Guess how he got paid (again)

[Deserted]

A friend of mine (another cabbie) just called me. He picked up a guy that had just been thrown out of a local casino. The guy was out of money, so I assume gambling addiction. My friend went ahead and drove the guy home, and the guy said that he wanted my friend to drive him out to another city so the guy could sell off some silver and then he would pay my friend.

Well, my friend said no. The meter was closing in on $30 at that point, and he figured he'd wasted enough of his day on this idiot. The guy insisted on paying my friend with something...



...1 troy ounce of silver. While somewhat valuable (a bit over US$20 right now), not exactly something my friend can pay bills with. Still, better than nothing.

(In case you're wondering about the "again" in the title, see this previous thread I posted some time back.)

[bainsidhe]

And let me guess, drivers only find out the customer doesn't have any funds after picking them up and driving to their destination.

[Monterey Jack]

The farther any potential fare asks a cabbie to drive them, the more said cabbie should insist on seeing some form of payment before setting off.

[katzklaw]

to be fair, he did at least insist on offering SOME payment, and didn't just stiff the driver on arrival. so yay? maybe?

[Mikkel]

to be fair, he did at least insist on offering SOME payment, and didn't just stiff the driver on arrival. so yay? maybe?

With $30 on the meter and paying something worth 20, the driver was still stiffed in my book. If the customer had paid two troy ounces, it would have covered the fare and a tip.
Still, it's fun to have, like when Americans tip me with dollar bills. I won't get much out of it in a bank, fees and all, but at least I have some nice portraits of Washington and Lincoln .

[Deserted]

And let me guess, drivers only find out the customer doesn't have any funds after picking them up and driving to their destination.

In general, yes.

The farther any potential fare asks a cabbie to drive them, the more said cabbie should insist on seeing some form of payment before setting off.

If I have a cash/credit call for more than about 10 miles, it's cash up front. I'm not getting stiffed on a $100 ride.

to be fair, he did at least insist on offering SOME payment, and didn't just stiff the driver on arrival. so yay? maybe?

Yay, definitely. I've been in similar situations where I did get stiffed after a fairly long trip, and it sucks.

With $30 on the meter and paying something worth 20, the driver was still stiffed in my book. If the customer had paid two troy ounces, it would have covered the fare and a tip.

My friend knows nothing about precious metal valuation, so he couldn't really say "That's not enough." He called me after the fact and I looked it up for him. (Of course, he was expecting to get nothing for this trip, so I guess this was the better option.)

Still, it's fun to have, like when Americans tip me with dollar bills. I won't get much out of it in a bank, fees and all, but at least I have some nice portraits of Washington and Lincoln .

I don't know how things work there in Viking land but you might (might) be able to deposit those at your bank at that day's trading value. Bankers like Ghel might give actual advice, if you ask nicely.

I have some foreign bills here that I intend to trade in for "real" money One Of These Days[TM]. My bank will be my first stop.

[Ghel]

Since we're a small bank, we don't deal in foreign currency. We would need to collect a LOT of it before we would be able to send it in to be exchanged for US currency. Then there's the postage, etc.

But other banks probably have different policies. It wouldn't hurt to ask your own bank.