all about the benjamins
i have been sick this week with a sinus infection and uninspired to write about anything more than facial pressure and chamomile tea. but, to fill the void in the blogsphere, i thought i would dust off something vintage.
i actually wrote this about a year ago, long before i kept a running blog. i was reminded of it recently when i discovered that a branch of my bank in midtown manhattan has just introduced $50 bills in their atms. read on, and i think you'll understand why i find this "revolution" a bit ludicrous.
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everyone knows that money talks. but, does it always have something nice to say?
case in point, i have long been fascinated by the 100-dollar bill (and the 50 to a lesser extent). 100 dollars in one piece of paper just feels rich. of course, a lump sum of cash can be a hundred--a thousand--a million times that much, and we don't really think twice about it...as long as the only thing we're seeing is numbers on a screen.
when i was little, and "they" did away with the 1000 dollar bill, and those other ridiculous amounts, i couldn't understand why. people had so much money, wouldn't it make sense to have those bills available? (did you know there was once a $100,000 bill??) i was in line at the newsstand in my building a couple weeks ago, and i saw a little flutter of cash falling from this guy's pocket. because i'm a good samaritan, i of course, picked it up and gave it back to him. at first glance i thought it was a 10. it was a 100. imagine if it had been a 1000, and i wasn't nice enough to hand it back? scary.
flash forward to yesterday. i'm in starbucks, and the woman in front of me hands the cashier a 100 to cover her $3.86 latte. of course, the barista needed to find the pen to verify the authenticity. i watched her face, strained, not-so-secretly annoyed, though trying not to show it as she searched and interrupted others for a key to the drawer where both the pen and 90 some dollars worth of change could be found. in the midst of her search, she asked the woman if she had anything smaller, to which the woman replied, "no, sorry." fake smile. the barista returned the fake smile, and finished the transaction.
all the while, i found myself trying to wrap my mind around the stigma that is associated with the 100 dollar bill. and, that's really what it is, a stigma. the knee-jerk reaction to a bill of that size, especially for any purchase requiring more than $40 worth of change, is a big, fat, silent, groan. where did it come from? is it drug money? is it counterfeit? is it stolen from some kid's birthday haul? eventually, the authenticity of the bill will undoubtedly be verified, the cashier will get over the fact he/she has to cough up $95 in change, and the customer will leave with four 20s and the ability to make his next purchase without judgement.
and, i've been on the front lines of this drama many times before. i know the feeling well. when my dad gives me money [remember, this is outdated], he often gives me a couple 50s or a 100. (he has yet to really embrace the whole ATM thing). i shouldn't complain. money is money, and goodness knows i can use it. and yet, i do. what am i supposed to do with bills of this size? the first instinct is just to go to the nearest starbucks and break it down like the woman above. but the truth is, i don't want to be on the receiving end of the groans and the sighs and eyes. who does?
the bottom line of this whole rant is that it shouldn't be this way. we shouldn't have to live our lives (or spend our money) based on the way that ATMs dispense cash. but, we have been socialized to do so. paying with five 20s is okay at the gap, but pull out a 100, and get the eyebrow. some establishments have gone so far as to ban the acceptance of bills over 20 dollars. maybe it's just me, but banning cash at a store seems a little counter productive.
it may be all about having the benjamins, but use them at your own risk.
i actually wrote this about a year ago, long before i kept a running blog. i was reminded of it recently when i discovered that a branch of my bank in midtown manhattan has just introduced $50 bills in their atms. read on, and i think you'll understand why i find this "revolution" a bit ludicrous.
-
everyone knows that money talks. but, does it always have something nice to say?
case in point, i have long been fascinated by the 100-dollar bill (and the 50 to a lesser extent). 100 dollars in one piece of paper just feels rich. of course, a lump sum of cash can be a hundred--a thousand--a million times that much, and we don't really think twice about it...as long as the only thing we're seeing is numbers on a screen.
when i was little, and "they" did away with the 1000 dollar bill, and those other ridiculous amounts, i couldn't understand why. people had so much money, wouldn't it make sense to have those bills available? (did you know there was once a $100,000 bill??) i was in line at the newsstand in my building a couple weeks ago, and i saw a little flutter of cash falling from this guy's pocket. because i'm a good samaritan, i of course, picked it up and gave it back to him. at first glance i thought it was a 10. it was a 100. imagine if it had been a 1000, and i wasn't nice enough to hand it back? scary.
flash forward to yesterday. i'm in starbucks, and the woman in front of me hands the cashier a 100 to cover her $3.86 latte. of course, the barista needed to find the pen to verify the authenticity. i watched her face, strained, not-so-secretly annoyed, though trying not to show it as she searched and interrupted others for a key to the drawer where both the pen and 90 some dollars worth of change could be found. in the midst of her search, she asked the woman if she had anything smaller, to which the woman replied, "no, sorry." fake smile. the barista returned the fake smile, and finished the transaction.
all the while, i found myself trying to wrap my mind around the stigma that is associated with the 100 dollar bill. and, that's really what it is, a stigma. the knee-jerk reaction to a bill of that size, especially for any purchase requiring more than $40 worth of change, is a big, fat, silent, groan. where did it come from? is it drug money? is it counterfeit? is it stolen from some kid's birthday haul? eventually, the authenticity of the bill will undoubtedly be verified, the cashier will get over the fact he/she has to cough up $95 in change, and the customer will leave with four 20s and the ability to make his next purchase without judgement.
and, i've been on the front lines of this drama many times before. i know the feeling well. when my dad gives me money [remember, this is outdated], he often gives me a couple 50s or a 100. (he has yet to really embrace the whole ATM thing). i shouldn't complain. money is money, and goodness knows i can use it. and yet, i do. what am i supposed to do with bills of this size? the first instinct is just to go to the nearest starbucks and break it down like the woman above. but the truth is, i don't want to be on the receiving end of the groans and the sighs and eyes. who does?
the bottom line of this whole rant is that it shouldn't be this way. we shouldn't have to live our lives (or spend our money) based on the way that ATMs dispense cash. but, we have been socialized to do so. paying with five 20s is okay at the gap, but pull out a 100, and get the eyebrow. some establishments have gone so far as to ban the acceptance of bills over 20 dollars. maybe it's just me, but banning cash at a store seems a little counter productive.
it may be all about having the benjamins, but use them at your own risk.
posted by mark at 1:37 PM
2 Comments:
random thought but was it in Vegas that they give the 100 bills out of the ATM?
yes...in the high end casinos anyway. i think that's an interesting point i forgot about. it clearly encourages gambling using the same psychological tactic i was discussing. it's much more acceptable to lay $100 down on a gaming table than it would be to use it at the snack bar. then again, in vegas, pretty much anything goes.
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