Piso

Ever been in a situation where you find out you’ve got absolutely no money on your person — and you’ve absolutely got to pay for something?

Happened to me this morning. After rushing off to the gym, late because my alarm hadn’t woken me up early enough, I went through the motions of a workout then showered and dressed for work. (I also had a teensy wardrobe malfunction which explains why I still look like I’m going to the gym, but that’s a story for another time.) When I got down to the basement parking area, which has a fee of 40 pesos, I realized that I hadn’t brought any money with me.

(I had bought lunch the previous day from my office building’s canteen, but they couldn’t give me change for my 500-peso bill. I told them I’d be back for it later — and then I proceeded to forget about it completely.)

So there I was inside my car, scrambling for any loose change I could find. I could only summon 20 pesos from my coin purse, so I decided to look for an ATM so I could withdraw money. It was just my luck that payday was yesterday and people were lined up for blocks behind each nearby ATM. (I exaggerate a bit, but it certainly seemed like that.)

I returned to my car and proceeded to ransack all the compartments again. By God’s grace, I stumbled onto 38 pesos worth of one-peso coins in the console box and only had to add two pesos from my coin purse to make the fee.

After that experience, I’m definitely never taking coins for granted. Not even the lowly piso.

Tags: Coins, Money, Small Change