As some of you who frequent these pages are aware, Mrs. Denmarkguy and I are the proprietors of a small art gallery, here in our local town.
Naturally, working in a retail establishment puts you in touch with all sorts of people who come by the visit.
Most people are quite pleasant of course or — at the very least — indifferent.
Sometimes, though, I really end up worrying about the state the of the Human Species! After which I almost immediately start worrying about myself, and entertaining the possibility that I am simply growing old and out of touch.
Thinking about spring...
So, this really happened — and this is actually the second time in the course of the last couple of months I have been witness to something like this.
Three young women — late teens — who were seemingly quite well spoken and reasonably bright came in the gallery and decided they were going to get a couple of "artsy" greeting cards.... which evidently were for a mutual friend.
So then they are going to pay for these... $8.72, including tax.
This is when things started to fall apart. Between them, they had plenty of cash... except one had a $5 bill, another some $1's and the third a bunch of change. However — as I watched in amazement — they simply could not figure out how to combine their funds in such a way they each were paying about 1/3 of the total.
I watched this... situation... unfold for a couple of minutes, after which one of them determined that they should just "put it on a card" rather than waste any more time.
Yellow poppy
They, quite seriously, could not figure out "money."
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Maybe we have simply moved into an age where "physical" money has become more and more alien to people, as we do everything by debit card and instant transfers handled by our smartphones.
Is this the new normal? Depending on technology to calculate money for us?
The incident — however brief — felt strangely disturbing and jarring. Had they been non-US nationals I wouldn't have given it a second glance, but these were soon-to-be graduates of our local high school.
How do they plan to be OK, in the world? Or are they actually OK... and I am the one who has become "archaic" for still using an outdated system?
What do YOU think? Does this incident strike you as strange or disturbing? Or would you call it pretty normal, by 2018 standards? Do you think physical money will become a thing of the past, within a very short time? If you are "older" (let's say born before 1970), have you witnessed anything like this that made you wonder and possibly shake your head? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
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Created at 180415 00:33 PDT
