Saturday it happened again!
Most of us sock
away our change in our pockets or purses when they become a little heavy. You
may take those extra coins and sock them
away in a coffee can or jar, maybe a bank, or like me I have one of those
containers about the size of a big mason jar that has that change counter on
top and gives you a running total as you drop coins through the slot. Well the
counter doesn’t count anymore, but it’s still a convenient method of saving
change. So last week, it became full. I couldn’t get another coin in it and it
was off to the bank to deposit it in a slowly growing savings account. Right away I felt like
being a smarty pants when the teller asked very politely, “Oh, are we cashing
in some change today?” I really felt like saying “No, I just always carry a 10
pound jug of coins around with me.” I laughed inside, but told her, “Yes young
lady I’m turning them in and deposit’”.
Then the standard question I hear every time I bring in the “jug”. “Do
you want to guess how much is in here before I run it through the machine?”
I said “Sure!”
Since the counter was shot, I just tossed out about $160.00. She then looked
carefully at the coins and said “Well, there is a bunch of quarters in there,
I’ll guess around $200.00.” With that, she went into the backroom and I could
hear the counting machine start up, then the sound of her pouring in the coins
and the machine separating and counting the various coins. By the way, there
has never been a half-dollar coin mixed in…it has always been quarters or a
smaller valued coin. She brought out a little slip of paper and added up the
totals of quarters, dimes, nickels and then the pennies. As she ripped off the
paper from the machine, she read the total, $159.70. Remember, I said $160.00.
She said “Wow, pretty good!” As she
returned my container I noticed the sound of coins still in there. Remember
that banks usually don’t accept Canadian money. I looked inside the jug and
there were two coins on the bottom. They were two Canadian dimes. That’s 20 extra cents! Grand total $159.90. Ladies and Gentlemen, I was
only 10 cents off my guess. I came THAT close.
Last time I turned in the jar I was 8 cents off.
Now if I could only come that close in the lottery!
