NI recently had a wonderful few days. Wonderful in terms of money—small change, to be precise. It was the week after the start of the carnival in Cologne, when I took a look around the city, to put it diplomatically. And my wallet was the day after – full of coins. And my jacket pockets – also full of coins.
I can’t say exactly what the coins are connected to, whether it was drinking Kölsch that made me a jack of all trades laying eggs and coins, or whether I had received a lot of small change somewhere; in FAZ manner one could say: The circumstances of my acquisition of various coins were unclear. I’m just pretty sure I didn’t acquire them wrongly! But anyway: I had them, and quite a lot of them.
And what should I say? It was wonderful to walk around with jingling coins! There is nothing bad or complicated about spending coins. No big investment, no big deal. In other words: You don’t break a note! It’s weird, but with a few coins in my pocket, I felt richer than ever.
Just a few coins!
For example, if I walked past my favorite café and happened to see that there was still a piece of my favorite cake left, the coins always sat very loosely in my pocket. If I really just wanted to quickly get a weekly newspaper at the kiosk next door, then the sweets (the ones for the mixed bags) laughed at me happily – just a few coins, they whispered to me. And I had coins!
In the editorial office, I preferred going to the café across the street to get a coffee to combat the afternoon slump. I finally had enough coins, yes, even enough that I could buy one for my favorite colleague. Whenever someone approached me and asked for change, I always had some, and I even sometimes gave a few coins to a colleague who insisted on using her note to pay for the said anti-afternoon low coffee in the said café threw it into the open purse, where they settled in, jingling.
I felt the last time I felt as a child, when my grandpa pounded on the table with his big fist, I was allowed to pull and tug at his fat fingers, which always opened up for me – and a nice, round, silver, fat one had a five-mark coin ready. Grandpa put it on the table and turned it over – and as soon as it fell over, I was allowed to put it away. I’ve never felt so rich as I do with this rich coin in my fist, which I was able to invest in mixed bags at the kiosk or put in the piggy bank from time to time. And that’s how I felt now, with my pockets full of jingling one- and two-euro bills, with which I probably couldn’t buy nearly as much sweets as I could with a five-mark piece back then.
I’m one too!
Cash has fallen into disrepute. Everywhere people are complaining that in backward Tschörmäny you still can’t pay by card everywhere, and anyway, what do the Germans think? The days of hiding the 300 marks you saved under your mattress are finally over once and for all. In Scandinavia, you can hear people murmuring, there isn’t even any cash anymore!
Only the stupid Germans somehow hold on to their coins. Because they don’t like change and with a few coins and bills in your pocket you always know exactly how much there is. And I can say after these post-carnival coin days: I’m one of those too! I like potatoes anyway, and I can hardly get more potatoes than loving coins.
Sure, the other side is somehow right. Even in Cologne-Sülz, after almost three years of the pandemic, in which everything was actually done contactless, there are still payment processes and cafes that do not accept card payments. If you don’t have money with you, you’re out of luck. Nothing there, hold out your cell phone, done.
It is clear that this is annoying. But why dam cash altogether? Why does everything have to be completely electronic, contactless and somehow impersonal? In any case, I remember the banknotes that relatives used to put in envelopes for me differently than later transfers (even if I could use the latter just as well). And I also ask myself how you can even give something to children or musicians or the homeless without any money in your pocket. It’s not just the feel and the feeling of having something – cash and small change also help you to give a little of it away.
So: pay with your mobile phone: fancy. Pay by card: practical. Having a few coins in your pocket: priceless.
