The 20-10 Rule

Damn, I did it again! How many times have I told myself, never pay with a $20 bill for a purchase of less than $10?! How many times have I told myself, you know from experience that that's one of the surest ways to get shortchanged by a store clerk?! And yet yesterday I did it again...

I was out shopping, and I stopped off at a store I frequent to pick up some mousetraps— yes, it's getting to that time of the year again. Price came to a couple of dollars, and I paid with a twenty. Then the store clerk was momentarily distracted when some other flunky came up and was talking with him about something. When he turned back to the business at hand, he gave me a five and a few ones in change.

I said, "Excuse me, did I pay you with a ten or a twenty?" Of course, it was hopeless: the twenty had long since vanished into the till, so it was my word against his. And since I shop at this place often, I decided not to make a federal case of it. I just added this store to my mental list of places where I will never again pay with a twenty for a small purchase; write a check for $2.11 instead, if I have to.

This is hardly the first time this has happened to me. In fact, this is hardly the first time in the past six months this has happened to me. I repeat the 20-10 rule: never pay with a $20 bill for a purchase of less than $10!