Credit card only

I've always valued cash, probably because I grew up in an era where credit cards weren't very prevalent - They were only introduced into Australia in 1974, when I was four years old, and my parents didn't have one for most of my childhood; When something got paid for it was with cash or sometimes a cheque.

I began working at 14 years old and was paid with cash and it wasn't until I was about 20 when I got my first credit card which I maxed-out in about a month and spent two years paying it off. Lesson learned. I have a debit card now, not a credit card, but all these years later still value cash over credit. I tend not to buy something unless I have the money to pay for it in full - Credit is a slippery slope.

A year or so ago many businesses valued payment in cash. It allowed them to pocket some and avoid declaring it to the taxation department which is totally against the law of course, but it happened. As the pandemic-panic gripped the country payment in cash was shunned in preference to tap-and-go credit card payment though. It's a condition that has endured and expanded over the last year and...

...Today someone refused my cash payment.

I was in a shop picking up some lunch, a baguette and iced coffee. When made they put them on the counter in front of me: Chicken, cheese, avocado and sundried tomato toasted baguette and freshly made iced coffee. Yum!

I was hungry so quickly whipped out a $20 note and proffered it to the lady who looked at me with disgust and said, we don't take cash. I was lost for words so just stood there like an idiot for a few moments. I regained my composure though and said...What payment do you take?...Knowing what she'd say. And sure enough...

Credit card only.

I nodded and told her we have a problem, that being I don't have a credit card. She looked at me as if I had said I just had the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine and was about to turn into a zombie before her eyes! No credit card? What the hell?

She wouldn't take the cash and so I said I'll go elsewhere leaving her with a made up iced coffee and baguette to deal with. I walked out and paid cash for my lunch elsewhere and won't go back to the first establishment. Their loss, not mine.

Have you had similar experiences? Had your legal tender refused? It worries me as I don't believe this condition will get any better in time, just worse. Dare I say it...The new norm? I'm also not keen on the government tracking every single dollar I spend. I guess maybe it won't matter too much when hyper-inflation hits though...A wheel barrow of money won't buy a baguette and an iced coffee!

What have your experiences been?