Type A is wayyy more common than B or AB, at least in the US (and I think Europe?). Not sure about other regions. That could distort the effect, which looks to be fairly minor in the first place.
> Bombing this meeting in particular seems to be in especially bad taste during a pandemic.
For what it's worth, it likely wasn't targeted. My understanding is that the search space is so short that you can just cycle through it until you find something.
> It seemed to me that credit cards were supposed to be fast and convenient, but if you're choreographed for cash, it ain't so.
This is very apparent in (many parts of) Europe. Cash is so much faster there than in America, for a few reasons. The primary cause, I think, is the fact that the prices are generally round numbers, with tax included. This means that you can, in most cases, pay with a small number of coins or bills. In the USA you'd be wrestling with pennies.