MAKING CHANGE, EXACT CHANGE

With regular money transactions heading toward ‘tap and go’, the people making change, giving exact change, are growing more rare.

You’ll find them at the drive through window, picking through coins for just the right combination.

“Here’s four quarters instead of a dollar,” they say.

Or, “$6.50 for my grande latte half-caff with oat milk? Okay, here’s a ten and fifty cents.”

Alone is fine, but what’s a husband supposed to do while all the counting is going on?

Wait patiently if it’s not the first time; any fidgeting has to happen only on the first time.

After the first time passes, the whole routine is set.

 

Taco Bell: That will be $11.58 for a Crunch Wrap Supreme and Beefy Five-Layer Burrito.

Husband: I’ll use the card.

Wife: Wait, I’ve got fifty-eight cents. I think.

 

She starts digging through her purse to find a smaller purse with a lady-wallet that has a snap-covered coin pouch.

 

Taco Bell: Eleven dollars and fifty-eight cents.

Husband: Give me twelve dollars.

Wife: I’ve got sixty cents. Let me check my penny purse.

Husband:

 

 

Whether it’s Starbucks, McDonald’s, or any other drive-through in America, the window waiter stares at the husband with contempt for the time between tapping a card and driving away, and the attempt at exact change.

 

Starbucks: After you tap your card you’ll see a question.

Husband (to wife): Is this a tipping time?

Wife: I’ll check my purse.

Husband: Oh, no.

 

Time For A Change? Oh, No

Add up all the time you wasted being understanding and patient with others’ quirky habits.

Is it minutes, hours, days, years?

Whatever you come up with isn’t near the lifetime of loathing you create for being an a-hole when that specific skill is uncalled for.

You’ve probably heard it said, “Judge others by the way they treat people.”

Whether you’re tempted, or not, getting edgy waiting for your wife to dig out exact change from a bottomless purse is the wrong time to review everything you could be doing instead.

Your wife doesn’t need yet another rendition of your ‘time is money’ talk that’s never gone over well.

Neither does the window person. Besides, they’ve heard it all, seen it all, and they already know you’re a bitch.

So relax.

 

Baby Boomers Relaxing Time?

Be a good husband, a good wife, and repeat after me:

“No one is asking me to judge anyone for anything.”

But, as so often happens, we get called to serve.

We serve each other, and sometimes go beyond, if not above.

Marriage can be a game of patience. It’s a game you want to win, to end up on the winning side.

One way is helping the kids navigate parenting like our parents never did.

Make time to be useful.

Can you pick up the kids from school next week on Tuesday?

Yes, you can.

Don’t be surprised to find others helping their kids, like the eye-fluttering grandma who says, “I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut and my wallet open.”

She keeps it open to find exact change?

 

Why not spend time together like you’d do with people you have things in common with.

Maybe learn to play a guitar well enough to sound halfway decent?

 

 

It doesn’t have to be a big production with fancy gear.

 

 

Play some guitar, find common ground, and relax.

What I’m saying is be a good listener; listen to the other guy and fit in.

Music is like that, making things fit together.

It starts with controlling time like it matters, because keeping time is key to getting things to fit.

Once you’ve got it figured out, find your song and let it ring out.

 

 

PS: Talk about it, and play; think about it, and write.

 

PSS: Ain’t no big mystery. Remember, you can do it.