What a story! It reminded me of when I was living in pre-Euro Italy.

There was a change shortage, not enough coins to go around. The grocery store clerks couldn’t make change. They solved the problem by tossing in the candy equivalent of the change owed. Fair enough. I like candy.

One day at the grocery, instead of candy a clerk handed me a plastic disk with “50” written on in in pen. “What’s this?” I asked

“50 Lira,” she said.

“This isn’t 50 Lira. It’s a piece of plastic with 50 written on it.”

“It’s OK,” she assured me. “You can use it next time.”

Back at the store a few days later, I faced another clerk and tried to redeem my “50 Lira.” “This isn’t 50 Lira!” he said, looking shocked and offended. “This is a piece of plastic with 50 written on it.” (hashtag StupidAmericans)

Ah, Italy …