Money!

I had an interesting conversation with a girl at the bus stop this morning. She starts off by asking me if the bus goes to Foggy Bottom. (that bus does not) I suggest other ways for her to get there. Then she asks if the bus takes metro cards. I assume that she means the SmarTrip cards, which are hard plastic and work like those speedpass things at the gas station. But I was wrong, and she pulled a crumpled up metro ticket from her pocket. I tell her no, the bus doesn't take paper metro tickets. She looks like she may cry, and asks me, "how can I pay?" Momentarily distracted by the oddity of the question, it takes me a second, and then I say, "well, they take money." "Money!" she replies, relieved, and runs off to find an ATM.

My bus came before she got back. I hope she realized I meant exact change. The bus will take your $20, sure, but you won't be getting $18.75 back.