Cash Handling Skills
My personal financial life in the United States has generally been made up of credit cards, Paypal and the stray $20 bill that might be in my wallet. I've been using credit cards for about 15 years and I stopped using cash about the same time that Paypal showed up among my friends in Austin (maybe 6-7 years ago?).
The impact of all of this is that I have completely lost all of my cash handling skills (maybe I never had any to begin with). With my cigarette case wallet, I don't even have the physical space to handle the large number of bills that living in a big city requires. MS has told me that apparently NYC is also a cash-based city. This cash phenomenon seems to more of a big-city thing rather than a China thing.
I started out trying to stuff all of the cash into the little wallet (100s, 50s, 20s, 10s, 5s, 2s, 1s, .5s, .1s, .05s and .01s). Of course, this didn't last very long. GW came up with a better option. All 100s stay in the wallet. You pay for things using the 100s and everything else ends up in your _other_ pocket; never to be seen again until you get home. This has the benefit of reducing the amount of time you spend sorting your smaller bills, keeping them stacked and straight and you don't lose any pulling them out of our pocket in a big wad.
I've followed this advice in the meantime with the only change being that the 50s have now been upgraded to wallet life instead of having to mingle with the more common bills. Additionally, I've had to start managing these other bills (sorting, stacking, folding, etc.) because I decided I don't like the dirty looks I get from vendors when I keep handing the the yuppie food stamps (50s and 100s).
It seems that I am getting some of my money handling skills back but I think a few more weeks should make me more comfortable with hole process. I am still convinced that money is a dirty thing, however. I mean, this was an issue when I would get only a few bills a week passing through my hands but now that I go through tens of bills a day... all I can think about is how many hands it has passed through and how much dirt and grime is on it. I hope this doesn't develop into a phobia because I could really be in trouble!
The impact of all of this is that I have completely lost all of my cash handling skills (maybe I never had any to begin with). With my cigarette case wallet, I don't even have the physical space to handle the large number of bills that living in a big city requires. MS has told me that apparently NYC is also a cash-based city. This cash phenomenon seems to more of a big-city thing rather than a China thing.
I started out trying to stuff all of the cash into the little wallet (100s, 50s, 20s, 10s, 5s, 2s, 1s, .5s, .1s, .05s and .01s). Of course, this didn't last very long. GW came up with a better option. All 100s stay in the wallet. You pay for things using the 100s and everything else ends up in your _other_ pocket; never to be seen again until you get home. This has the benefit of reducing the amount of time you spend sorting your smaller bills, keeping them stacked and straight and you don't lose any pulling them out of our pocket in a big wad.
I've followed this advice in the meantime with the only change being that the 50s have now been upgraded to wallet life instead of having to mingle with the more common bills. Additionally, I've had to start managing these other bills (sorting, stacking, folding, etc.) because I decided I don't like the dirty looks I get from vendors when I keep handing the the yuppie food stamps (50s and 100s).
It seems that I am getting some of my money handling skills back but I think a few more weeks should make me more comfortable with hole process. I am still convinced that money is a dirty thing, however. I mean, this was an issue when I would get only a few bills a week passing through my hands but now that I go through tens of bills a day... all I can think about is how many hands it has passed through and how much dirt and grime is on it. I hope this doesn't develop into a phobia because I could really be in trouble!
posted by agoel at
12:40 AM
2 Comments:
you know? I have exactly the same problem! If I ever use cash, I end up with a pocket full of mixed bills. I'm always hunting through my wad of ones to find the fiver I know is in there ;). Then again, if I don't feel like searching, out comes the good ole credit card.
Welcome to the cash based society. I think we should all live that way anyway, makes ya think before you pay for stuff. It hurts to hand over a big wad of cash. Credit cards can be evil and I think they will eventually undermine the economy. Always, always make sure you have enough bus fare to get home though, nothing sucks more than walking half way across town speaking from experience. That's why I didn't gain any weight in Japan!
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