It's all I've got

[Seanette]

The SCs who use big bills for small purchases at thrift stores are a pain, especially when the store has just opened (or the cashier has just come on shift), and there's only $100 in the drawer to begin with. One day I was opening, and had gotten two such transactions before 9:30 (store opens at 9:00). Admin was upset about how fast change was going out, customers were getting huffy about delays to get change....

Trust me, thrift store cashiers ringing up your second-hand goods are NOT impressed by the Benjamins you're waving around. Most of us know you went to a check-cashing place or are getting paid under the table, and took the big bills just to be showy.

[Nunavut Pants]

The only times I ask for 50s or 100s is if I'm buying something big and know I'll be using them for such.)

The only time I've ever asked for 100s was when I was buying a CAR. (Used car.)

...Oh, and that one time when I was moving my account from Big Bank ("we charge for everything!") to Credit Union.

I have a friend who likes to keep one or two C-notes on hand. When I piped up about it being obnoxious, he pointed out the phrase on the bill "Good for all debts, public and private". And that he has gotten people to accept those bills by doing that. I figured it wasn't worth the argument, so I dropped the subject.

Thankfully, cards are a lot more common now. Hopefully that means large bill stuff is a lot less common.

*looks up at website name*

D'OH!! Nevermind...

[justhere]

Same here...when I'm planning on paying my rent, I'll usually ask for some fifties when I cash that week's check, just so it's easier to count out the money when I got to my landlord. Other than that, I never have anything bigger than a twenty in my wallet, and I usually break those down into fives and singles when I know I'll be using the train, to make it easier on the ticket-taker when he comes around.

I used to ask for $100 bills when I was paying my babysitter. She preferred them, since they were harder to spend in stores (as in, she was smart enough to know you don't use them for small purchases) but perfectly acceptable when paying off a Kohls credit card (all her kids had cards for her account, so she always had a bill to pay), or to use towards paying her utility bill at the office.

[Aragarthiel]

The only time we ever use $50 or $100 bills is when paying rent, and we have to pass our landlord's house to get home so unless it's some ungodly hour, we drop it off on the way home. I think we've only paid for something over $5 with change once, and that was when my husband's direct deposit didn't go through (long story involving his employer's utterly incompetent accountant) and he had to go get a paper paycheck at work. He didn't have the gas to get there so we scrounged up just enough change for him to do so. I think it was like $8, mostly in quarters, and we felt bad, but we really had no other option.

[judecat]

I'd really rather get a hand full of loose change. Although if you have more than one roll worth of one denomination coin then the boss told me to hand them the coin tubes. At least with the loose change I can roll the excess during slow periods.

[judecat]

About that "Good for all debts, public and private" business. Yes that's what it says, but it means you can use them to pay your bills. Your creditors have to take it. But I'm not a creditor, passing me the $100 for that $2.00 cigarette lighter on the counter is not a debt you owe --buy ringing up the lighter I'm not extending you credit.

I've had fools try that line on me, even threaten to call the cops because it's illegal for me not to take it. I just show them the federal reserve website, and tell them that if they can't read and comprehend what it says, then go ahead and call the cops, and have the cops explain it to them.

I'm an old woman, and I'm tired of fools.

[Jay 2K Winger]

The ATM at my bank will give me $50 bills when I'm requesting more than $260 in cash. I don't like it, and since I'm frequently outside business hours when I'm swinging by the bank to get cash, I don't have the option of going inside to have them break the $50s into $20s or $10s.

And if it's not outside business hours, it's usually around the lunch hour when I have time to go there, and their tiny parking lot is full and the 'We Only Sell Chicken' fast food place next door is also full so I don't really have anywhere convenient to park and walk.

So I put up with it, but those $50s are the last bills I'll spend/break, so if I say "it's all I have," it's the truth.

[greek_jester]

The ATM at my bank will give me $50 bills when I'm requesting more than $260 in cash. I don't like it, and since I'm frequently outside business hours when I'm swinging by the bank to get cash, I don't have the option of going inside to have them break the $50s into $20s or $10s.

If you have time, have you tried splitting the transaction into multiples of $250? If it only triggers the $50 notes when you take out over $260 that might work...

[bankworking]

If you have time, have you tried splitting the transaction into multiples of $250? If it only triggers the $50 notes when you take out over $260 that might work...

I've heard that some banks charge you if you use their atm over a certain number of times a month. My bank doesn't (why charge for using our own atm...it's cheaper than you coming in person?), but I've had customers mention other banks that do. If so, doing multiple withdraws when one would do could be costly.

[manybellsdown]

On the rare occasions my ex would pay his child support, he'd always hand me a couple of $100s. I'm pretty sure that was deliberate to make my life more difficult, because I'd have to make an extra trip to the bank to get smaller bills.

Most of us know you went to a check-cashing place or are getting paid under the table, and took the big bills just to be showy.

Aaaand that's why he only ever had $100s.