Loose Change

     I was walking through a parking lot with a non-ramper friend a couple of weeks ago and saw a shiny nickel on the ground. I naturally bent over to grab it and she exclaimed, "That money is filthy!" I responded, "Can't help it, it's the ramper in me." Rampers love loose change.

     Found money is exciting to most everyone; however, rampers get an inexplicable thrill at the sight of even a penny on the ground. With the exception of reaching blindly under the dark and terrifying vending machine, a ramper will pick up change that most people would not touch without long sleeves and gloves. I have a jar full of change, some of which is caked with debris I have not yet been able to identify. Who cares? It's found money and in the old days of Ramen noodles, these lost treasures often led to a meal. 

  

     In the old days, finding a few quarters was like winning the lottery as we were able to take our loot to the spinning vending machine (affectionately known as the "Wheel of Death") and get a bean burrito for a buck. Yet, now that we earn a decent wage, we still jump at the sound of metal hitting the floor. One ramper in particular comes to mind (rhymes with bump). She literally dives out of her chair in the break room when some poor unfortunate drops a coin while at the machine. This behavior became so notorious that another guy began to randomly drop a handful of pennies just to watch the action. Harmless scuffles ensued at times, all for the sake of a few cents.

     Admit it, on or off the ramp, you jump at any shiny object that just might be a coin. You wait for your flights by a tail cart and scour it carefully for something that might have dropped out of a bag. You only do a FOD walk in the hopes of finding something valuable; with extra focus on the areas where the belt loaders get pulled up to the plane. 

     This curious phenomenon is just another behavior that solidifies Rampers as separate class of society.