Cashiers and Counting

When I was a little kid I wanted nothing more than to be a "service station man" like my dad. At that time he had a full serve service station and shop. This was in the days where the service stations actually worked on cars, not just sold you stale Twinkies and flat diet coke. My glorious achievement was reached by the age of thirteen when I started working at my grandparent's gas station part time. At first I was cleaning bathrooms and stocking drink machines. Later, when I was older I was a cashier. Now this station wasn't a convenience store. We sold cigarettes, gas, and oil. That's it. That's all. If you wanted a hot dog or slurpee, then you went somewhere else. Being a perfectionist, I decided the best way to be a cashier was to never need an adding machine. We didn't have a cash register, just a cash box, and  a calculator. And calculators are for people who can't add. Now I'm not saying that I was perfect, or that I never made any mistakes but the more I worked, the better and faster I got. Finally the truth was that I really didn't need any mechanical device to make change. This little diatribe may sound inane and basic. I promise, it's not. Go to your local fast food restaurant and when the bored looking, pimple faced, pervert behind the counter says "$10.26 please.", hand him a twenty, two dimes, a nickel, and a penny. Watch as the little bastard stares back at you in disbelief as if your the dumbass who doesn't know what he is doing. These little pubescent rug rats no nothing about money, or making change, and they have a damn machine. All they have to do is push buttons! Yet even with all of this technology at their fingertips they still will look at me in wonder until my heads spins around, the vein in my forehead sticks out, and announce to them that they owe me $10.00. Once they have been given the answer, you know the one that required half a second of thinking to process, they are usually happy and continue on to the next poor sap. But sometimes, sometimes there are the brave few who want to argue about how much you gave them, and how you are wrong. I know I know. You shouldn't take advantage of the weak minded, and yes I'm and arrogant asshole, but if you're going to be an ass to me then it's game on! I know you make minimum wage, and your life sucks, and your girlfriend is cheating on you. But I don't really give a shit, at least, not if you're going to insist on being rude. I think of it as doing my part for humanity. I'm simply pointing out to the world all of the future IRS agents, before they realize their inner dreams and set out to personally destroy you, and me. So next time you buy fast food, do the world a favor. Give them a test, and let the games begin.