My wife went out this morning and one of the stores she went to refused to take her penny. The bill was $27.31 and she paid in cash and with exact change. The clerk got nasty with her and pointed to a sign she hadn’t seen. It stated that the store will not give out nor receive pennies in change due to the government policies of not producing them. That's a new one on us as numerous places that round but will accept and give out cents when they have them.
So did they take her $27.30, or did they try to make her pay $27.35? Or, to put it another way, did they want to retain her business, or did they want to pocket an extra four cents (0.15%)?
As long as they didn't try to give her specific directions on where to put it, I guess. Seriously, why would a merchant get nasty if someone offered a single cent as part of a payment? I guess there are some people who are just determined to be cranky.
