, soft summer rain, a warm down comforter and a good book. Little things make life such more enjoyable.
dollar coin.

13 comments:

LarryLilly said...

Ignorance of simple things is what that clerk showed. Legal tender. I bet she has accepted more illegal tender than the dollar coin you used.

To her, she was the chairman of the board of the quickie mart, to the rest of us, she was a second curb stop.

The cash register should have pictures of what is legal tender. I still have two-dollar bills. I need to use them one day and watch that person go rubic cube on me.

mal said...

Quikie Marts are not the training ground for our next generation of Rocket Scientists.

With that cheap shot in mind, remember how much acceptance the Susan B Anthony dollar got? For a long time folks wondered if it was being an ugly coin that made it fail. I am thinking there is just a lot of resistance to the idea of a $1 coin in general.

If so, it is a shame, because it does make sense.

Grant said...

I've had the same problem with Susan B. Anthony dollars. The post office used them as fodder when you bought stamps for cash from a machine. Fortunately they do credit cards now so I'm not stuck trying to find a store that recognizes all US currency so I can get rid of them.

Joe said...

On a completely unrelated note, I've always wanted to open a motel and call it the Quickie Mart.

Ian Lidster said...

Just hope that the government doesn't embrace dollar coins as preferable to paper, like they did in Canada many years ago. I hate having huge chunks of change in my pocket and still have a mistrust of anything that ain't folding money.

Anonymous said...

The mass transit in Dallas and FTW gives change in quarters and these dollars. It shocks me people are clueless about them.

Knot

Deb said...

She had no appropriate slot to place the coin. She has to think outside the box.

GAWD that whole comment should be deleted. Feel free to chuck it...like the coin. ;)

Leon1234 said...

I just want to say this right here:
I started blogging to improve my writing; I really did. Painters don't start with masterpieces – they start on scraps of paper, and even when planning a great work, they do many other drawings in preparation. I think writing is the same. You just don't start and finish a novel by merrily typing into the computer; you experiment. Blogging is sort of like a writer's doodling. So this is my scratch pad of sorts. This is less than scraps of paper actually, just 1s and 0s on your computer screen.

Is freaking awesome! You really boosted me to write more often and use my blog as a writing notepad.. thank you so much for that... How are you doing by the way? I hope to speak to you sometime.

Leon1234 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Leon1234 said...

By the way, how did you do the blog roll and the quickest links? Is there an HTML code I need in order to set it up that way? I am trying to put my articles, poetry and other writings of mine in an organized order. Can you help me with this matter?

Leesa said...

larry: somewhere I have a three-cent piece. I think it is in the jewelry box. Never will spend it, though.

mal: I almost said something about the Susan B Anthony coin. I was in middle school when I first saw one. For us, the size was too near the quarters for practical purposes.

grant: I have heard that the Susan B.'s aren't even wanted at strip clubs.

joe: angling for the pay-by-the-hour types?

ian: I think it is more economical for coins - they last longer, but I don't like them as much.

knot: we don't live in Dallas or Kansas.

~deb: not having the appropriate place to put the coin was the problem, actually.

leon: thanks, sweetie. Not sure anyone really read that. Oh, and the html is a bit tricky. I am sure there is an easier way to do it, but at the time, I used the html and the result is what you see. I first wrote about HTML here.

kathi said...

Hey, if it spends, I'll take it. The boys and I have always kept a coin jar and it's came in handy several times.

Leesa said...

kathi: I used to keep a coin jar as well. Not any more. I spend coins as soon as I get them.