Change

As a boy he had seen a movie about a pickpocket, which left the impression that the world was filled with nimble-fingered sharks circling his left rear pocket. When he started carrying a wallet as a teenager, he decided to carry his wallet in his left front pocket, as he found it more comfortable to retrieve his wallet with his left hand. Accepting change from a cashier, he found, involved a more complex sequence of manual dexterity than he thought should be necessary -- he would accept coins and bills in his left (catching) hand, and insert the bills into his wallet with his pointer finger and thumb while clutching the coins with his other three fingers. Bills inserted, he would then put his wallet into his right front pocket while still clutching his coins awkwardly, sometimes dropping them. Wallet properly disposed, he would then bring his left arm across his body, and insert the coins into his right front pocket, the same pocket where he carried his keys. Change finally stored away, he would then retrieve his keys, sometimes dropping coins in the process.