They land with a loud, dull clank in the change tray of the ticket vending machine. If you’re like me, your first thought as you scoop them out is, how do I get rid of them?
They’re the $1 coin. The unpopular, unloved and underutilized member of the coin family.
You’ll get them mostly from vending machines of one sort or another. And when you do, it becomes a monetary version of the old hot potato game. Who can I give them to next? Or, where’s another vending machine that will accept them?
It was time to make my move. Recognize the opportunity. Seize the day. All that fortune cookie stuff.
The maker of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and a zillion other products we all know, eat, or use, put Facebook and Google on notice. Clean up the garbage on your platforms, or we might yank some of the billions of dollars we spend buying online ads.
(When last we left the members of the Organization of Smartphone Exporting Companies, or OSPEC, Professor Frequent Upgrade was trying desperately to convey to the world’s smartphone ministers the grave threat Warren Buffett presented to their business. But the mere sight of a butterfly had terrified them.)
I was busy watching the clock when Muldoon poked his head in.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Watching the clock. Come on in.”
He walked into my office waving two tickets.
“College hoops, at the Garden. We might be able to make tip-off,” he said. “What time you got?”