$36.41 in change

To all the cashiers out there.

Back when I used to spend my time behind the checkout counter, I spent a lot of time handling money and thinking about coins and bills. Frequently, I got to dish out 41 cents worth of change, which in its easiest combination of coins is 1 quarter, 1 dime, 1 nickel, and 1 penny. I enjoyed pulling out one coin from each bin in the cash register. I looked forward to when an order was $XX.59, and I was handed cash, because I knew I was getting a chance to dish out one of each coin.

But I had bigger dreams. I always dreamed for the chance to hand out $36.41 in change. That would allow me to hand out one of each bill and one of each coin in my drawer (couldn't count the $50 and $100 bills that I had to slip into a locked box.) 1 $20 bill, 1 $10 bill, 1 $5 bill, 1 $1 bill, 1 quarter, 1 dime, 1 nickel, and 1 penny. Oh how I longed for the day I could give this in change. This would require someone to get an order of $13.59, and then pay with a $50 bill, or perhaps $63.59, and pay with a $100 bill (or two $50 bills).

This chance never came. Usually when these amounts came up and they paid with cash, they paid with multiples of $20 bills. During my years working at the cash register, I recall several occasions where I got to hand $16.41 in change, and it was those times where I felt so miserable. So close but so far. Just one more bill to hand out. I even had the chance once to hand back $35.41 in change, and that was the hardest transaction of my life. While I stood behind the counter on the quiet nights, I often calculated possible add-on items that could be added to certain transactions that could assist in getting to the magical change number (e.g. buy a Snickers bar [$1.05 after tax] to bump an order of $12.54 to $13.59), but I could never ask a customer to buy something like that just for my pleasure to hand back some certain change amount.

Maybe somewhere out there someone has gotten the chance to give back $36.41 in change. And if they have, I hope they relished their opportunity to hand out change in such wonderful fashion.