SO, SHOPPING AT THE FRESH MARKET TONIGHT, we were among the very few to buy groceries, because their computer network was down and they couldn’t process credit or debit cards. They couldn’t even accept checks because those are run through an ACH payment system rather than deposited in the old way. We, however, were able to pay and get out, something only a couple of other customers could do. (One older guy, and a couple of teenaged girls who said “we rock it old schoool with cash,” which I thought was hilarious.) Most people didn’t carry enough cash for groceries.

Two lessons: (1) The “cashless society” is less robust than cash; and (2) Always carry enough cash to buy groceries, a meal out, and a tank of gas. Just in case.

Flashback: Amy Langfield on the handiness of a stack of small bills in the New York blackout, when nobody could process credit cards. Though with inflation today, “small bills” probably includes twenties, and possibly fifties.