by Laura Conaway

Starbucks
John Jordan

Cash or charge, please.

John Jordan writes:

I work in a state capital bureau of a major newspaper. One of the things I do is try to keep my colleagues all coffee-ed up, and sometimes I buy a pound of coffee for the bureau from the Starbuck's downstairs, using the petty cash checkbook. Just now I went downstairs to get some, and they pointed at this sign (attached) and asked me if there was another form of payment I could offer.

I asked the barrista why (I know those nice folks there pretty well), and he said, "Most of the checks we've been getting here lately have been bouncing, and I guess it's happening everywhere else, too."