Percolating Before Calculating

I go to a coffee shop on the way to work. On this day, there’s one guy behind the counter when there are usually three people, which may explain what happened next. I usually pay by card, but every so often I pay by cash because I don’t have any change for the tip. Today I also want to break a £10 note because I need £5 for a thing at work.

I order my latte, the barista tells me it’s £4.20, I hand over the £10 note, and he gives me back a handful of coins and starts making my coffee. 

I freeze. My coffee-deprived and bad-with-confrontation brain tries to process what just happened. I am very aware that what I’m going to say next sounds like a scam that’s appeared on Not Always Right many times.

Me: “I, um, I gave you a ten.”

Barista: “Oh, did you?

Thankfully, I’m not accused of pulling a scam. He just goes back to the register, opens it, confirms the £10 is there, and… hands it back to me. I have even MORE trouble processing what’s just happened.

Me: “You … you gave me the ten back. I… just need a five.”

He looks at the ten. It’s definitely the same ten; a Royal Bank of Scotland note folded in four with Mary Somerville staring out of the visible portion.

Barista: “Oh, right.”

He takes it from me again, gives me £5, and I thank him and finally drop the coins, which I was still holding in my other hand in case this somehow got even MORE complicated and they needed to be counted, into the tip jar.

I guess I wasn’t the only one who needed coffee.