The other day I went to the bank to get some cash. There are just some things you cannot pay for with a card, although that seems to be the trend these days. Cards and online transfers. Since Covid, cash seems to be dirty word. Both at the foodbank shop and the park information centre where I volunteer, customers invariably pay with a card. However, I cannot pay the window cleaner with a card or bank transfer, so need the odd bit of cash for things like that or for parking machines. My bank in the local High Street has closed down, so I drove 9 miles today to another part of London that does have a branch. I withdrew £100 in notes from the cash machine and then asked if I could change one £20 note into £1 coins to be told "we don't have coins here".
Think about that for a minute. A bank does not have coins. I was so flabbergasted, I retorted "What?" and then "what has become of banks these days?" The poor woman offered a solution - I could either try the Post Office or buy something small in a supermarket and ask for coins as change. When I tried the Post Office, the initial response was they wouldn't be able to help, but someone else in the queue joined in to support me with the same tale of woe and the post office counter girl relented, went out back and returned with a £20 bag of coins for me.
We've had coins for over 2000 years, but I can see in years to come, my grandchildren asking whether we really used to pay for things with bits of paper and metal and making me feel like a dinosaur.
1 comment:
I imagine that a dinosaur feels like a crocodile lounging on the banks of The Nile but I would be reluctant to run my hands over it in case it snapped out of its slumber. Last night I paid for drinks with my debit card and saw a neglected £20 note with a £10 note hiding in my wallet. They have been there for weeks on end.
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