2009-03-31 ... 9:27 p.m.

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Spending money, and meeting an author

It was a beautiful weather day here in San Diego. The sun was shining, and it wasn't too windy. It was warm when you were out in the sun, but cooler in the shade. A gorgeous spring day!

And I worked outside in the garden. It was the second day in a row without Blue out there, and it was calm and peaceful. I like Blue, but it ups the stress level when she's there.

I was thinking today about the way people pay, and the way they keep their money or credit cards. It was interesting.

First we have to differentiate (neener) between the men and women, since most women have their money in a purse, and most men don't. Yes, there are some who have "man bags" but not many.

Some men and women fall into the same category. For example,

The Cruncher. The Cruncher carries all his/her money in his/her pocket, all crunched up and it comes out in their grubby little fists. They have to straighten most of it out just to see what bills they have, and the coins are dropping out from between their fingers. That leads to money not laying flat in the drawer, which can complicate things after a while.

The Folder. The Folder has money in his/her pocket, but it's folded either in half or quarters. Easy to find, and easy to see what he/she has. Coins seldom get in between the bills, so nothing generally falls out when taking bills out of his/her pocket.

For the men:

The Slob. The slob has huge pockets, in sweat pants or cargo pants or shorts. He reaches into his pocket, and pulls out bills, credit cards, toothpicks, coins, and candy wrappers, or whatever happens to be in there. I have been surprised at times not to see any frogs in those pockets! I'm amazed these men can work construction and not lose what's in their pockets. It takes forever for them to pull out the correct bills. These guys also usually have several hundred dollars in amongst the rest of the garbage in their pocket.

The Neat Freak. The Neat Freak has his bills folded neatly, in order from the most on the outside, to the smallest on the inside, and coins in a coin purse or one of those rubber thingies you squeeze to open. The bills are almost always contained by a money clip. There are never more bills than will fit in the money clip.

In between these two types we have a "subtype", the Neat Slob.

The Neat Slob has EVERYTHING he needs to pay in his pocket. Bills, coins, credit cards and driver's license (or ID). It's all kept neater than the Slob's, but almost every Neat Slob has a binder clip (size varies)

to hold everything together. Some Neat Slobs use rubber bands, but when the rubber band breaks, they become Slobs.

We also have the Traditional.

The Traditional carries a wallet. (Imagine that! What a concept!) The wallet varies in size, folding type and color, but always has the cards in their slots, the license (or ID) in it's place, and the money in the back part of the wallet. There are fat wallets and skinny wallets, bulging wallets and empty ones.

Then we have the women.

There are some women who are Crunchers, and some who carry wallets like the men do, but not many. Most women keep their money in their purse. However, there are quite a variety of money keepers within that purse.

First is the Purse Slob. The PS just dumps everything in her purse, and when asked for payment, dips her hand in the purse and pulls out whatever she can grab. Find an ID?? Sometimes it's nearly impossible. Change is always on the bottom of the purse, and sometimes credit cards and money are in ziplock baggies. (No kidding!)

We also have the Neat Purse. The NP has everything organized, one wallet with money and cards. Depending on the number of cards in her purse, she may have a smaller wallet just for credit cards and store cards. (Most men don't have the store cards) Everything is in its place, and coins are neatly zipped in one of the pockets of the wallet.

We have the average woman, who is somewhere in between. She normally knows where everything is, and has very little change on the bottom of her purse, but there's usually a few cents floating around down there. Most of her money and cards are in her wallet, but on a hectic shopping day, some of the cards and an ID might be elsewhere in the purse, causing a frantic "Oh my god, I LOST my LICENSE" to be uttered, until sanity prevails and said ID is found. Phew. These incidents happen only occasionally, and she is usually able to locate the store credit or coupon she needs.

Purses also vary in size, shape and color, and sometimes are used to hold the products purchased.

And so ends today's class on the money handling habits of most Depot of Home shoppers.

In other news, I went to a book signing tonight, and met this man:

Raymond E Feist! He signed five of my paperbacks that he wrote, and I actually shook his hand and talked to him for a couple minutes! (I thanked him for the many hours of reading he provided me, and he thanked me for paying his mortgage. Heh.)

He lives in San Diego, and is at the bookstore every year, so next year I will be taking the rest of the books he hasn't signed. Woot!

And that's all, folks!

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Kiss Me!

14 comments so far

Rattus Regina - 2009-04-01 05:04:35
I'm jealous! I know Mum has met Raymond, and they knew some of the same people back in the day, but I've never met him. I'll have to keep track of when he does booksignings next year, I keep forgetting to bring my 20 some-odd books in =D
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Judith - 2009-04-01 05:47:06
I admit to being a Purse Slob. I hate that! I was behind a lady at Chick Fil-A today who bent down to her tennis shoes and pulled out money to pay for her food. I realized at that moment that the cashier would be touching her sweaty sock money and then would be helping me. I booked it over to another eatery in the food court then.
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wordy - 2009-04-01 06:18:53
I'm a rare wallet-carrying female, myself. Had to become one. If I have a purse I immediately lose everything. It becomes a black hole filled with receipts and (apparently) nothing else. I've never read any Feist books that I know of - will have to check those out!
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l\'empress - 2009-04-01 08:00:03
The best wallet I ever had -- I shall have to replace it soon, it's at least thirty years old -- is a passport wallet. It's bigger than billfolds, but that means that I can neatly carry much more and still keep it flat. But before you start thinking of me as Ms. Neat, I should add that I usually keep my store cards in a separate pocket of the purse, and I often stuff them into a pocket because there are people behind me...
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Rosie - 2009-04-01 09:52:08
How cool that you got to meet Ray! I'd like to see him again just to find out how all of the Friday Nighters are doing, not that he'd be likely to remember me. I remember how he would come over to Steve and April's place, and use their computer to write his first book, Magician Apprentice. It was an early Apple, if I remember correctly it was a IIc, and there was a can on the desk asking for donations if you used the computer.

Ahhh! The good old days!
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art - 2009-04-01 12:13:57
some days im a cruncher, and some days im a folder, but most days, im a slob! today, im a cruncher!!
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Rebekah - 2009-04-01 13:04:27
Average woman who loses her license in her hand and keys in her pocket. I scare myself and apologize profusely to cashiers. Often.
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Poolie - 2009-04-01 13:37:05
I have folded bills in my purse - in numeric order. And that's the way it is!
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Blondeness - 2009-04-01 16:31:06
I probably fall into the average woman category! Also, my friend my MY favorite author, Nicholas Sparks once and had a book signed for me. I would LOVE to meet him, and he's good looking to boot!
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terri t - 2009-04-01 17:23:56
RH is a traditional man and even has his bills arranged in monetary order within the wallet too. I am probably more average...try to keep my wallet and purse neat but do have a habit of throwing the change into my purse and putting it away later on.....makes it easier to clean out my purse on a more regular basis that way....
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zucchini breath - 2009-04-01 17:57:51
Rare female wallet carrier. I keep it on a chain. I might lose my purse but I will never lose my pants. Anymore. Ahem.
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For-Tart - 2009-04-01 20:46:05
Didn't he say publishing is a folk art and not a science? Glad you got to meet him.
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DSis - 2009-04-02 01:32:16
I am a combination -- I have folded bills in my small purse and they have a money clip on them -- they all face the same way and are in numerical order. The purse also has slots for credit cards. But then sometimes I put the small purse in a bigger bag along with camera, lotion, coupons, ipod, hat, snacks, water bottle . . . well, you get the picture.
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Wyndspirit - 2009-05-20 06:32:15
I love his books!!!
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