A couple of days ago I was doing Mr. A's banking and I'd forgotten to take photocopies of the checks I was depositing. I have asked the bank before, but I really don't like imposing on them for something I should have already done. His accounts are at a credit union and I was at a branch within a grocery store. The grocery store had a copy machine, so I decided to spend 10 cents and get a copy myself.

It didn't seem like the machine was turned on, but I thought maybe it had some energy saving device on it that kept it “asleep” until you pressed a button, or put in some money to make a copy. I put in a dime, and nothing happened.

So I pushed that button that gives you your money back and I heard my dime fall.  Funny though, when I reached in to get my dime, there ended up being ninety-five cents in the coin return.

I remember when cell phones weren't so common, but pay phones were, it was an automatic habit of mine (and many other people I knew) to check the coin return.  When I was a teenager I worked as a mallmaid at a local mall. My duties were to keep the floor clean, wash the windows and doors, shine the payphones, and empty the ashtrays.  Almost every day I'd find change left in the payphones.  Only on a couple occasions was it like playing a slot machine in a casino… I checked to find coins and coins and more coins!  Apparently after a power outtage, the pay phones would drop their coins.  On those days I'd end up with several dollars spending money.

I ended up asking the teller to make a copy for me, which she was more than happy to do, and I was eighty-five cents richer.

Yours Truly,