Fifty Incident

The price of gas is, in as few of words as possible, gay. Stations around my area aren't applicable for the rise. One thing I've found difficult, is trying to pay for gas with a fifty dollar bill. It's circulated currency still, right, or have I neglected to receive the memo stating fifty dollar bills are nonexchangeable?

Every time I pull out a "Grant", if you will, the gas station attendant squares me up, glaring at me, sometimes sighing after he/she spots the bill.

I have gone as far as to give the attendant a one-hundred dollar bill to feed his/her cash register, and I was turned down. "We don't accept anything larger than a fifty...," where, upon my ears registering what he (because at this time, it was a male) said, I replied, "...And then even then, you guys throw a fit because I've given you a fifty for thirty dollars worth of gas!" He then eyed me and said flat out, "I can't accept this bill, sir..."

In fact, he didn't accept it. What ended our spat was me saying, "This is the only bill I have in my wallet, besides a ten, so you don't really have a choice - you accept the hundred, or I get a free tank of gas..." He then, very stubbornly, swiped his Dillion's Plus card through the card reader on his computer, not once, but THREE times, typed in a top secret code, and said, "Give me the ten." If you are wondering if that man is still working at that Kwik Shop, I'm sorry to say they let him go.

It's not like the Kwik Shop doesn't have change for a hundred. In fact, I was told by an attendant-friend of mine, Kwik Shops have safes full of a couple hundred, to a thousand dollars!

Now here's where the fifty-dollar bill plays into the matter. I had just picked up my paycheck, and saw that I was depleted in the gas-situation of my car. I "filled-her-up," like they say in the moving pictures, and went in to pay for the gas. My total was twenty even. I go up to the counter to pay, the lady, the time, said, "Twenty even," and I open my wallet, and finger through four hundreds, a fifty, and a couple twenties. I go for the fifty, pull out the fifty, lay the fifty on the counter. She asks, "Sir, do you have anything smaller," while she eyes the contents of my bill-fold. "I have a twenty, but I'd rather break the fifty." "We don't accept fifties," she says, looking over my head to bare witness to the line forming behind me. "But you have change for a fifty, right?" "Yes sir, but we don't accept them."

I peer over the counter, at the contents of her register. "I count, literally, four-to-five twenties in you till, a bunch of tens, and a couple ones. Can't you break this fifty?" "We hate breaking anything larger than a twenty." "So if I gave you forty dollars, with thirty in my tank, you wouldn't break forty dollars?" "No, we would, but as far as bills, we don't accept anything over fifty." "But you have big, diesel-gusseling vehicles, and gas-gusseling trucks coming in and out of here daily. You wouldn't break a fifty if they had one, if they had more than twenty, or even forty dollars worth of gas?" "Sir, I'm not going to accept your fifty." I ended up backing down for the sake of the line behind me.

My dad had the same problem at the station closest to our house. "I had thirty-some dollars worth of gas, and she wanted two twenties. I had a fifty, or a twenty. She finally took the fifty, but I knew the only reason why she did was she was forced to."

The ultimatum: you accept my fifty dollar bill, or I get a free tank of gas - my dad has used it, and I've used it. What's the difference between the two bills, the twenty and the fifty? Just thirty single bills, six fives, three tens, a twenty and a ten...etc. Gas prices have yet to peak. Start accepting the fifties, or have a bunch of irate people. Seriously, what's easier for you? You would think one bill - the fifty - but for some reason, they'd rather deal with two twenties. It dumbfounds the shit out of me! How ignorant is this debate - accept fifties, or I get a free tank of gas?