Also, when I get change back that includes more than one type of bill, I ask the cashier (rather than another customer in line behind me) which bills are which so that I can fold them and put them away. I know other people that wait to sort through and fold their bills until they have more time and maybe can ask someone that they trust more than a total stranger. I choose to ask the cashier because, if I don’t get a chance to ask someone else later, I don’t want to have to make another purchase and find only a wad of unidentifiable bills in my wallet. Also, there’s a part of me that thinks that even if the cashier is inclined to cheat me, they might suffer a prick of conscience if they actually have to lie to my face and say, “Yeah, that’s a ten” when it’s really a single.

Still though, I am completely at the mercy of each cashier (or cab driver, or waiter at a restaurant) that I deal with when I use this system. Even when there are other people nearby, they are often busy doing other things (putting their groceries on the counter, talking on their cell phones, whatever) rather than staring at the checkout counter to make sure I’m not being defrauded. What’s probably most frustrating about the whole thing is that on the occasions when I have found that I don’t have the amount of money in my wallet that I thought I did (the bill that I had folded like a $10 is actually a $1, for example), there’s no way for me to track back and figure out exactly when in the last few days I got shortchanged and by whom. Not only is it money that I’ll never get back, but I don’t even know who to blame or what store not to frequent again.