legal tender

[asakiyume]

This conversation played out just moments ago at the local supermarket. Nathan, the cashier at the checkout next to the one I was being rung through in, calls out, "Hey Mancuso, what's our policy on foreign coins?"

"That's a quarter," says Mancuso, from further down the checkout row.

"It's a Canadian quarter," says Nathan.

No answer from Mancuso, so Nathan collars Chris, who is walking by.

"Chris, what do we do about Canadian currency?" Chris passes the buck to Doreen, who is my cashier. (Doreen is the first employee who does not look to be a high school student. She's maybe in her late twenties.)

"Doreen, do we accept Canadian coins? We do, right?" Chris asks. Doreen shrugs. "I always do," she says.

Nathan, still looking doubtful, accepts the quarter.

So there you have it! Canadian currency is good to go in our local supermarket.

Probably just coins, though.

Comments

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

That might explain how I ended up with a Croatian coin.

Also, did you see that link I posted in one of your previous entries?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I was just working my way over to saying--but I'll say here instead--that I haven't yet seen your entry. That is, I saw that you posted (and just now another entry, right?) But I haven't yet visited to read.

I don't have the knack of just skimming, so it sometimes takes me [always takes me] time to get to reading your entries. But I'll get there in the end!

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

I actually linked to an entry from last month. I think you were away when I posted it.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Ah--okay; I'll check that first.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

It's amazing how many times Canadian coins are tendered without anyone actually noticing. Your cashiers are observant.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I just know that on the local toll road there are signs saying that Canadian currency is discounted by I-forget-what-percent. I always live in terror of accidentally handing over a Canadian coin... though it seems like it would be more trouble than it's worth to figure out how much additional money I'd owe, in that case.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

I would say probably just coins.

When I lived in Albion, Michigan, just a jump from the Canadian border, I was startled that if would take a two-weeks-in-advance special order to get Canadian currency. US currency was available allatime from Ottawa to St. Catherines.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's strange!

[ckd]

I once got a Canadian penny in change when buying lunch at my then-employer's cafeteria.

That's not the noteworthy part, though...the noteworthy thing is that the coin didn't have Queen Elizabeth on it. It was so old it had George VI on it! (When the UK went to decimal currency in 1971, that got rid of most of the old coins there...but Canada had decimalized long before that.)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Oooh cool! I hope you saved it.

The oldest penny I ever saw, my daughter got at Dunkin Donuts. It was from 1918.


NINETEEN EIGHTEEN.

[ckd]

I saved it...somewhere. I have no idea where it is now, unfortunately.

1918 is seriously amazing.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Cool! Wheat Pennies, Bicentennial Quarters, quarters with the Charter Oak on it (because oak tree) are all slightly magical. Never came up with a working that involves them, because you can't really look for them, or count on them, which is the source of the magic. Unplanned, little things; that's what they are for. Then spend them and pass them on...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

you can't really look for them, or count on them, which is the source of the magic.

Yes! Yes exactly.

Specially marked, and appearing and disappearing unexpectedly.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

My part of the world sometimes runs into weird coin problems. A whole bunch of foreign coins -- Mexican, Chilean and Thai, just to name a few -- are pretty much exactly the size, shape and colour of the €2 coin. The Brazilian 5 centavo coin is incredibly similar to the 5 euro-cent coin, and the American one-cent coin with ol' Lincoln on it looks a bit like the 2 euro-cent coin from a distance. Meanwhile the Bulgarian one lev coin bears a confusing resemblance to the €1 coin.

It's our own fault, I guess. It's like we all joined the common currency and immediately decided that it needed to be the blandest, most generic money in existence.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

LOL your last remark. "Now that we're unified, we must design something with absolutely no idiosyncratic character or uniqueness whatsoever."

That said, I can remember the first time I saw a euro--I thought it was pretty neat. Aren't some of the coins two-toned?

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

The two-euro coins are a goldish center with a silverish rim. Each country has its own design for one side, and they often issue special commemorative coins. For example, Spain has had coins that depict the Alhambra and Don Quixote.

When I lived in Wisconsin, stores accepted Canadian coins at face value.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

When I lived in Wisconsin, stores accepted Canadian coins at face value.

I like this. The blurring of a boundary, the tacit goodwill.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much exactly the design philosophy for the euro notes. They all have abstract architectural designs on them in historical order. I take it we couldn't agree on any real buildings or people. It's not terribly exciting, but at least they look like science fiction money from the distant future of year 2000.

Like mount_oregano says, the coins all have national designs on the obverse, though, which is kind of nice since they circulate interchangeably and you eventually build up a little international collection of them.

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Some shops here in England have weirdnesses about Scottish notes even though they're legal tender!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

And some people in this country look askance at two-dollar bills and dollar coins, which are legal tender but so rarely seen that people have their doubts.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I'm impressed that you know everyone's names! I guess the other thing I've learned is that, if in doubt, ask Doreen...

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Nathan I remember because he used to be in religious ed classes with my younger son when they were both small. Mancuso stuck in my head because Nathan hollered it out and it was Italian. Doreen was wearing a name tag... and Chris I made up because I don't actually remember the name of the guy Nathan talked to at that point... But that's why I locked this entry: using real names!

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

That's interesting since I've been told at a currency exchange office that they don't accept coins, only bills.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing it's easier to keep bills/notes out of circulation. Coins are like little mini hot potatoes--I think everyone accepts them with the idea of getting rid of them as soon as possible.

[inspirethoughts.livejournal.com]

Really? I thought they dont. But again I have seen quite a few Indian and Canadian coins being dropped at the unmanned toll gate if the size of the coin is similar to American Quarter. :)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

That's what surprised me about the conversation. Technically--legally--you're not supposed to use the currency of another country (not in the United States, anyway; different countries have different rules). But clearly practice doesn't follow the rule!