3 Fives + 18 Quarters
On the way to Mobile, we found ourselves approaching the GA400 Tollbooth with no quarters. As I slid into the “Cashier” lane, Anne passes me a $20 bill…how would she or I know how much trouble this would cause?
After the three cars in front of me make it through without incident, I’m feeling confident and ready to get back in the flow of traffic. I see the woman who is to be my cashier…definitely middle aged and perhaps middle eastern. She seems nice enough and more than capable of performing the duties required of a tollbooth cashier that has to deal with the typical late-for-work Atlanta commuter. I see that she has two quarters in each hand, obviously expecting me to hand her a $1 bill allowing her to deposit two quarters for the toll and to give me two quarters. Wasn’t she in for a surprise?
As my $20 bill slipped from my hand to hers, I started thinking about the what distribution of U.S. Currency that I would get back. A minute or so later the cashier is turning back to face me with her hands poised as if she is going offer to allow me to drink of water straight from her hands. Realizing that something just was not right about this, I put my hands out in the same fashion thinking that if she was handing me a rattlesnake at least it wouldn’t bite me in the face. Soon she was making her deposit into my hands, and with my new understanding of what was going on I waited for her eyes to meet mine.
She didn’t bother recounting my change…and I didn’t bother checking her math. When it was done I had a double handful of change…three $5 bills and eighteen $0.25 pieces…and her looking at my disbelief as if she was surprised. What would you do?
