Following up to gatsby

    >Go to the Adriatic Riviera or any of the Spanish Costas some summer
    >and see how the Northern Europeans dress, talk and order around their
    >southern neighbors.

the people you are thinking of are not to be emulated and are
ridiculed in thier own countries too.
--
Mike Reid
"Art is the lie that reveals the truth" P.Picasso
Fellwalking, photos, London & the Thames path "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk"
Spain, food and walking "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" (see web for email)

On Wed, 28 May 2003 19:30:04 GMT, [email protected] (Miguel Cruz) wrote:

    >Sjoerd wrote:
    >> It is much simpler than that. Change (small coins) costs money. (the banks
    >> charge ( a fee for every x coins) the businesses for coins). So the bosses
    >> of the stores tell their staff to encourage customers to pay in exact
    >> change.
    >Interesting. I would have guessed that the store could maintain its own
    >reserve of coins.

Unlikely, as you note people prefer to pay with notes...

    > Or they could gather one by purchasing coins from
    >customers at face value (you know, all the people who accumulate big jars
    >full of coins in their house and have to argue with the bank to get them
    >cashed in).

Many places in the UK purchase them at a discount in this manner (the
sorting and counting machine takes a cut)

Jim.

Miguel Cruz wrote:
    >
    > Marc wrote:
    > > Your post is interesting because the French speakers in your story seem to
    > > have an expectation that one should present exact change. I have never
    > > heard of such an expectation.
    >
    > In the Netherlands the supermarket cashiers would rather wait 5 minutes for
    > some old biddy to count out exact change than to spend 5 seconds making
    > change themselves.
    >
    > There must be some deep-seated national psychology behind this but I've been
    > unable to figure it out. Obviously someone with a change drawer can make
    > change for any amount in a matter of seconds unless they are severely
    > developmentally impaired. Someone fishing through pockets and a coin purse,
    > on the other hand, will by necessity take much longer unless they are buying
    > a small number of items and had a chance to work out the total and dig up
    > the change while waiting in the queue.

I've noticed that even when the cash drawer is overflowing with coins,
cashiers here in Italy still ask me if I can give them the exact change.

In the US, most cashiers have the change ready before you can open your
purse and get annoyed if you start counting coins.

Barbara

Arwel Parry wrote:

    > I get the impression from years of reading rec.collecting.coins that
    > this business of accumulating big jars of coins is an American thing,
    > since their notes go down to such small values they don't normally seem
    > to use coins very much and just put them to one side when they get home
    > in the evening. For my part, I took £3.36 in coins out of my trouser
    > pocket when I got home tonight, and they'll go back there tomorrow, to
    > be used when I buy something. OK, sometimes I'll break several £5 and
    > £10 notes in a row and end up with 10 or 12 £1 coins in my pocket, but
    > they all get spent before long.

It's usually only pennies ($0.01) that Americans save in big jars.

I have two daughters. One used to empty her pockets every day and swept
the change in her desk drawer. The other used to go to the bank
periodically to get coin wrappers so she could clear out her sister's
desk drawer. Even when the first heard how profitable this was, she kept
sweeping her change into the drawer.

Barbara

Miguel Cruz wrote:
    >
    > Marie Lewis wrote:
    > > Miguel Cruz writes
    > >> In the Netherlands the supermarket cashiers would rather wait 5 minutes
    > >> for some old biddy to count out exact change than to spend 5 seconds
    > >> making change themselves.
    > >
    > > Now, Miguel, is this not a racist, sexist remark? :-)
    >
    > Some of my best friends are old biddies! Honest!

I hope you're not referring to me.

Barbara

Hi,

but it's just because they've already added in the 15-20% sales tax as
opposed to adding on the 4% you have in your state.

    > In Europe I find that I collect less change than when home in the US. I think
    > this is because most states in the US have this ridicules practice of adding on
    > the state sales tax to the purchase price. So that $1 item now costs $1.04 (in
    > my state anyway). In most of Europe what one sees on the sticker is what one
    > pays.
    > Doug Burke
    >


--
"I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted,
and I won't be layed a hand on.
I don't do these things to other people,
and I require the same from them"
J.B. Books (John Wayne)

    > I learned much more about her than I think she would care to have known.

Don't you dare tell !!!

"Sjoerd" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "Marc" schreef in bericht
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > There have been several less dramatic occasions when English speakers
    > spoke
    > > near me in the obvious believe that they could not be understood by
those
    > > around them.
    > A bit naive for an English speaker to believe that nobody can understand
    > them. Perhaps in a village in NE China that would be a safe bet, but not
in
    > Krakow.
I agree, but perhaps it was less a matter of naivete than lack of awareness.
It is so easy to slip into a lack of awareness. If every one you hear is
speaking another language you may simply "feel" that you won't be overheard.
If you thought about it for a moment you would realize that of course there
are many people near you who understand English.
I once ate lunch in a restaurant I was alone in a booth. A thin curtain
about 8 inches high separated the booth on my right from mine. Two woman
were in that booth were completely unaware of my presence. Even though my
head was much closer to the head of one of the women than her friend's head.
I learned much more about here than I think she would care to have known.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." Samuel Johnson
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other
countries because you were born in it."
George Bernard Shaw

Marc

Marc
"The Reid" wrote in message
news[email protected]...
    > Following up to Marc
    > > It was very
    > >crowded. Then I heard in very clear English, in what I suspect was a
    > >british accent, a shockingly anti-semetic comment. such a comment would
    > >never be uttered in polite scociety in America.
    > Or in Britain, (I imagine, not knowing what was said)

Perhaps I was unnessecarily vaque. It was not a vicious comment nor did he
use some unpleasent ant-semetic term for Jews. I don't remember specificly
what the topic was. It was more along the lines of, "Thery all ... . Thats
how they get control of so much ... "
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." Samuel Johnson
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other
countries because you were born in it."
George Bernard Shaw

Barbara Vaughan wrote:
    > Miguel Cruz wrote:
    >> Marie Lewis wrote:
    >>> Miguel Cruz writes
    >>>> In the Netherlands the supermarket cashiers would rather wait 5 minutes
    >>>> for some old biddy to count out exact change than to spend 5 seconds
    >>>> making change themselves.
    >>> Now, Miguel, is this not a racist, sexist remark? :-)
    >>
    >> Some of my best friends are old biddies! Honest!
    > I hope you're not referring to me.

That all depends on your change-counting behavior.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Latest photos: Maldives, Dubai and Vietnam

On Wed, 28 May 2003 23:27:14 +0100, Arwel Parry
wrote:


    >I get the impression from years of reading rec.collecting.coins that
    >this business of accumulating big jars of coins is an American thing,
    >since their notes go down to such small values they don't normally seem
    >to use coins very much and just put them to one side when they get home
    >in the evening.

It was very common many years ago in UK to collect sixpences (2.5p in
today's money) in jars. The Dimple Haig bottles were particularly
suitable to this as the coins just fitted into the neck. People
saw it as a form of saving and there was increased excitement as the
bottle gradually filled and accumulated in value.

On Thu, 29 May 2003 13:49:56 +0200, Barbara Vaughan
wrote:


    >In the US, most cashiers have the change ready before you can open your
    >purse and get annoyed if you start counting coins.

I found that many tills in US had automatic change attachments that
dispensed the coins down a chute to a cup at the bottom. I don't
know if it is still practised but I particularly liked the custom
where people would leave their odd pennies in a dish and if your
purchase included some odd pennies, you could pick them from the
dish. In that way you only carried manageable change.

Derek

In article , Barbara Vaughan
writes
    >In the US, most cashiers have the change ready before you can open your
    >purse and get annoyed if you start counting coins.
Well, tough!
--
Marie Lewis

In article ,
Derek McBryde wrote:

    > On Thu, 29 May 2003 13:49:56 +0200, Barbara Vaughan
    > wrote:
    >
    >
    > >
    > >In the US, most cashiers have the change ready before you can open your
    > >purse and get annoyed if you start counting coins.
    > >
    >
    > I found that many tills in US had automatic change attachments that
    > dispensed the coins down a chute to a cup at the bottom. I don't
    > know if it is still practised but I particularly liked the custom
    > where people would leave their odd pennies in a dish and if your
    > purchase included some odd pennies,

Yes it sure is, advertiser have given these "take a penny, need penny"
plates to retailers in fact.

jay
Thu, May 29, 2003
mailto:[email protected]


you could pick them from the
    > dish. In that way you only carried manageable change.
    >
    > Derek

--

Legend insists that as he finished his abject...
Galileo muttered under his breath: "Nevertheless, it does move."

Derek McBryde wrote:
    > It was very common many years ago in UK to collect sixpences (2.5p in
    > today's money) in jars. The Dimple Haig bottles were particularly
    > suitable to this as the coins just fitted into the neck. People
    > saw it as a form of saving and there was increased excitement as the
    > bottle gradually filled and accumulated in value.

Exactly what sort of excitement are we talking about here? Spontaneous
outbursts of song? An uncontrollable urge to dance? Celebratory AK-47 fire?

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Latest photos: Maldives, Dubai and Vietnam