Aw Man... Still?

Jeez... just when I think things are getting better I go out in public.
   So I had to go to the post office today - queries for a kick-ass children's alphabet book - and on the way back it happened to be lunch time. I was feeling a bit peckish so I stopped into a Baja Fresh. It was early and there weren't many people inside, only one person in front of me, a young black man. He didn't look like he was shaving yet, he was carrying a book bag, and he was wearing shorts, so using my Batman-like detective skill I deduced he was probably a high school student.
   The kid orders then pays with a $20 bill, which the clerk gives the once over something fierce, even puts it under the ultra-violet counterfeit detector machine. It's the first I've seen one of these things outside of Vegas, so I figure the place must have a problem with fake money, seeing as how the Miracle Mile is a few miracle miles away from a rough neighborhood.
   It's my turn, so I order and I also pay with a $20 bill. I'm all set to watch the process up-close, maybe even engage her in conversation about it. She shoves the $20 into the drawer and hands me my change.
   I was astonished. Gob-smacked. I didn't think this kind of thing happened still in the USA. The clerk makes double-sure the money the black kid gives her isn't counterfeit, but trusts the white guy is on the up-and-up. I felt like telling her that while young people steal, old people commit fraud. Like counterfeiting. If anybody should be profiled for passing fake bills, it should be the middle-aged white dude dressed like he works in an office.
   I don't know if the kid noticed, though it would have been hard not to. Hell of a thing to have to put up with in 21st Century America. Dammit.


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CONTRACT COUNTDOWN: 20-something days, I'm losing track...