Nice encounter and realization! It is true that crypto has provided us with so much anonymity and freedom to spend funds without anyone's authority over us. I have some little experiences as well, like, I had problems while transacting in past when the payments server probably got bugged and my payment to the shop owner very late and I had to send him again. Even when using cash, there are so many problems, condition of notes, keeping them safe, the trouble of counting them etc are so much, crypto has made it all easier to make transactions and make predictions on estimated payment arrivals.