You think YOU'VE got money problems....

I was in one of the local pet stores last night, picking up a few things for my lords-and-masters (the cats). When I got to the register, there was a man there (about my age) with his daughter (about 6 or 7 years old). Clerk checked their items and then Girl dug into her purse. I thought, how nice, that man is teaching his daughter about money... good for him.

Girl pulled out several handfuls of quarters, and a crumpled wad of bills. Clerk started counting the money as Girl was unloading it, making neat $1 stacks of the coins and then carefully straightening and smoothing each bill before adding it to the pile on the counter. I was waiting for Dad to prompt Girl about how much she owed, or how much change she would get... things that I had been taught at that age. Instead, Dad asked Clerk, "How much is that?", gesturing to the pile of money.

O. M. G.

X stacks of coins at $1 each + Y $1 bills = Z $. How do you not know that?? You didn't even have to count by 5's or 10's or 25's... just 1's. How can you be 6-7 years old and not know how to count by 1's, much less at 30-40 years old?? Are you really that uneducated? Or are you just that lazy, that you can't even be bothered to count your own daughter's money? And what is she going to learn from this experience?

They finished their transaction. I stepped up to the register, and counted out exact change for my purchases... just to restore some sanity to the world.