Proof that blogging is pointless.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Quick Change Artist


I dragged my sack of corroded coins to the local Safeway and, despite the voice of reason telling me that I would break the Coinstar machine with my dirty money, spent about twenty minutes pushing coins through a metal slot. Coinstar is not picky. Aside from rejecting a few objects that didn't even look like pennies to me, it took everything but a euro and two Canadian coins. And my grand total? After taking its 8.9% cut, I walked away with 351 dollars! Just for throwing loose change in a jar for a few years. After a receipt prints, you have to proceed to customer service to actually get your cash. I just wanted the clerk to smile politely and maybe throw in a reassuring "there you go!" or "nice work saving coins!" Instead, they tossed out "I think this is a new record...you were at that machine for a long time." Ugh. I wonder if they noticed me pulling out the rejected coins and trying them over and over until I had milked every last acceptable coin? Or clenching my fists in victory every time I passed another hundred dollar mark? I'm sure they did.

I obviously don't have a photo of myself at the Coinstar machine (although I could probably obtain one from the Safeway security camera), so I'm decorating this blog entry with a terrible piece of abstract art. My own terrible piece of abstract art. I'm not an abstract artist, but I'm leading a children's art group tomorrow and am teaching them color theory and abstract art (I didn't think eight-year olds would be interested in painting watercolor miniatures). I wanted to create a painting that was both abstract and used primary colors. This piece is called "Mourners." Did I mention that it is terrible? Did I also mention that it is for sale? Ten dollars. I take change.

2 comments:

  1. I love your day to day events, Todd. It is almost as fun as speaking to you. I look forward to the next entry.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Todd,
    Please know that Coinstar does not have their machines in Safeway stores (as of 4/21/10). Safeway has their own machines called "CoinMaster". The same way that people use Kleenex brand to describe tissue paper is the same way that people use Coinstar to speak about coin counting. Regardless where you go in the future; keep on cashing in those coins:)

    You can skip the fee if you use Coinstar machine. If you choose to place the value of your money onto a gift card or eCertificate you will not have to pay the processing fee. Check out Coinstar.com for more details!

    Have a great day,
    Sam Jaross

    ReplyDelete