Today I headed to the Library of Congress to copy a few articles for my supervisor. At the LC, patrons must purchase a library copy card to use any of their copy machines. I got mine a few months ago and it's come in handy so many times.
My supervisor wanted me to find a Court of Claims case at the Law Library, a case that stretched over 20 pages in a thick legal volume. I got about halfway through the copying when I realized I had no more money on my card. I sighed. Only eighty more cents was needed to finish off the article!
I shuffled through my wallet but only found a pile of receipts and my credit card. Unfortunately the card machines only take cash so I was out of luck. I had an idea though---maybe I had enough change in my purse. Quickly, I dashed out of the Law Library Reading Room and headed downstairs to the cloakroom where I had left my bag. (The Library of Congress forbids bags and purses in any of the reading rooms.)
After I got my bag, I rammed my hand down my purse pockets and scrambled for coins. After much scrounging, I found two quarters, four nickels, and eleven pennies---81 cents! But the pennies, I figured, were useless since no machine takes pennies. I was left with 70 cents with no extra dime in sight.
"Damn you, pennies!" I cursed in my mind, "Good for nothing copper pennies!"
Dejected, I left the cloakroom and headed to the nearest ATM when---WAIT!---what's that in my pants pocket? Could it be another coin? I didn't want to get my hopes up; it was probably just another penny. But once I lifted the coin free from my pocket I found a shiny dime looking straight at me! Franklin Delano Roosevelt's face had never looked so beautiful.
I happily skipped back to the Law Library and went straight to the copier card machine. I stuck in my card and looked for the slot to put in my 80 cents. What? No slot? WHAT??? The machine only accepts cash???
Damn you pennies! And damn you nickels, dimes, and quarters! And damn you credit cards for making financial transactions so easy that I never carry around cash!
Oh well. I suppose I deserve a "damn" too. So here goes: damn you Caroline for never having cash! This whole thing is your own fault, you know...
