Image

Cash and Carry

Dear Diary:

My children often call me old-fashioned. I prefer traditional. Either way, when they tell me that cash currency is going the way of the dodo, it is with reluctance and some regret that I must admit that they are right.

On a recent business trip to Seattle, I did not use any cash during my three days there. Car service, plane ticket, light rail, hotel, food: All paid for with a credit card.

Back home, I was on my regular walk to work one morning when I stopped at a coffee cart on East 69th, as I do every weekday.

I ordered the usual, coffee and a pastry, and handed the man a $5 bill.

“That’s $3.50,” he said. “You should have the two quarters I gave you in change yesterday.”

— Robert Krasner