Let Your Opinion Be Known. Don't Cost Nothin'.

On Thursday, I set out to pose a hypothetical question. I was spurred to such a tactic by my experience at Orb K. It's becoming my regular hangout, what with the gas station chicken store STILL being out of Diet Coke! Oh, I still went in there and bought some chicken for Hick (okay, and me, too). But I've stopped even getting my correct change ready now. I figure it will probably be Tuesday before the Diet Coke flows again.

Anyhoo...after my Thursday disappointment on missing my magical elixir, I headed back to Orb K. It's the cinnamon babka of the Diet-Coke-dispensing world in Backroads. I'd been on the lookout for pennies during my travels. But I came up empty on Thursday. OR DID I?

Here's the hypothetical question:
Where do you draw the line in finding pennies from heaven?

I, for instance, draw the line at "finding" pennies in the coin trays on the counter that say to take one if you need it, leave one if you don't. And of course I draw the line at "finding" pennies in the pockets of my fellow line waiters. I'm pretty sure there's a law against poking your hands in someone else's pockets to "find" a penny while you wait to pay for your merchandise.

Here's the gray area. On Thursday, I found no pennies. But on my last stop at Orb K, while paying for my 44 oz Diet Coke, I saw a single penny in the dish at the end of the metal slide thingy that spits out your change from the register. I had not even handed over my dollar yet. Somebody ahead of me had left ONE PENNY.

Is this a "found" penny? What is the likelihood that the change was only 1 cent? Most people pay with plastic. But somebody had gotten back change, most likely scooped it out, and accidentally LEFT ONE PENNY! How is that different from having the penny in your hand, and dropping it on the floor? Or on the sidewalk or parking lot as you try to put it in you pocket?

Hick says it should count as a found penny. I am on the fence. On the horns of a dilemma. I have a foot in both camps. Is that penny really FOUND if it's someone else's change in the change receptacle? I can't decide.

So...what say you, my blog buddies? Is a single penny left in the coin return a FOUND penny? Or just somebody's forgotten change? Will opinions be drawn along antipennyite and propennyite lines? (Let the record show that antipennyites believe this pennies from heaven crap is a bunch of hogwash. And propennyites believe that just maybe, there might be something not-coincidental to all this penny-finding.)

Let the record show that I took that penny from the cash register slide. I did NOT put it in the dish of pennies there for giving and taking. I put it in my shirt pocket. And when my own change came out (a dime, nickel, and penny) I scooped it out and put it in my pants pocket.

I have not added that 1990 penny to my pennyillionaire storage goblet. It is in limbo. Sitting beside the goblet on the kitchen counter. Is it FOUND? Or is it just forgotten?

Yes, I was readying this post in my mind, going penny-less on Friday's travels during Book Blurb day. So I was going to write about it today. Then I encountered more news to write about. It was back to Orb K for my 44 oz Diet Coke, because the gas station chicken store is still out. Business was booming at Orb K. Probably all the Diet Coke drinkers bellying up to the Polar Pop bar. I had to park way around on the end. No big deal. I've found pennies and a dime over there. But not today.

As I pulled into the parking spot on the end, the only one left, I had to stop! There was a bottle laying in the parking space. I'm not running over glass. I'm retired, by cracky! On a fixed income. If I have to buy a new tire for T-Hoe, it might cut into my lottery money. So I stopped halfway in, leaving T-Hoe running, and climbed down to pick up that bottle. Huh. It was a mini whiskey bottle from the looks of it. Did you know those things are PLASTIC? I didn't. I picked it up anyway. A good deed for The Universe and Even Steven to reckon with. I didn't get a picture, because I was only halfway into the space, and a truck pulling a closed-in white trailer like used for hauling lawnmowers or tools was behind me, trying to maneuver into a spot along the back of the lot.

My plan was to throw that bottle away in the trash can on my way in. You never know, there might be more pennies in the fold of the trash bag! For my trouble, I got sprinkled with the amber leavings inside of that bottle as I swung my arm. That's how you walk, you know. Not with your arms to your side like you're carrying suitcases. Oh, well. I'd already started my good deed. I put that bottle in the trash can, but saw no pennies. In fact, they'd moved the trash can up against the front of the store.

I didn't see any pennies on the copper-colored tile. None in the change dish at the end of the cash register's metal slide thingy. Oh, well. Back to T-Hoe. On my trip back across the front sidewalk, something caught my eye!

It was the trash can that usually isn't there. The one I'd walked by on the way to the door, deciding not to put my whiskey bottle in because I wanted to check out the other trash can for pennies. Val is a creature of habit. Then I noticed the 3 PENNIES on the sidewalk! 

I put my 44 oz Diet Coke in its Polar Pop cup on the concrete windowsill, and got out my phone for this photo op. These were 2005, 1979, and 1976 (the year I graduated VALedictorian). They must have just fallen, because I didn't notice them on the way in, and that trash can had not been stuffed to overflowing.

Right place. Right time. I didn't notice until just now, but all 3 pennies were HEADS UP!
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Today's pennies were # 40, 41, and 42 for my pennyillionaire collection. NOT counting the one I found in the cash register slide-dish the day before. Just on general principles.