Ode to the Penny

This week we took a coworker out to lunch because Wednesday was her last day after 12 years with our organization. Earlier that morning, another coworker reminded me that the restaurant only takes cash.

I couldn't remember the last time I actually needed cash. So during my lunch, I stopped at an ATM and got some.

I still had some left over Friday night when I went to see The Odyssey, and I did something I hadn't done in a while.

I paid in cash.

And you know what happened?

They couldn't make change for me because they didn't have any pennies. I think I caught the cashier off guard, too. He looked like he either didn't know how to use the register or hadn't in a while, and he had to ask another worker for help. I was gracious and said, "That's okay," and took the crisp five-dollar bill and the few dimes they handed back.

And I wondered to myself: who would have thought, 20 years ago, that the world would run out of pennies?

I know we recently retired the penny. I first started seeing signs of it in Vegas, where they posted, "No more pennies." But who would have thought stores would actually run out because the penny was retired?

Soon we'll have a cashless world, I suppose. And what will that world be like?

We'll just keep paying with our cards. Keep paying with crypto.

But it's the things you never think will go away... that do.

The penny.

No more.

What's something from everyday life that you never imagined would disappear — and what did its absence teach you about what you take for granted?