I’m not talking about $1 coins in Canada, or banknotes, but after reading Girl Meets Debt’s post on growing a thicker skin to pick up pennies off the floor, this is news to me that it could be embarrassing to pick money off the floor.
I guess I never thought about it, or bothered to look around to see if people were snickering at me.
All I can think is: “TAX FREE MONEY!!”
Or maybe I’m just bloody clueless.
I ONLY LEAVE MONEY ON THE GROUND WHEN I ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO
The only time I DON’T pick up pennies is when I am about to exit the streetcar or subway, or roll off the escalator, and the penny is RIGHT IN FRONT of me, but there’s a horde of people behind me.
Then I just think it’s rude and dangerous to do it.
…..but I do get this pang of ‘lost opportunity’ guilt welling up in my chest.
I really just want to wait, dash back and pick up that penny, but sometimes I have to let it go and get on with my day.
(I know, it’s sick.)
Where I REALLY draw the line is in a disgusting place like in a huge rain puddle and I’d get dirty swishing around for a penny.
CALL ME WHAT YOU WANT, JUST KEEP DROPPING THAT MONEY PLEASE
I mean, maybe people think that others who pick up pennies or equally small change off the ground are ‘poor’ or cheap.
(For the record, I’ll take any label you want to put on me, as long as you leave money on the ground for me to pick up. I even found a $20 bill last month!)
I don’t think anyone can call me poor (unless you compare me to millionaires and billionaires), so that particular label doesn’t stick very well.
Come to think of it, even hobos (the homeless) on the street refuse pennies.
It just never occurred to me that picking MONEY off the ground could be shameful.
Maybe I need to have a little more shame put in me. ( Or not. 🙂 )
I COULD MAKE MORE MONEY WITH MY TIME… NOT
Most people would calculate that as $0.01 every second being about $36 an hour. Not too shabby!
I make about $100 – $120/hour on average when I have contracts…but could I really make more money?
I mean, in between projects I am benched, so I have nothing better to do with my time.
Literally.
I blog (as evidenced by my daily blogging of late), I eat, I cook, I sleep.. that’s about it.
If I don’t have time to smell the roses and pick up pennies, and if I always have to put my nose to the grindstone, I might as well go get a job and a cubicle at some company.
I don’t really see it as lost time, bending down for 3 seconds to pick up a penny.
If someone told me: “You can choose to have this contract for $100K, or pick up that penny“, I am obviously going to go for the contract.
(And then secretly walk back to pick up that money if it’s still there.)
But really those choices never exist. In fact, I’m probably still going to be picking up pennies WHILE earning $100 an hour.
The way I see it, I will be $0.01 richer than I was before I bent down to pick up that penny.
…and as I am probably riding on the subway or waiting for my turn in the checkout, I have nothing better to do than to get rich.
“IT’S MONEY!”
It also reminds me of the time I was in a grocery store when a woman was arguing over a penny.
In Quebec, you can basically get the item for free because it scanned incorrectly (this Price Scanning Policy is pretty much enforced in almost every store, but has certain rules around it).
Anyway, this old woman was arguing over a penny with the young cashier, and when the girl said:
OH WAIT this is just over a PENNY? Here, take it.
The old woman’s eyes widened and she said words that I will never forget:
“Only a penny?
It’s MONEY.
Are you SO rich that you can afford to leave money that you’re entitled to?”
She’s right, and props to her for sarcasm as well, seeing as that girl was earning minimum wage and obviously was not in any position to refuse money.
I guess I’m that old woman, just in a younger body for now.
Every penny counts, because as they say, “a penny is the start to a million”.
Update:
As Ann reminded me, you can also just say: “LUCKY PENNY!” and no one feels embarrassed for you.
Plus, when I pick up money in front of clients or a boss, it might even work to my advantage that they think I’m in need of the money. They end up giving me more money, and extending my hours. 😉
