The Integrative Stream

Kids These Days

Just bought a latte at my local Starbucks. The customre ahead of me tendered a $2 bill for payment. The teenager behind the register had never seen one before, and wanted to know if it was real. She consulted the twenty-something behind the other register, who didn’t know either. Finally, they consulted me, and I authenticated the bill for them.

Although, to be fair, I haven’t seen any $2 bills in a long time, so it’s now entirely out of the question that a teenage cashier wouldn’t have seen them. There are so many more currency options than when I was a kid, anyway. As a teenager, I paid cash. Now, not only have credit and debit cards worked their way down to the tweens, it seems that every major retail chain has launched a swipe card program. There’s enough economist in me that I never saw the point of those things. After all, they’re just like cash – but worse.