A Puzzle
Who wins in this transaction? Me? The woman? Neither of us?
Me: What sort of gum do you have.
Her: Just the ones on the counter. Peppermint, spearmint, cinnamon…
Me: Cinnamon! Who buys cinnamon?
Her: Lot’s of people. People who like the zing but don’t like the coolness of mint buy it.
Me: I don’t know, that sounds dodgy to me.
Her: That’s nothing, the distributor was pushing liquorice the other week.
Me: Liquorice gum?
Her: It’s pitch black. Looks like tar.
Me: I think I’ll just stick with peppermint.
Her: That’s 50 cents.
Me: I’ve only got a 50 dollar note or a 100 dollar note. Is that cool?
Her: I suppose. It’s almost closing time anyway. I’ll just have to go to the bank for more change in the morning.
Me: Thanks, sorry to be a pain.
Her: I’ll take the lower of the two.
Me: Of course
Her: And here is your exact change.
Me: Hang on, I think I’ve got a bunch of change in my bag.
Her: That would be better…
Me: Man, I’ve got 50 bucks here in coins!
Her: I only need 50 cents.
Me: Ok, well if you give me my fifty bucks back I’ll give you the 50 cents.
Her: Here is the fifty…
Me: Hang on, why don’t I give you the change back plus all my loose change and you give me a hundred dollar note. Then you have some spare change.
Her: I’m not sure that adds up…
Me: Oh yeah, you’re right. That only adds up to $99.50.
Her: And…
Me: …and I need to pay for the gum too so here is another dollar. $100 in change for the $100 note plus 50 cents for the gum.
Her: Let me count that up again.
Me: Sure. It’s exactly hundred plus 50 cents.
Her: All adds up. Here’s your $100.
Me: You can’t be too careful.
That’s not how currency exchange works!
And you just made $49. Sweet.
Her: And here is your exact change.
HER: +.50
YOU: - .50 (owed a gum)
Me: Ok, well if you give me my fifty bucks back I’ll give you the 50 cents.
Her: Here is the fifty…
HER: -$49.50 ($50 - the 50c you already paid)
YOU: + $49.50 (Her $50 - the 50c you already paid)
Now you give her $100.50 in change and she gives you a $100 bill (essentially, you give her 50c)
HER: - $49
YOU: + $49 (The $49.50 you already scammed, - a second 50c for the gum)
So, she is out $49 even though you paid for the gum twice.
But did you even GET the gum???
So
You’ve made a cool $49.50 from that swift transaction. Not bad for 3 minutes work.
man, nice take on the shortchange scam, tho the way u showed makes it more obvious to the shopkeeper that they’ve been scammed than the origional. then again it has a larger reward.