Internet Insanity

[Jim Cassedy]

Many arcades have machines which will turn a credit card into
tokens. (Or bills, too.)

Exactly, Mike! Our machines are operated by some outside concessionaire,
and I assume the theater gets a cut of the of whatever the games take in.
There is an ATM-like machine near the games that can take cash or credit
cards and dispense the the gaming cards. The theater staff has nothing to do
with the game operations or handling money for them. Occasionally a customer
will go to the box office and claim they lost a dollar or some change in the
machine that dispenses the game cards, and the boxofficeperson will usually
take their word for it, and refund their lost money from the theater cash-box,
and they have some sort of 'refund log' they keep for the game-guy and
the next time he comes in they sort it all out.

Ryan Gallagher commented that "nobody carries cash anymore". The other
day I was with a friend in downtown San Francisco when we were approached
by a vagrant asking for 'spare change" and it occurred to me that on most days,
the panhandlers on the street likely had more cash/change in their pockets
than I did. I rarely have any actual cash/change on me any more. I'm sure
there are whole months that have gone by during which I've carried zero
amount of currency. I do keep a couple of $20's stashed at work, in case
my UBER app stops working & I need to call a cab or something or if I
want to grab lunch for myself at a sidewalk street vendor of which there
are many here in SF, but even a lot of those people have wireless credit
card terminals or an app on their phone that scans cards. So far this
month, I haven't left the house with any cash on me yet.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I have not carried cash since COVID, mainly because I am immunosuppressed due to the kidney transplant, and cash is a good way to spread germs. But I will stop at my bank and get some if needed. We also buy some food fresh directly from farms which are not too far away, fresh bread, bacon, eggs veggies, etc are but a number of items we get. Forty organic eggs for $15 today is a good deal even back when eggs were cheap. My better half makes and sells pottery at shows, and she will take cash or Venmo only. But the cash is deposited into her account the next day. Debit cards, etc, are safer ways to pay these days.