In Teenagers We Trust?

Last night my girlfriend and I decided to stop at Coldstone Creamery and get a little ice cream. We, naturally, got the “new girl” as a server. Now I have no problem with getting the trainee, we’ve all been there and done that, but when we tried to pay I had no choice but to be amazed some people manage to remember their way home every night. Our total bill came to $2.62 so, having a pocketful of gold dollar coins, I handed the girl three. She looked down at them, looked at me, and then looked over to her trainer who was helping another customer. After a second or two of inactivity, she looked back at me and said it would be a minute because she had to ask what she was supposed to do with those coins. I just stood there incredulously while my girlfriend politely pointed out that they were simply dollar coins. In the mean time the trainer had made her way to the cash register and confirmed our story saying “Yea, they’re dollars, just hit 3 enter.”  It made me wonder, did she think I had given her some tokens, or pirates gold? What exactly did she think those coins, engraved with George Washington, the Statue of Liberty, and a big $1, were?

I accept that many people might not have gotten their hands on some of these coins yet (they are the only coin stocked in our change machine at work, put in $5 and get 5 shiny new gold dollars) but somebody should certainly be able to ascertain whether a coin is legal tender or not. If it’s the first time you’ve been handed one I could understand marveling at them for a minute, as I did the first time I got a stack of 20 from the change machine. But having their presence bring you to a complete stop until you could get direction on how to proceed? That’s bordering on the ridiculous. And I won’t even go into the details of her attempt to make change other than to say the $.38 she tried to give me did not involve quarters. I feel bad for the trainer; hopefully they have plenty of patience.