Things are not the same in American shopping these days. For one thing, you can't go to a ball game (and probably a movie or amusement park) and shell out cash for what you want. Everything is on the credit card.
On the VenMo or the PayPal or the GimmeMoney app, which I don't know how to use or even get. Not sure I even want to.
But then again, the other day at the Grab 'n' Go Grocery, my order came to $240.07 (I was stocking up on Cheez-Its, seltzer water, and Taylor Pork Roll). I gave the cashier $250.07 and stood by waiting for my sawbuck in change when I saw her digging through the change slots.
I knew what she was doing. She rang up the tendered total as $250 and was giving me $9.93 in change. Not that the seven cents is important, but I gave it to her in the first place so she could give me an even ten back, instead of a five, four ones, three quarters, a dime, a nickel, and three pennies.
I explained the process and told her all she had to do was give me ten bucks back. She did so by asking if I wanted "a whole ten, or would two fives be all right?"
This isn't the first time I've seen someone unfamiliar with the fairly common practice of rounding up or down a few cents to make the change even. But I don't think it's part of cashier education, and I think it should be. I know that ciphering is not high up on the school curricula now, since everyone figures everything out with the "calc" button on their phone, but this person was out in the ozone on a very simple transaction.
Tell you what: I will teach her how this cash management works and she can help me learn the mystical ways of VenMo and BucksBuddy.
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