February 20, 2015

I had just finished dinner with my family at a restaurant and there was an uncomfortable silence in the air. I stood up halfway from my chair while still staring down at the white tablecloth. I fumbled around with the stack of cash that I had slid up my sleeve of my hoodie- six 1000 NT bills. Everyone at the table glanced up at me.

“Should I… pay for this one?” I asked hesitantly. I got up from the round table without waiting for a response and walked towards the reception desk. The meal turned out to total around 5300 NT. I took out my wallet, trying to find my credit card to pay when someone asked why I was using my card instead of cash. “I- I don’t have that much cash on me” I stammered. The real reason was because I realized how ridiculous it would have looked to pull out a such a precise amount of money from my sleeve.