Coin of the Realm

I rode to the Guildford bike shop yesterday to get a new bike bell and had an, um, interesting discussion with the shop’s owner.  For a start, they didn’t do card transactions under $10 so it was buy two bells or it had to be cash, which I hadn’t thought to bring.  I figured, well, they’re small and easily damaged so a spare is a good idea anyway.

However.  There's a mask mandate in place here in Perth right now.

This shop is distinctive for being the only business I’ve encountered where masks were not being worn by owner/owner’s friend,  though the friend did go out the back while we transacted.  It’s illegal not to accept coin of the realm, apparently.  When I explained that I was out of the habit of carrying cash as some businesses had stopped accepting it.  I got a bit of a lecture on this subject!

I did find myself a bit edgy about this, though I had not done anything wrong by forgetting cash.  Wasn’t expecting bells to be quite that cheap;  I guess.   I'm not so used to face to face confrontation these days and I hate it anyway.

But the conflict between which law the shop owner thinks vital is staying with me.   The one about accepting coin is ancient;  the one about masks so new the paint hasn’t dried.  I was considering how our understanding of laws has changed in the last two years.  Previous to pandemic a law was something that had always been there, from the perspective of most people. 

By these old laws;  you don’t enter someone’s home without their permission.  You don’t take something that is not yours or drive without a licence.  Suddenly, though, we must wear masks when interacting with one another and that is outraging freedom, according to folks like this guy, though I have no idea whether he only flouts the new law in his own premises.  Which is a public place, being a shop.

Anyway, he’s definitely selective about which laws he follows.  He was most strident about it being illegal not to accept cash while at the same time not wearing a mask.  He said one company (forget who) is being taken to court for refusing cash during one of the more panicked periods [my words] but he didn’t expect me to be able to say I transcribed the Federal Court and by inference, had not encountered this case.  It probably is true, considering the huge backlog in the courts but still.  Contradictory.