So yesterday I brought my "Sun Pass" 
(Florida's Pre-paid Toll program where you pay in advance so you don't have to wait in lines) "thing" into my house to replace the dead battery. Today, there's cat pee on it. Satan, I mean my cat, in her little, malfunctioning, cat brain, somehow felt peeing on this square device was better and more comfortable than peeing in her cat box!!
Since I have no "Sun Pass thing" I snatch a dollar bill and five dimes off the kitchen table for the tolls on my way to work. Dollar twenty-five for the first toll and twenty-five cents for the second one.
I arrive at the toll booth that I have been going through almost every day for the last five years. I'm embarrassed to say but I know most of the toll booth operators by name. I'm even more embarrassed to say that I've introduced myself to them and many of them know ME by name. Yeah, I know,... pathetic.
I drive up to the toll booth and hand Peggy, $1.30. She responds with a hearty, "Thank you, God bless and have a great day." .......... I wait... perhaps she didn't realize I gave her a buck-thirty.
"Thanks. God bless you too. Perhaps you didn't realize I gave you a buck-thirty."
"Yup," she said. "I don't have any nickels. Please move forward."
I almost did move forward, "Yes, but I need the nickel for my next toll...it's a "Correct Change Only" booth.
It has no operator (which I think is stupid anyway. If you get stuck on one of those exits where there is no operator and you have no change... well....)."
She says, "Please sir. You are blocking traffic. Please proceed."
Now if she really didn't have a nickel, I guess there's nothing I could do, but for some reason I found myself pressing the issue anyway. Perhaps she could reach into her own pocket and give me one of hers. So I answered, "I just want my nickel and I'll move along."
"I told you (in a voice that no longer said, "God bless you, have a great day.") I don't have any. You NEEEED to move forward."
Realizing we were going nowhere, I came up with what I thought was a fair solution, "Then why don't you give me back a dime and I'll be on my way."
"Nope!" she retorted quickly. "Can't do that. I've already rung in the amount. Now please sir move forward. You're blocking traffic!"
She was right about the traffic. And now I felt like a complete idiot over a nickel. So off I went. Sure enough I set off the "toll violation alarm" at the exit because I only had 20 cents... a nickel short. I'll probably get a $100 fine, standard for toll offenders like me. Not to mention I'm a nickel short today.
I'm already planning next week though. Monday, I go through her booth with a $100 Bill. Tuesday, $1.25 in pennies, Wednesday, $1.20 ("Sorry, I don't have any nickels."), Thursday, debit card, and Friday by check, which I'll wait to write out until I'm at the booth. "Excuse me...who should I make this out to?"
Saw this billboard the other day (picture above):
