Short changed

Posted by: Letters to Editor in Uncategorised on May 06, 2009

When you buy something for €7 and hand over a €20 note you expect €13 change. Not, however, in Cannes during MIPTV. One brasserie-tabac this morning calculated my change as €3. Thankfully I only gave them a €20 and not a €100 note.

The lesson, I suppose, is to go to the till with the money and ask for a bill, hand it over while looking into the whites of the eyes of the recipient, not just wait outside and pay before getting a bill, both mistakes made this morning. Either that or carry very small bills and change or pay by carte bleue which you don't let out of your sight.

The policeman I spoke to about it afterwards said “if you don't have proof then don't bother me. Leave me alone”. Is this how the French deal with the credit crunch?

Brian Levine, by e-mail

Set as favourite

Bookmark

Trackback(0)

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (2)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

...
written by Doug , 15 May 2009

At lunch yesterday in Monaco, the bill total was 50.90. I had no change so handed over a 50 and a 20. The intonation in his voice as he took the money and said 'Thank you!' was quite worrying. After continuing to chat for quite some minutes with my luncheon partners, I called him over to ask for a copy the 'ticket'. He backtracked, apologised and brought the change - after another goodly wait.
Quite disappointing really as I'm a regular there, but never seen that waiter before.
Sadly, Brian's advice about looking in the whites of their eyes seems to be necessary.

...
written by Mike Meade , 15 May 2009

My advice would be to send a word to the "patron", especially if you are a regular. My experience is that I am treated especially well in places where I go often but I do keep an eye in new places. Seldom have a problem but perhaps my good French tells them that I'm not an easy pigeon.

None of any of this is any good at all for tourism in the area. On the other hand, is it endemic or exceptional? Dunno, as personally I've been pretty lucky for 30 years... so far.

One thing is sure. This sort of thing almost never happens in France outside of Paris and the Riviera Where it seems to be common. In the other regions I've had just the opposite treatment ? superb, in fact.