Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Four Months Until the (Supposed) End of the World

It has been a month ago today since the rapture and earthquakes which were predicted would happen as a prelude to the end of the world didn't happen. Supposedly, God had come in "spiritual" way rather than a physical one, and the prediction for complete destruction of the world on October 21 of this year still stands.

Believe it or not, Harold Camping, who is behind all of these predictions, suffered a stroke earlier this month. As far as I know, he's still alive though. I don't know whether or not he saw said stroke coming. If he didn't (which is what I'm assuming), then it would seem that there's little point in trying to predict the end of the world or anything else that is probably a long way off if you can't even forsee more immediate crises. And besides, if he is still alive when October 21 comes and goes, and it turns out nothing happens then, I'm sure he will be more embarrassed than he was a month ago.

I won't really talk as much about the end of the world stuff as I did during the week leading up to it. However, I might say something in regard to it when the 21st of the next four months rolls around.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Paying in Pennies?

Let's say you had a bill to pay, say, of $25 (or whatever amount you wish to imagine) and you opted to pay "cash". Would that include paying in pennies? If you were on the recieving end of the payment, how would you react?

A story I came across in Yahoo today was one about a guy in Utah who was fined after trying to pay his medical bill in pennies. According to the article, the guy owed a medical clinic $25. He didn't agree he owed that much but came to pay the bill anyway. After it was confirmed that the clinic staff accepted cash payments, he dumped $25 worth of pennies on the counter "and demanded they be counted in front of him."

After that, the clinic called the police, and he was arrested on the charge of "disorderly conduct" for which he faces a fine.

As someone with cashier experience, I'm kind of split on this. On the one hand, counting all of those pennies probably would've been annoying (not to mention I'd worry about losing count), and I'd hope that a long line does not form as I do the counting. (I'd probably form groups for every ten pennies or something, though.) I don't think I would've called the police, though unless, say, a gun was involved. I would've just counted the pennies and been done with it. Depending on how many pennies are there, they may not all fit into the register, but depending on how many are there, they can always be cashed. Plus, there have been times when I or someone else on register has run out of pennies or some other currency. (There's a reason some businesses, depending on their nature, will not except anything higher than a twenty.) Whereas, there are ways to get around running out of dollar bills, for instance, there's no way around running out of pennies. So, if I had been on the recieving end of a bill paid in pennies,  that would solve or prevent one problem, provided that the bill is paid in full. (THAT's the important part.)

As for the customer, aside from creating an annoyance by insisting on paying in pennies, surely so many of them would make the jar, bag, or (fill in the blank here) they are kept in heavy to carry. A Coinstar commercial I saw awhile back  comes to mind. It's where the tooth fairy falls after trying to carry a bag of coins. While she's buying band-aids, she sees a Coinstar machine. She puts the change she still has into that machine and walks out with cash (which the voiceover refers to as "lightweight") and an empty sack, but I digress. Looking at the aforementioned article, I have to wonder if the guy couldn't have stopped by a coinstar machine and exchanged the pennies for cashed. Not only would it have been easier on whoever was on the recieving end of his bill, but surely it would've been easier on him. (I doubt that all 2500 pennies would've fit into his wallet, so I'm assuming they were in a bag or jar. And seriously, who walks around with a bag or jar of change unless they are going to cash it out?) 

Then again, it was my understanding that this guy did not agree that he owed $25, so the penny thing could've been a protest. If it were me, and I didn't agree with a bill I owed, and yet, I lost the dispute, I'd just pay the bill in the reasonable manner and move on. If he was really upset with those people, didn't agree with the bill he owed, but was losing the dispute, couldn't he have just gotten the payment over with in actual bills and refuse to do business with them again rather than cause a scene.

The other possibility is that he didn't have access to a Coinstar machine (or other means to cash out the pennies in question) and therefore had no choice. In which case, a polite "You might want to count that to make sure it's all there" or something along those lines would've sufficed, rather than "demand" that it all be counted.

In closing, to be paid strictly in pennies, however annoying, should not be a reason to call the police. And while it is more convenient to pay a mult-dollar bill with actual dollar bills, if you must pay it all in coins, at least be polite about it.