Is this Idiocracy? Or is it just me?
Is this Idiocracy? Or is it just me?
I was at Pencil Supermarket just now and bought some things that resulted in a total of $20.30. I give the girl cashier a $20 bill and a 2,000 Riel note. I had my headphones on and was sort of in La La Land with my music before I realize that I've been standing there for 30 seconds without getting my change back. I looked at her and she was apparently explaining something to me so I ask her to repeat it.
"Sorry cannot take this 20," she says handing it back to me.
I look it up and down, front and back -- no problems. "What's wrong with it?"
"It's too old."
I look at it more closely. I see Jack Lew's signature on it and I know he was confirmed as Treasury Secretary in 2013. I know not to waste energy explaining the nuances of the American financial bureaucracy but I point out that it's not wrinkled or anything, was just folded down the center a bit maybe. "It looks fine to me. I know for a fact it's less than 3 years old."
"You have another?"
I only have a $10 and a $5 on me and say with a sly smile, nope sorry, thinking that she will have to accept the bill. Well she didn't, she just stood there with that embarrassed look on her face like she didn't know what else to say to me in English. So I asked to speak to a manager.
"Is it company policy not to accept 'old' bills? I could understand if it was ripped or torn or written on but I don't see any reason not to accept this bill," I said to the manager.
She looks at the bill. "Yes it's too old. You have new one?"
I had walked to the store and was sweating bullets by this point so I'm getting kinda aggravated. No, I explained again. So my choices were to either put something back, or go to the ATM. My goods were such that they were sandwich parts (bread, cold cuts, condiments, etc) so I couldn't really put one back without screwing up one of the components of my sandwich. So I march off to the ATM, which is not the Cambodian bank I use so I have to use my USA debit card which is going to cost me $5 for a foreign transaction fee today, and another $5 once Chase Manhattan realizes that it's a non-Chase ATM. So I'm out an extra $10 because of this which is half what the shit I was buying was worth.
I decide to just take out $500 maximum, might as well as the $5 penalty applies regardless of quantity of $ taken out. And of course the ATM gives me 5 $100 bills. So I go to pay with one of the $100 bills and the cashier has the balls/temerity/audacity (I was considering getting a dictionary to root out fresh superlatives of outrage) to ask me "You not have smaller?"
I wanted to ask if she was mentally retarded, but instead I just stood there with my mouth slightly agape and asked for the $100 back. "Why yes, yes I do. I have smaller bills at my house by the Old Market. Let me just walk back there now and I'll come back later to pay," I told her flashing all of my teeth in a huge smile as I decided that it was better to cut my losses then and there. Just can't win.
"Sorry cannot take this 20," she says handing it back to me.
I look it up and down, front and back -- no problems. "What's wrong with it?"
"It's too old."
I look at it more closely. I see Jack Lew's signature on it and I know he was confirmed as Treasury Secretary in 2013. I know not to waste energy explaining the nuances of the American financial bureaucracy but I point out that it's not wrinkled or anything, was just folded down the center a bit maybe. "It looks fine to me. I know for a fact it's less than 3 years old."
"You have another?"
I only have a $10 and a $5 on me and say with a sly smile, nope sorry, thinking that she will have to accept the bill. Well she didn't, she just stood there with that embarrassed look on her face like she didn't know what else to say to me in English. So I asked to speak to a manager.
"Is it company policy not to accept 'old' bills? I could understand if it was ripped or torn or written on but I don't see any reason not to accept this bill," I said to the manager.
She looks at the bill. "Yes it's too old. You have new one?"
I had walked to the store and was sweating bullets by this point so I'm getting kinda aggravated. No, I explained again. So my choices were to either put something back, or go to the ATM. My goods were such that they were sandwich parts (bread, cold cuts, condiments, etc) so I couldn't really put one back without screwing up one of the components of my sandwich. So I march off to the ATM, which is not the Cambodian bank I use so I have to use my USA debit card which is going to cost me $5 for a foreign transaction fee today, and another $5 once Chase Manhattan realizes that it's a non-Chase ATM. So I'm out an extra $10 because of this which is half what the shit I was buying was worth.
I decide to just take out $500 maximum, might as well as the $5 penalty applies regardless of quantity of $ taken out. And of course the ATM gives me 5 $100 bills. So I go to pay with one of the $100 bills and the cashier has the balls/temerity/audacity (I was considering getting a dictionary to root out fresh superlatives of outrage) to ask me "You not have smaller?"
I wanted to ask if she was mentally retarded, but instead I just stood there with my mouth slightly agape and asked for the $100 back. "Why yes, yes I do. I have smaller bills at my house by the Old Market. Let me just walk back there now and I'll come back later to pay," I told her flashing all of my teeth in a huge smile as I decided that it was better to cut my losses then and there. Just can't win.
Cantankerous Curmudgeon
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"Sure, here's a 20 dollar bill with a fold down the middle."Pecahead wrote:
"You not have smaller?"
Just checked a few banknotes, each USD bill seems to have a "series + year" printed on it. Series 2009, Series 2013 etc. I guess it could just be that ridiculous face thing though perhaps? They have to "stand their ground" rather than admit they erred? Dunno..
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Welcome to Fucktardia
Where even the Emperor doesn't have a fucking clue
Where even the Emperor doesn't have a fucking clue
Suggestion: don't bring your first world problems to Cambodia.Pecahead wrote: My goods were such that they were sandwich parts (bread, cold cuts, condiments, etc) so I couldn't really put one back without screwing up one of the components of my sandwich
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Good God Man, do you not have a woman to make sandwiches for you ???Pecahead wrote: My goods were such that they were sandwich parts (bread, cold cuts, condiments, etc) so I couldn't really put one back without screwing up one of the components of my sandwich
"We, the sons of John Company, have arrived"
I tried that too. Gave my ex-Khmer gf $20 and asked her to come back with some food. She came back with a $20 pair of shoes for herself.Playboy wrote:Good God Man, do you not have a woman to make sandwiches for you ???Pecahead wrote: My goods were such that they were sandwich parts (bread, cold cuts, condiments, etc) so I couldn't really put one back without screwing up one of the components of my sandwich
Cantankerous Curmudgeon
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This is what happens when you try to build islands of modern society in the midst of backwardness. The rest of society (education, social organization, infrastructure, culture) doesn't support it and you end up with someone who grew up on a farm without electricity or running water and wasn't conditioned to do basic math behind a digital cash register with UPC scanner.
Well rounded development is required to make everything work but since it's not profitable to build public schools and extend electricity to farm houses don't expect it. Hilarity and/or insanity ensues.
Well rounded development is required to make everything work but since it's not profitable to build public schools and extend electricity to farm houses don't expect it. Hilarity and/or insanity ensues.
I've got a kinda good one from this morning in one of those 7/11 type stores.
Wanted some tissues because I was sweating and about to go for interviews. Asked the assistant for tissues . Took me to an aisle where they had the big packs of square tissue you see in every cafe dispenser and the 'Handy Andy' style tissue packs for the man with a trouser pocket. They were both packaged up in bulk 10 pack bags. They would split the larger tissues, but not the handy handy ones. Didn't buy anything because I didn't want to lug around a plastic bag full of 10 packets of tissues to my meetings, and i didn't want to stuff one of the large square packs into my trouser pocket and create a Larry David incident.
As I've said before; when the 7/11 style stores function normally, it will be a good indication Cambodia has come of age.
Wanted some tissues because I was sweating and about to go for interviews. Asked the assistant for tissues . Took me to an aisle where they had the big packs of square tissue you see in every cafe dispenser and the 'Handy Andy' style tissue packs for the man with a trouser pocket. They were both packaged up in bulk 10 pack bags. They would split the larger tissues, but not the handy handy ones. Didn't buy anything because I didn't want to lug around a plastic bag full of 10 packets of tissues to my meetings, and i didn't want to stuff one of the large square packs into my trouser pocket and create a Larry David incident.
As I've said before; when the 7/11 style stores function normally, it will be a good indication Cambodia has come of age.
K440 : Lucky cheese for the gentry; poultry and death for the peasants.
"Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad."
"Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad."
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Of course you're right Spinter...the yanks should come in and level the place and take over and start agian and show the rest of the rest of world how to live properly...Pretty sure it's been tried before ...'It became necessary to destroy the town to save it', a United States major said today". We all know how that panned out don't we...air stone wrote:This is what happens when you try to build islands of modern society in the midst of backwardness. The rest of society (education, social organization, infrastructure, culture) doesn't support it and you end up with someone who grew up on a farm without electricity or running water and wasn't conditioned to do basic math behind a digital cash register with UPC scanner.
Well rounded development is required to make everything work but since it's not profitable to build public schools and extend electricity to farm houses don't expect it. Hilarity and/or insanity ensues.
Don't mention the Giant Panda in the room.
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Once in the States, I was dealing with my bank there trying to do a simple transfer of some money over from Singapore, and getting the run around. They just didn't know what they were doing when it came to international banking. I got different stories from different staff, one telling me x was possible, the next saying x was definitely not possible, I had to do y, etc. Finally they admitted t being stumped and said that I needed to contact their 'International Department' in New York, which I did. After several phone calls and getting a similar run around, they told me that their international department didn't have a set procedure for working with an overseas bank in this way because they could only deal with banks in the US. I was a loss.
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I can't decide who's right here until I see a photo of the $20 bill. Was it a fold or a crease? Sometimes a crease is like a tear waiting to happen.
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Or one of those amazing fridges that magically keeps itself topped up?Playboy wrote:Good God Man, do you not have a woman to make sandwiches for you ???Pecahead wrote: My goods were such that they were sandwich parts (bread, cold cuts, condiments, etc) so I couldn't really put one back without screwing up one of the components of my sandwich