I’d Rather You Literally Paid Me With A (UNUSED) Toothpick

I drive a taxi. I picked up an Italian-speaking man at one of the nicer hotels in Copenhagen. After he told me where he was going, he took out a crisp banknote and folded it until he could use it as a toothpick. He spent pretty much the entire trip cleaning his teeth.

When we got to his destination, he tried to use that same banknote as part payment for the ride. Using gestures and my rather broken Italian, I finally made him understand why I wouldn’t even touch that note.

I know full well that most of our bank notes are anything but clean, but this was just gross on a whole new level.