Cashiers here have a sort of sixth sense. They can tell what kind of bill you are going to pay with before you pull it out of your wallet and they know instantly whether they will be able to make change. They have a very accurate memory of every coin and bill in their drawer and will make the strangest suggests about how you should pay them in their attempt to restore the proper balance to their collection. When they cannot make change and you only have a thousand, sometimes a salesperson will go talk to people working in booths nearby (if it’s an underpass lined with kiosks) or they’ll find money in their own pockets. Other times, when your salesperson is not so friendly, you will have to buy something else in addition or nothing at all. It’s surprising how often this final alternative occurs. I cannot imagine it happening in America. “Well, you want to spend twenty dollars here, but I’m a few pennies short of the proper change, so you’ll have to come back another time.” For one thing, I think we stock our cash registers better, but maybe the owners of these stores think that is too much of a liability.

My problem is that I like to take long walks and bring my camera with me. My camera weighs enough that I can’t stand letting change build up in my purse and take it out. Then I have huge piles of change that I simply don’t know how to use and never can pay the exact price for things, which means I end up with more change.