Cash Transactions

Not even hiding it.

The small coffee shop inside the airport had plenty of business. Its business model was simple: order and pay at a kiosk, and a barrista would deliver your drink to the counter. By design, there would be little interaction between the customer and the staff.

When the man with the Vietnam Vet patch on a blue Navy hat stepped up to the kiosk and started pressing buttons, he stopped and explored his menu options. He only wanted coffee with cream in it, but it wasn’t that easy. It didn’t even need to be half and half like he normally took it. He didn’t want any of the other options the machine presented him: no desserts, no sandwiches or no snacks.

Just coffee.

The choices for coffee were plentiful: chocolate, caramel, latte, cappucino, frappacino, Americano, and half he had never heard of before.

The Vet just wanted coffee.

From those choices another submenu appeared: decaf, half caff, dark, light, medium roasts and coffee from multiple countries to choose from.

“You payin’ cash, Sir?” the shopkeeper asked, interrupting his focus.

The Vet answered, “Uh, yeah, yeah. But I don’t think this machine’ll let me.”

“You’re right, Sir, it won’t. Whatcha want, light or dark?”

“Uh, dark’s fine.”

“Comin’ right up.”

“And what about you, sir?” she asked a tall man wearing cowboy boots and a Stetson hat, holding an unopened bottle of water.

“I just wanna buy this,” Cowboy said.

“You got cash?”

He grabbed his wallet, opened it, and said “Sure. I’ve got…a 1 and a 20.”

“It’ll be five dollars,” she said.

“But I only have a 1 and a 20.”

“Yours’ll be five dollars,” she said to the Vet.

“But it says $2.74 on the screen.”

“Ok whatever. Three dollars then. Whatever it says on the screen.”

The Vet handed over three one-dollar bills and she shoved them into her front jean pocket. Based on how this transaction was going, he didn’t expect change.

“I’ll take the one dollar bill then,” she said to Cowboy, taking the bill out of his hand and walking away.

Both men exited the shop with their purchases, and the Vet said to the Cowboy, “She just do what I thought she did?”

“Yeah, free pocket money. Robbing the shop owner blind. We probably shouldn’t think too hard about it.”