Story Sent in by Ronald:
Katrina and I went out to dinner together for a date, and she offered to pay for her part of the meal. I thanked her, but told her that I'd cover it. She offered to leave the tip, and I took her up on that. What she left, though, were three one-euro coins. As we were in Santa Rosa, California, I said, "I don't think the waitress will appreciate that."
"Why not?" Katrina asked, "It's money."
"It's euros. Do you have any singles you can leave?"
"No."
I asked, "But you just offered to pay for your half of the meal."
Katrina said, "I know, and I have enough euros to cover it." She opened her wallet and fanned out a small stack of euro banknotes.
I said, "Why don't you take those coins back? I'll leave the tip."
Katrina scooped them back into her change purse and muttered, "It's money. The waitress can just go exchange them for U.S. bills."
"Won't they charge her an exchange rate fee or something?"
Katrina said, "Then she can hang onto them until she goes overseas! Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is."
I left a few American bills for the tip, but when I stood up to go, Katrina took them and left two euro coins down on the table.
I said, "Put those bills back."
Katrina said, "It's the same thing. A euro's worth more then a dollar bill."
"Put the bills back, or I'm going to consider it that you're stealing from me."
Katrina groaned, took her euro coins back, and slammed the bills back on the table. "Happy?" she asked, then shouldered past me. I hurried after her, and once we were outside together she bade me a hasty, "Good night," gave me a halfhearted hug, and we split.
Every time I read stories like this, it makes me feel bad for servers who have to deal with asshats like Katrina. Good on the OP for calling her out for being a cheapskate (or an asshole, really).
ReplyDeleteWhat a bee-och. You handled it well, OP!
ReplyDeleteI suspect she was a money launderer or counterfeiter. Otherwise it wouldn't have been a big deal for Katrina to exchange the money herself, and it would explain why she was so insistent on trying to hand the money out to someone like a waitress who wouldn't be able to track her down very easily.
ReplyDeleteCounterfeiter with coins?
ReplyDeleteI am from Europe and I can confirm - we call them euro coins.
ReplyDeleteJust curious...is she from overseas? Wondering if maybe she doesn't understand the US currency system.
ReplyDeleteShe clearly understood the US currency system as she flippantly said the waitress could exchange the Euros for American dollars. She also said the Euro was worth more than the dollar which means she at least has passingly knowledge of exchange rates. If she had no idea how currency differs from country to country, she would have no knowledge of exchange rates.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm pretty sure everyone who travels is aware that every country has its own currency and you can't use something like a Euro in the United States. She was just an asshole, not an ignorant stranger in a strange land.
I figured as much but was just curious if there was a possibility I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteShe also probably knew that you can't exchange foreign coins in the US (they will only take paper currency), so that was her way of getting rid of the euro coins.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure you’re right about that. I know that I’ve successfully exchanged Canadian $1 coins in the US (the bank refused smaller Canadian coins), so I’d assume that banks would also take €1 coins. But I don’t think I’ve ever actually tried to do that.
DeleteLike the nice poster above me said, she knew she couldn't exchange them, so why not leave them for some poor unsuspecting waitstaff? The fact that she was that inconsiderate and the fact she tried to take the money from the table that OP left just reaffirms that. Best the thing OP did was get away from her as soon as possible.
ReplyDeleteThe poor waitress. You just know she would see those Euros and think "I knew I should have spit in that bitch's food."
ReplyDeleteI love the flippant "...when she goes overseas."
ReplyDeleteSo many waitstaff like to summer in the Mediterranean, dontchyano.
I never knew you cannot exchange euro coins in the US, what if she was alone and only had them?
ReplyDelete