Saturday, July 8, 2017

Honest, Abe!

A couple days ago, blog buddy River suggested that the reason I keep finding all these parking lot pennies, and getting back five-dollar-bills in change, when a ten or twenty would be more appropriate...might have something to do with Abe Lincoln.

The moment I read that, I knew it might be the right interpretation!

The very morning that I wrote about finding the penny and getting the fives, I had made my first stop at Country Mart to get some scratch-off tickets out of their machines. I send Genius two tickets a week, and they have a good selection. Since I was there anyway, I decided to get myself a couple of tickets. I got Genius's out of the machine on the left, and moved to the machine on the other side of the doors to get one for me. When I bent down to get my ticket, I saw another ticket leaning against the front of the trough.

I picked up that extra ticket. Huh. It must have belonged to the man who'd been there while I was at the other machine. I took the ticket to the service desk and gave it to the worker, explaining that it wasn't mine, and I was turning it in just in case that man came back looking for it. She looked at me like I was crazy, but I described the guy, and left.

Honesty is the best policy, you see. And if anybody knows anything about the virtue of honesty, it's old Honest Abe.

I didn't make that connection when I found my penny and got back my fives later Thursday morning. But when I read River's comment Friday evening, I thought of what had happened to me earlier on Friday.

I'd stopped by the main post office branch to mail the weekly letters to Genius and The Pony. Since I enclose those tickets in Genius's envelope, it's sometimes overweight. I take it to the counter, where the worker hefts it in his/her hand, and either says, "Nope, it's fine" or "You need 21 more cents." That's their high-tech equipment. A postal clerk's hand.

Anyhoo...there was only one man in line when I got inside the post office. Actually, it wasn't a line until I got there. But I went to stand behind him, and noticed something on the floor. Sadly, it was NOT a penny. It was a book of Mexican stamps. Okay. They were United States Postal Service stamps, it was the clerk who later called them Mexican. A whole book of them!


I didn't know what they were, only that I had found a book of stamps! That's a $9.80 value! Of course, they were not MY stamps. As I was picking them up off the floor, the man in front of me turned around. I suppose he wondered why my head was a few inches away from his buttocks.

"Are these yours? I found them on the floor. It's a book of stamps."

The man hesitated. At first I thought he was going to claim them. They were worth $9.80, you know! But he looked a minute, and then said, "No. They're not mine." Maybe he just wanted to take them and turn them in himself, like taking credit for a Big Salad when all he did was hand it to someone.

The clerk motioned that man to the side. He was waiting on a supervisor to come out about receiving mail for somebody who doesn't live at his address any more.

"Can I help you with something?"

"Yes. Uh. I just found this book of stamps on the floor. I guess somebody who was just here dropped them on the way out."

The short bald not-too-friendly clerk hollered over his shoulder to the back room, "HEY! Debbie! Did you just sell a book of Mexican stamps?" Turns out she did. To some lady. So they put them under the counter to see if she came back for them.

I gave the clerk my envelope for Genius. "I think this might weigh too much. Just checking." I already had a regular stamp on it. Mine are the Pet stamps. Genius had an iguana, I think. Or a newt.


"You need 21 more cents," said the clerk. So I handed him a quarter. Shame on him for not giving me four pennies back. He gave me a nickel. Darn do-gooder!

I wanted my Abes.


15 comments:

  1. I'd rather have a nickel than four pennies. On most days I won't strain my back to pick up a penny since you can't buy anything with them.

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    1. My 44 oz Diet Coke is $1.69. I use those 4 pennies as correct change. Speeds up my transaction.

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  2. Your missing the point Stephen, that nickle has some meaning...must think...I got nothing.

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    1. A nickel instead of 4 pennies means I lose a cent at the gas station chicken store when buying my 44 oz Diet Coke. I'm not going to stand there waiting for 1 penny of change, so I say, "Keep the penny."

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  3. You make me want to go toss pennies like fairy dust.

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    1. If you toss them, I'm sure to find them and pick them up! My back is fine.

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  4. honest AND generous with your extra pennies.

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    1. Of all the readers here, I think YOU are with me on the value of a penny! It's MONEY, by cracky! It all adds up.

      I hate to give away a cent, but I hate more to be that person who holds up the line waiting for a penny.

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  5. Val--What did I find yesterday outside of Aldi's? A couple of quarters and a dime and a couple of pennies on a ledge. Did I ask anyone, "Is this yours?" Nope, I just put it in my pocket.

    However, today OUR AC crapped out. I wonder if this is pay-back?

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    1. Wow! That many coins? A LOT of people must be thinking of you!

      Karma keeps a ledger, you know...

      Or maybe you just have the same AC repair service that we have. At least we were only down for 15 hours. THIS time.

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  6. Your stamps and the Mexican ones are far prettier than ours. We tend to get boring sports personalities on ours a lot, only sometimes flowers or birds.
    I hadn't found any money for ages, until Friday morning when I found a five cent piece that everyone else was passing. A lot of people find them annoying because the coins are so small, like our one and two cent pieces which are now obsolete and our government occasionally makes noises about giving up the five cent piece too. I don't mind them at all, I save them in a jar and when I have enough I take them to the bank and get a $5.

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    1. The dead mouse smelling post office, the once closest to me, is usually out of the good stamps. I try to get the best ones to put on the boys' letters. Before the pets, I had vintage pickup trucks.

      https://www.usps.com/stamp-collecting/assets/images/680904-S0.jpg

      I don't think I've found a 5-cent piece except maybe ONE time in my whole life. That's odd, because just this year, I've found two DOLLAR BILLS. You'd think coins would be easier to find than bills.

      I hope you keep finding them now!

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  7. Honesty will definitely get you far, too bad the postal worker didn't give you four pennies, I guess you could have asked him for change for your nickel.

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    1. I wasn't going to push my luck. This postal worker is always a bit disgruntled. No good can come of that!

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