Over the past several months I have come to the conclusion that teenagers have a lack of regard for money -- especially when it comes to what we know as "small change" meaning cents, nickels, dimes and quarters.

I've been in parking lots when teenagers exit their cars and small change falls out of their pockets and onto the parking lot and they don't seem to care -- and seem to be oblivious to it -- even though it made enough sound for me to hear it.

I've gone through drive-thru windows for fast food restaurants when teenagers short changed me a dime or a few cents or even a quarter. And when I called this to their attention I was given a response like "you want the change?"

My girlfriend over the weekend bought her 17 year old son a new bedroom set. On Sunday I helped her move out his old furniture and behind and under his bed there was about a dollar's worth of change covered with dust bunnies because it had been there for so long. As I picked up the change and gave it to my girlfriend I commented about how many times her son asked for a couple of dollars to make a "run" to the Wendy's or McDonald's nearby.

And on my girlfriend's clothes dryer and washer there is more change that came from the teenager's pockets.

Don't the kids know that when you have a quarter here and a quarter there and throw in a few dimes and nickels and cents that it makes a dollar? And when you add up a dollar here and a dollar there -- you can have some real money?

I also told my girlfriend that I love when her son has his pals over on a Saturday night. Because when I walk her dog Sunday morning there is loose change all over the sidewalk and driveway and on the road in front of her home. What do they do -- intentionally throw it to the ground? Yes, the streets of this part of America are paved with money.