Subject:
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Fun with Sacajewea [kind of long]
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.fun
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Date:
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Wed, 2 Feb 2000 07:20:03 GMT
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Viewed:
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279 times
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Hi, all.
If you've been combing Wal-Marts, you probably know by now that the US
Gummint has chosen them as a conduit for dispersing the new gold(ish)
dollar coin into the US market. These first became available on
Saturday or Sunday, and they're kind of snazzy.
I went to my favourite Wal-Mart (oooh I want those sets to go on deep
discount!) and bought some groceries. That's when I found out that they
had these new goodies, so I managed to get them to sell me a dozen, so I
could go do some other shopping and have a bit of fun with people who
haven't seen them yet (they were only released by the Mint a few days
ago). It also allowed me to do my duty as a citizen and serve as a
vector for the new coin, broadcasting it far and wide into the economy.
Unfortunately, it was already 9pm, so that left only the grocery store,
a McDonald's on Route 1, and Target.
Now, before you say that I have too much free time on my hands, I'd like
to deflect such scurrilous remarks. There's no such thing as "too much
free time." It's "flex time"--I do my work when I want to, where I want
to, and (most improtantly) how I want to. This particular exercise is
part of a process of learning about people and how they handle confusion
at "sacred moments" of routine--of which a big one in our society is the
transfer of money. When the unfamiliar happens, there's a process of
negotiation and challenging that goes on in order to complete the
interaction desirably for both parties. A new coin (or a $2 bill, or a
Kennedy half-dollar) makes a good variable, especially since I can feel
reasonably sure of knowing more about what's going on and thus winning
any battle for legitimacy that might occur.
That said, I was kind of disappointed. I engaged in three
transactions--one at Target, one at McDonald's, and one at Shop-Rite.
The first was easily the most interesting. The cashier--who I selected
carefully to be someone who had lived in this country for some
time--looked at the coin, looked at me, rolled the coin around, and
said:
"What the h[e-double-hockey-stick] is this? Is it new?"
Of course, as soon as I was asked that second question, the encounter
was effectively over. Darn! The problem with a large store like Target
is that they get a lot of traffic and therefore may actually hear about
these things. There are also a lot of other people nearby to clarify
matters before things get really interesting. However, it is worth
noting that:
1) Everyone in line wanted to gawk^H^H^H^Hlook at it;
2) She bought it out of the drawer for herself; and
3) I almost forgot to take my purchase with me.
My next stop was Mickey D's. A dollar and a Sacajewea would get me a
Super Size french fry order, complete with nifty game piece, and a
whopping six cents' change. However, at this time of night, there was
only one cashier--probably about 18, and from her speech probably not
born in the US. Why is this bad for my purposes? Because people who
weren't born in the US and raised here don't take things like the
structure of US currency denominations for granted. (As an example of
my own, I was given a haypenny in with my 2p coins this summer in
Wokingham, England--nobody else noticed it, but I did, because I wasn't
from the UK. I was also kind of excited about it, which is the sort of
reaction I might reasonably expect on this matter.)
So what happened? Exactly nothing. She took the bill and the coin,
looked at the coin cursorily, let out a muffled "Hm." and stocked them
away in their places. On a lighter note, I did win a free hamburger,
which brings my tally of wins for the new McDonald's giveaway up to two
freebies out of two game pieces. Fortunately I had the presence of mind
to stifle the Victory Dance.
My final stop was the Shop-Rite. This was similar to the Target
experience, except there was nobody behind me in line, and the person at
the register simply rolled it around and said "Now *that's* a new one."
Ugh, how anticlimactic. At least I got some pasta on sale.
So what I'm asking is: Has anyone else been out using these, and if so,
what's happened? Anything good? What do you think of the coin? I'm
still a bit nonplussed at its quarterness, and it's not as gold as it
could or should be, but at least it's not likely to become known as the
"Clinton Quarter."
best,
Lindsay
---
Lindsay Frederick Braun (Mr)
Department of History
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Fun with Sacajewea [kind of long]
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| (...) <vast and indiscriminate snippage> Can't help you much with your study, but when the same thing happened in Canada (new $1.00 coin), there wasn't the fooforah you seem to be expecting. The only fooforah that occured was the government's vast (...) (25 years ago, 2-Feb-00, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
| | | Re: Fun with Sacajewea [kind of long]
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| (...) I didn't actually notice that. I am so used to paying with plastic (need to get all the miles I can get, I have a wedding I need to go to) that I am oblivious to cash. That's actually kind of weird (25 years ago, 2-Feb-00, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
| | | Re: Fun with Sacajewea [kind of long]
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| (...) Can't help with your study, but I do have one of the new coins. Fairly cool, in the newer modern-Mint-school-of-design way (more flat background surfaces, basically). Basic results from showing it to everyone on my team: it's too much like a (...) (25 years ago, 3-Feb-00, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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