all figured out

I've figured out what's wrong with kids today...

I drove up to my local Sonic and ordered my usual Diet Cherry Limeade.  And Rick's usual Sweet Iced Tea with Raspberry.  And after ordering, I discovered that I didn't have any cash.  Out came the ol' debit card. 

When the drinks arrived, they were all soppy and wet and so was the receipt attached to my cup.  The car hop, a 16ish year old girlie, handed me some napkins and then watched me frantically wipe down the cups.  Even my receipt was a mess but car hopper girl was very helpful.  She said, "Here, let me fix that for you."  And with that, she took my receipt off of my cup and tossed it into a nearby trash can.  I finished wiping things down and waited for her to bring me a new receipt.  Foolishly I waited.  Receipt never came.  Hopper Car saw me waiting and asked me if I needed anything else.

"My receipt," I said.
"I put it in the trash for you," HC said.
"Can I have a new one?"
"Why?  You already paid for the drinks."
"Uh, because I put those drinks on my card.  And, uh, I need to account for them in my checkbook."

Hoppy Car had a very quizzical look on her face.

"You have to account for money you spend, you know..."

Hoppy wished me a good day and told me to push the red button if I needed anything else.  Well, I needed something else.  I made Happy Hoppy go to the trash can and retrieve my receipt, wet or not.  She didn't seem to like that.  I also don't think she learned anything, either.  But I did.  I learned that kids today will never know the joy of balancing a check book.  And their checkbooks will inveritably always be overdrawn.  Wait, kids today don't even have checkbooks.  That's problematic, too.

Maybe I'm old school, but numbers have to be accounted for and numbers have to match up.  When they don't, my life spins out of control.  Bounced checks are not something I'm fond of.  Bankruptcy isn't either.  Kids my daughter's age just don't see the point in making numbers match up.  They don't see bankruptcy as a very real thing, either.  In fact, money still grows on trees for them.  But I have a surprise for them...

No accounting for your cash means you'll probably always be hopping on cars at Sonic.  Ya know?

And no money in your accout, no drinkies at Sonic, either.

And when all is said and done... I enjoyed making the car hopster dig in the trash. 

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