If You Live Long Enough You Get To See Some Strange Things

Apropos of my recent post about reaching a certain age milestone, I saw something today that I had not seen previously in my almost 50 years.

At our mincha minyan we pass around an envelope to collect tzedakah. Most people put in a dollar bill while others throw in quarters.

It is not uncommon for one or two individuals to make change with the collections in the envelope. For example, someone may have a 5 dollar bill. He will typically put it in the envelope and take out 4 singles, leaving one single for tzedakah.

Today I saw a guy put in a single dollar and take out FOUR quarters. "That's strange", I thought. He then took out his wallet, and I thought, "OK, he just needed some quarters". He removed a five dollar bill and inserted it in the envelope. So far so good. He then proceeded to count out FIVE single dollar bills and put them in his wallet.

There is nothing wrong with what he did but I'd never seen it in all my life.