Let me give you my card

I've done things the old-fashioned way for the last few days- with cash.

I'm changing banks, and so am getting paper paychecks for the first time in several years.  I've had to cash them, which has led to some odd moments of confusion and... not nostalgia, but awareness of how much things have changed in a fairly short time.  It used to be that every transaction was in cash, and people knew how to make change.  Now, well, it confuses people.

And then I went to get gas.  "Pay first" is no big deal with a card.  But with cash, I had to do what we all used to do: go inside and give them money.  I gave them $40 and said I was going to top it off (my tank wasn't empty... The amount we spend has changed too, of course.)  When I went back inside after pumping less than $30 worth, they seemed confused about how to handle the return.

I had to wait in line at the bank to make a deposit, something else I haven't done in a long time.  (I don't have deposit slips yet, so I skipped the drive-through.)  Handing someone large amounts of cash?  Actually waiting?  Foreign experiences anymore.

I'm not complaining, just observing.  I still pay cash for small expenses, but have moved as much as possible to debit cards and online banking for anything more than a few dollars.  It's just weird how much change there has been in a few years.