Wednesday, October 12, 2011

I would feel bad for a robber...

...if he picked me to mug. Yesterday, Randy and I headed to his work's credit union which is about twenty minutes away. You have to take a toll road to get there. About 30 seconds before we got to the tollbooth, Randy glanced over at me:

"Hon, you got any money?"

"Uhmmm, nooo, how 'bout you?"

"Nothing in these pockets  'cept lint."

"Well, lint won't work. You think they take debit cards?"

 "Don't think so. Can't you scrape something out of that bottomless pit you call a purse?"

"I'll try." So we pulled over into the breakdown lane while I started digging into the pit purse. Ten balled up gum wrappers later I handed Randy my "treasure".

"That's only 70 cents! That's all the change you have?!"

"Yup."

 "Dig deeper, please. We can't turn around, there's no place to do that!" I scraped up three more pennies from the dregs of my purse and handed it to him.

"Well...here goes nothing." We pulled up to the tollbooth, heads hanging, and showed the lady our 73 cents. The three pennies had little bits of gum encrusted on them. The lady frowned down at it and handed us a bill for $1.50. Red-faced we drove away.

Moral of the story:

When you go on trips that require toll money, don't forget to bring the kid who collects all your spare change and keeps it in her little Hello Kitty coin purse.

And, just as a side note for those whose deepest desire in life is a career as a tollbooth operator - you must past a lip curling and eyebrow waggling exam to apply. This is not an option....it's a requirement.  Just a friendly reminder for all you tollbooth operator wannabes out there.

15 comments:

  1. LOL...loved this. The exact reason we went to "EZ Pass"! ~Theresa

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  2. Too funny!! I fought the EZ pass thinking it wasn't necessary. Boy was I wrong. My husband knows me well enough to know I'd be in a situation like yours at some point! So glad we got one. I guess you will now too?

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  3. Theresa,
    No doubt it's the #1 reason :) We got a new car a couple of months ago. If I had my old car I would have been able to scrounge up a dollar in pennies from under the seats in a heartbeat.

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  4. Kathleen,
    If we were smart we would :) I don't know why we forgot about the toll. Lesson learned (I hope).

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  5. So...... your .73 cents did not cut it huh. So, you got billed. I love your ending for the right requirements for that job. Blessings to you Mary.

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  6. Hi JBR,
    No, it didn't cut it so they charged us an extra 50 cents on the bill :) Plus, they tucked a little ad for the EZ Pass in the bill envelope. You think they are trying to tell me something?

    The tolls used to be 75 cents. I wonder if they would have let us sneak by with 73 back then?

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  7. I would not be surprised if they took a picture of your license plate as you drove on through as well. ;)

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  8. Mary,
    most of our tollbooth operators have been replaced by an e-tag system. If you don't have an e-tag there is a phone number to ring to arrange payment within the next few days. I was rather wary of this automated, tracking system but I have to admit the traffic flows faster now we don't have to stop to pay the toll, and we don't have to worry about only having 73 cents in our pocket!!

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  9. JBR,
    What? They take pictures? Uh oh!

    Lol! Probably crossed Randy's mind but not mine ;)

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  10. Sue,
    It would have helped if they had a phone number to call! Some of ours are manned and some use the EZ Pass but if you have no money and no EZ pass an alarm goes off if you drive through. JBR is right, they take a picture of your license plate too :) We don't use the toll road all that often so we never bothered to get an EZ Pass. Our mistake!

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  11. How much change do you get for lint? I have plenty.

    God bless.

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  12. This is great Mary! I can just imagine the toll booth operator when you only handed over .73...hahahaha!

    Thanks for sharing this one!

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  13. Victor,
    Unfortunately, belly button lint does not count, my friend. But don't lose hope, I might give a few cents for pocket lint!

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  14. DG,
    Well, she wouldn't even accept the 73 cents we DID have. It's all or nothing I guess :)

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  15. I have always worried that would happen to me!! I hardly ever carry cash! Great story Mary!!

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