the hundred dollah lady.

"That's a hundred fitty dollahs, deah."

I raise an eyebrow and look at the cashier. For $150, it better be a great cup of coffee. But then I look at the cash register display and see that it says $1.50, which, while still a little much for a small cup of joe, is more in my price range. Ha ha, it's a joke, I get it. I hand her two singles and hear, "Out of two hundred dollahs, here's fitty dollahs back. You have a good day now."

I thank her and walk over to the sugar and cream station behind her. I hear her ring up the person behind me, telling him "That's five hundred, sixty-foh dollahs, deah." I begin to wonder if she does this all the time.

We've moved to the new building, and we've got a cafeteria on the bottom floor where we can buy coffee and snack and lunch. I'm talking to a guy who used to work here before with another company, and he says, "I'm glad to see that the gay sandwich guy and the hundred dollar lady are still here."

"The hundred dollar lady? She does that all the time?"

"Oh yeah. It's her thing."

"It never gets old?"

"Not to her."

The whole scenario reminds me of a Monty Python sketch, where a clerk in a mattress shop multiplies everything by ten and a different clerk multiples everything by three, so customers are constantly having to do division, all the while keeping up with which clerk uses which multiplier. But that was just silly sketch comedy - what is this woman doing? Is there some British woman in a cafeteria somewhere who inspired the mattress sketch by pretending to charge one hundred pounds for a scone?

I suppose it's an amusing enough joke the first time, but this woman has been here for a while. What's more, the people she checks out are mostly the same day in and day out. So the joke is rarely new to anyone. Does she just live for the times when someone does a double-take, or has it become so ingrained that she actually thinks in those terms?

It's silly, I think, and then I think again, what's wrong with that? This woman works as a cashier in the cafeteria of an office building. Her job is not very exciting, and yet she's always in a pleasant, chatty mood. So if a little silliness helps her get through the day, then that's just fine with me. You know, we could all use a little more silliness in our lives, which is exactly why I've taken to doing the twist in the elevator. Just kidding.

Maybe.