When cash was king

Last week the Bank of Canada released brand new $20 polymer bank notes to much fanfare. The bills sport a fancy design and pay respect to our war veterans depicting the Vimy Memorial in France on the back. The front depicts a picture of the Queen. The colour remains the same as the older $20 notes -- green.

 The bank notes are touted as being nearly impossible to counterfeit. On Friday night I got one from a bank machine. It immediately ended up in my 14-year-old daughter's wallet. She called it her allowance, I called it 'money for nothing' but that's a topic for another blog.

The $20 note is the third one to be upgraded, the first being the $100 note released last November followed by the $50 note released in March.

On Sunday my wife Heather dragged me out to Justice, a new kids' clothing store, to spend a few of these new bank notes. We had Christmas gifts to buy for my niece and she apparently loves Justice.

The store was buzzing with activity. Kids and parents were everywhere shopping for the brightly coloured clothes. It wreaked of 1985. I saw styles hanging on the racks that would have made Madonna, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Cindy Lauper proud.

Heather and I got in line and waited. Twenty minutes later we were greeted by the young teen cashier. After asking us for our phone number and postal code she said, "Will you be paying for this by credit or debit?"

"Cash," Heather replied pulling out some of Canada's fancy new money. The girl looked confused.

"I can't take cash at this register, you'll have to wait for that register," she said pointing to her right.

"You've got to be kidding me. What business doesn't accept cash?" Heather said.

"I'm sorry, I can't take cash at this register," she replied.

Stunned we went to line No. 2. When we finally got to the other cashier she too asked us for our phone number and postal code.

"I'm not giving you that information," Heather said.

The teenager didn't know what to do. Apparently Heather was the first person she'd dealt with who refused to give up her personal information. These days we're so accustomed to answering those questions it seems unusual if a cashier doesn't ask them.

"This store has a lot to learn about customer service," Heather said.

"I apologize for the long wait," the girl said. She had no idea the wait was only part of the reason we were unhappy.

It was amazing how quickly our purchase was completed by not having to plug in so much personal information into Justice's computer system. The girl took our money and put it into her register, just like in the olden days, you remember those back in the 1980s?

I know money is used less and less these days as debit and credit cards have taken over. But being refused service for wanting to use cash caught me off guard. That was our first trip into Justice and given our experience it will probably be our last.

Wrong time for Christmas cheer

Given my enjoyment of everything Halloween, Nov. 1 is  a seasonal let down for me. It never slowly winds down over the course of a week like Christmas does. No, Halloween comes to an abrupt end and we're all forced to put our scary decorations away.

I always view Nov. 1 through 11 as a time of Remembrance. Giving one day to Remembrance on Nov. 11 doesn't cut it for me. Our war veterans and all those who died for Canada deserve better than a day. Eleven days of talking to my kids about our veterans, their sacrifices and everything we take for granted in our country is my way of remembering. It also helps my kids understand the importance of Remembrance.

When I hear Christmas music playing in stores prior to Remembrance Day I get annoyed. Halloween merchandise, in many cases, will still be on the shelves while Christmas songs clog up my air space. I hate that. In my mind no festive holiday music should be played in stores or on the radio until after Nov. 11.

Until this week I figured I was alone in my thoughts about this annoying music. But apparently there are more like-minded individuals out there who share my dislike of Christmas music being played so soon after Halloween. Shoppers Drug Mart has nixed the fa-la-la-la-la-las and pa-rum-pum-pum-pums until later in the month after getting feedback from customers on their Facebook page. Good on them.

There's lots of time after Nov. 11 to inundate the airwaves and our shopping malls with Christmas tunes. Personally I'd prefer not to hear anything festive until Dec. 1 but I'm a bit of a grinch.

Here's hoping other retailers follow suit and turn off the holiday cheer until mid-November.

For my own selfish reasons Nov. 1 to 11 should be a more sombre time, a time of reflection, a time of Remembrance, a time of thanks.