copper

one of the things i am not too keen on about being poor is having to carry around a pocket full of change. so when i am out shopping i can use as many pieces of copper as i can. thank fuck for self-service tills, though i am sure the people waiting for me to finish are not that keen on watching me pump 15 two pence pieces into the slots. truly i am looking after the pennies, because i have no pounds to look after themselves. there is a great sense of relief when i have been able to use up a large chunk of copper shrapnel to buy some milk or such like. a weight has gone from my pocket and i feel as if i have used money that would just be gathering dust in a jar somewhere. recently my local tesco metro has been playing dirty tricks with me. it has been getting it's own back. i much prefer the sainsbury's self-service - put the money in the slot and it is subtracted from your total. quick, simple and easy. tesco have been clever they give you a dish-like space in which to drop the entire amount into. except it seems to take awhile for it to work. this does not inspire confidence in me so i put in the coins individually. that way i feel in control of the situation. today i was shy a few pennies of the exact change. so i needed to use a pound coin (oh how my heart bleeds when i have to give one of those precious coins up), the total bill was 84p. imagine my annoyance when the change came back in the form of 1 one pence piece, 1 5 pence piece and 5 two pence pieces. somehow the machine knows it is me as this is the fourth time it has done it to me. curse you self-service till. curse you tesco.