Easy Money
I AM COUNTING foreign currency I have just picked up from my bank. It is so convenient to place an order with Bank of America then collect it 2 or 3 days later. I am heading to Africa next week on a 6-country safari, and all six countries accept the South African rand as currency. I asked my bank to provide me with small bills which makes it easy to tip anyone who assists me in any way and makes it simple to make change for whatever I purchase.
What I failed to do, however, was check the exchange rate. The dollar is very strong against the rand- good for me but bad for them. Online I look at the menu in the restaurant of the hotel where I will stay my first two nights and am shocked at how inexpensive the selections are. At this rate, I can order an appetizer, the most expensive main dish offered and have dessert along with coffee and Amarula (Africa’s version of Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur), while staying well within my budget! Too bad I can’t eat all that.
The bank teller hands me the rand I ordered. I am stunned. I am given a pile of brightly colored money, bills in 50s, 20s and 10s, small denominations as per my request. One rand is basically worth a nickel in US dollars. One hundred rand is about 5 US dollars. I am looking at 5 pounds of paper money in a plastic bag!
I go home and try to figure out how to take all this money to South Africa. I put it in a zippered pouch that fills up the bottom of my backpack. How am I going to keep track of all this cash? How will I spend dozens of paper “quarters”? Only a small amount fits in my wallet.
At the airport in Tampa heading to Atlanta and connecting to Johannesburg, I check one big bag and carry on my purse and the backpack containing all the South African cash. At the security checkpoint, my backpack rolls through the x-ray machine and is pulled aside for further examination. The TSA agent tells me a “mass” has been detected inside my backpack. She unzips it and rummages around. I whisper to her, “It’s money. It looks like I have a lot, but I really don’t. Some of those bills are only worth fifty cents.” She closes the backpack and hands it back to me.
Later, in Atlanta, waiting to board my flight to Johannesburg, I strike up a conversation with a South African guy sitting next to me in the gatehouse. He tells me South Africa is becoming a cashless society. Businesses and restaurants want credit cards, Apple Pay or other forms of payment that do not use cash.
Oh no, I think. Now what?? Maybe there is a charitable donation box in the airport where I can dump some of those 10 rand notes, worth 50 cents each. I could contribute to rescuing animals in South Africa, or buying school supplies for underprivileged kids. Maybe there’s an exotic disease foundation that desperately needs my help, 50 cents at a time.
When I get to South Africa, I pay for everything in cash. I laboriously count out 10 rand bills, piles of them for dinner, or a massage at the hotel. Everyone’s face lights up. Apparently, there is a shortage of 10 rand bills and they are more than happy to accept what I’m giving them.
I was just trying to lighten my load, and they are just trying to make change.