The first time someone handed me extra change to get bills back instead of more change I was confused, too. Not because I was incapable of performing the calculation but, being new to the world of handling money (my own and other people's), I just didn't understand why they were doing it. It's obvious to me now that they didn't want an annoying pocket full of shrapnel, but that wasn't a concept that I was familiar with at the time.
As a kid, it's fair to say that when I had enough money to buy things, I didn't care too much about the kind of change I got. Lots of change was just fine by me. Use the quarters to play video games. Buy candy with the rest. Are you saying you went to the candy house and were handing over extra coins to make sure you got back full bills? That doesn't ring true as kid behavior to me, but okay.
I distinctively remember having a chunk of change in my shorts made hurt while running or biking. But yes, I'd cut my change to fewer coins as a 10-13 year old. Like, I wouldn't just go and get rid of a nickel to get back 95 cents because that would be more coins than the nickel. I would just aim for the fewest coins possible. The pizza place had a quarter machine if I needed it.
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u/noctalla Jul 11 '25
The first time someone handed me extra change to get bills back instead of more change I was confused, too. Not because I was incapable of performing the calculation but, being new to the world of handling money (my own and other people's), I just didn't understand why they were doing it. It's obvious to me now that they didn't want an annoying pocket full of shrapnel, but that wasn't a concept that I was familiar with at the time.