I know, it’s not February or Black History Month, but I still feel compelled to ask this question while it’s fresh in my mind. But honestly, genuinely, I really am curious to why so many black people are insistent on always paying for things in cash?
It doesn’t matter if I’m at Target, a clothing store, supermarket, or even at the Comcast service center I’ve been to more times than I should have, when it comes to most all of the black people I see paying for food, gas, clothing or bills, they’re doing so in cash. Especially the bills, but I may or may not get back to that, depending on my train of thought.
The first few times I saw the referenced YouTube clip, I couldn’t help but think that the commercial was presumptuous and pretty prejudice towards people who pay in cash, not to mention downright snobby. A deli-like food establishment isn’t exactly the best example to show the drawbacks of cash, and they certainly exaggerate the time it takes for a cash transaction to occur, not to mention not a single check card user seems to want a receipt for their transaction like people like me always want. But the message is fairly simple, which is that using a check/credit card is more expedient and/or convenient than paying in cash.
I’ve had a check card since I was 15 years old. To this day, I still use my check card regularly, out of convenience on the account that pretty much everywhere in the United States accepts Visa cards today. Furthermore, I like my pockets as light and empty as possible; there are times when the three things I regularly have in my pocket at all times (cigarette case, cell phone, chapstick) feels like more crap than I want, but to go ahead and add in the accumulation of coin change and fattening wad of bills seems inconvenient to me. Not to mention that like on hot days, dollar bills get that damp sweaty feeling when in your pocket for too long, I don’t want to put that onto others.
But really, I use my card so often, because it’s simply more convenient and is a far more efficient way for me to regulate my spending habits, because when I have no cash on hand, I have no cash to frivolously throw away.
A long time ago there was an episode of The Simpsons where for whatever reason, Apu was living with the Simpson family after he had gotten fired from the Kwik-E-Mart. He tagged along with Marge on a grocery store trip, and corrected many of her in-store choices, based on the experience he had accumulated from years of working in a convenience store. But when they got to the registers, Marge instinctively went to the lane with just one woman in line, but Apu convinced her to go into the longer line because was solely occupied by single men buying small quantity and paying in cash.
In that instance it proved to be the quicker option, because it turned out that Crazy Cat Lady was paying for all her shit in coin, but from my personal experiences, I’m finding that the cash option is turning into a bigger pain in the ass than utilizing payment cards.
Too many times, I can think of instances of where I’ve been at a place of business, and I notice the people in front of me are slowing down every line and process because they’re making cash transactions. Nobody seems to have wallets anymore, and people spend an inordinate amount of time scrounging through pockets and purses for loose bills of random denominations; it’s like they weren’t expecting that a transaction meant that maybe they should have some form of currency prepared or anything. And then they present these messy wads of cash that cashiers have to unfurl and orderly put into registers before presenting change; and maybe it’s because society as a whole is getting dumber, but making cashiers have to do basic counting math doesn’t seem like such a great idea sometimes, much less time-efficient. Believe me, when you put together training manuals for grown adults that are essentially teaching grown adults how to do long division and multiplication, shit that is taught in the 3rd-4th grade, you know society is getting dumber.
I’m not deliberately trying to single out one particular race, but maybe it’s just because it’s where I live, but it really does seem like it’s 90% black people who are almost always paying in cash. I’m actually surprised these days when I see a black person whip out a Visa card and pay with that. But I am genuinely curious to why this is the case and almost stereotypical behavior.
Is it because cash is perceived to be untraceable, much like blackout window tinting and license plate covers? Because none of those really are. Is it because all these black people can’t get approved for credit cards, or can’t/won’t open any bank accounts? Or is this some kind of status thing, so that everyone can see the dollars, and know you got the cash moneys? Or is this some kind of meta trolling behavior, knowing that they’re slowing down the process and taking satisfaction that the world is being forced to apply the brakes for them to make their transaction? I really am curious.
Way more often than not, I’ll go to any place where transactions occur, and I’ll witness checkout lines being slowed down by those who pay with cash, and those that move a little more efficiently when people are paying on cards. The black Walmart always has these catastrophic lines, especially in the self-checkout lanes where people ring up 52 items and pay for their $128.77 total in ones and fives, fed into the machine one bill at a time, with the machine naturally spitting out anything deemed to wrinkly and/or too sweaty. In contrast to the not-black Walmart, where people are buying the same amounts of consumer crap, but the checkout lines are moving a little more efficiently due to the fact that the checkout process is reduced to a swipe of a card, and occasionally the entry of a PIN or signature on a pad.
Conclusively, I don’t do myself any favors in shaking the notion that everyone thinks I’m a sadistic racist, but whatever. I’m critical of those who pay in cash regardless of the color of the skin, because it turns out that cash transactions most definitely seem slower than ever these days, and I’m a creature of habit and like speed, convenience and efficiency. Not to say I’m against all cash transactions and will never do them myself, but in the end, I think that cash transactions are still fine and acceptable if it’s one, the only way, at a place that still only accepts just cash, and two, somewhat smaller transactions. But those who ill-preparedly go into gigantic transactions with no cash ready or organized, these people are the scum of my earth.
And all people, regardless of race, who insist on paying cash at self-checkouts for anything higher than $20 and tries to use as many ones and fives as they possibly can should be dragged out by their hair, propped against the wall, and shot in the head in front of their illegitimate children
