A quarter (and some sense) short

[bhskittykatt]

Guest got pissed at me because I couldn't exchange his Canadian quarter for an American one.

SC: "Can you exchange this for me? I'm a quarter short."
Me: "I'm sorry, I can't take Canadian currency."
SC: "Why not?"
Me: "Our bank doesn't take it, and I can't give it to a guest, so I have no way of using that quarter."
SC: "That's ridiculous! I'm just a quarter short! What am I going to do?"
Me: "I can see if I have an extra quarter lying around."

As I'm looking for a quarter in our spare change, the guest keeps saying "It's just a quarter! I just want a quarter because I'm one short! Why can't you take it? You're making money off of swapping it out!"

I did not find a spare quarter.

Me: "I'm sorry, but I don't have a spare quarter, and I can't change that out with one in the till."
SC: "Then what do I do about the machine?"
Me: "Wait, did the vending machine you that quarter?"
SC: "No, I want to buy something, and I'm a quarter short! What can I do now?"

Um, go find an American quarter? Sorry, but no foreign currency means no foreign currency, not even a quarter!

Bonus: We're sold out!

SC: "How much is a room for tonight?"
Me: "I'm sorry, I'm out of rooms tonight."
SC: "Well, that's just great. Come on, kids, we gots to go find a real place to stay..."

SC: "Do you have any rooms tonight?"
Me: "Sorry, I'm sold out."
SC: "WONDERFUL! What on Earth is going on this weekend?"
Me: "Graduations."
SC: "....College is overrated!"

SC: "Do you have any availability tonight?"
Me: "Sorry, I don't. [Competitor] just called a few minutes ago and said they had three rooms left, though."
SC: "But their prices are probably inflated, huh."
Me: "Well, it's $XXX. They're the only place I know of that has rooms tonight, though."
SC: "That's too much. You can't do better?"
Me: "Sorry, but I have nothing left tonight."
Me: "..."
SC: "..."
Me: "..."
SC: "I'll go check [sh*thole up the street]."
Me: "I haven't heard from them. Good luck!"
SC: *click*

[Kisa]

I think the quarter guy is one of my customers. I gave him $.32 change and, without words, he held out the nickle. "It's canadian. Give me a new one now." A nickle is a lot of money you know!

[MoonCat]

Me: "Well, it's $XXX. They're the only place I know of that has rooms tonight, though."
SC: "That's too much. You can't do better?"

Wait, did they actually expect you to give them a better price in some other hotel??

[XCashier]

SC: "That's too much. You can't do better?"
Me: "Sorry, but I have nothing left tonight."
Me: "..."
SC: "..."
Me: "..."

It's funny when they give you the silent treatment, thinking that staring at you stony-faced (or dead silence on the phone) will get them the answer they want. What are they expecting? "GAH! I can't stand this silence any longer! You win! I'll kick someone else out and give you their room for $10!" Uh huh.

[EricKei]

Me: "Sorry, but I have nothing left tonight."
Me: "..."
SC: "..."
Me: "..."

SC: "... Are you suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuur e?"
Me: "Wellllll...Okay, you've cracked the SEKRIT KODE. We can let you stay out back in the stable with the other asses."

[Hanzoku]

Sorry, I've been in Europe for quite a while... but Canadian currency has never passed the USD, has it? So you'd have been losing money to swap a US quarter for a Canadian quarter.

[EricKei]

Hanzoku- Nope ^_^ And, even if it had, US banks will not accept foreign coin anyway. They will *convert* it in large enough quantities...for a large fee.

If a US business accepts foreign money, they have, in effect, given away merchandise/service for free.

[Ironclad Alibi]

SC: "... Are you suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuur e?"
Me: "Wellllll...Okay, you've cracked the SEKRIT KODE. We can let you stay out back in the stable with the other asses."

So that's how they came to stay in the stable?

[chikenlady]

The Canadian dollar as actually worth more than the USD at the end of Dec '10, beginning of July and if I am not mistaken the same sometime last summer ( Could be wrong on the summer thing tho)

[chikenlady]

Sorry, that should be beginning of January

[Mytical]

Sold Out..

Wait..what? I .. don't understand. They were trying to haggle with you over a different hotels prices? Huh?

[bhskittykatt]

Hanzoku- Nope ^_^ And, even if it had, US banks will not accept foreign coin anyway. They will *convert* it in large enough quantities...for a large fee.

If a US business accepts foreign money, they have, in effect, given away merchandise/service for free.

Exactly. Even though it's "worth" more, we can't actually do anything with it. I can't take the quarter to the bank, I can't give it out as change, and I don't have anyone willing to buy it back from the till, so I'd basically be giving the guy a free quarter.

The guy also tried to argue that Canadian businesses accepted American coin, so I should take his quarter. While it's been several years since I've been to Canada, the last time I used American currency up there they only accepted bills, so I'm calling BS.

Wait..what? I .. don't understand. They were trying to haggle with you over a different hotels prices? Huh?

That is the impression I was getting. He didn't like their price. He wanted me to either (1) magically lower their price (2) magically know where some vacancy in town was cheaper or (3) magically pull a cheaper room at my own location out of my ass. Sorry. Even the sh*tholes up the street had jacked their rates way up into triple digits (if they even had any vacancies).

[Jetfire]

Yeah, the Loonie has been around Par with the Greenback for the past 5 years or so, and above par for a good chunk of that. As I write this, 1$ USD is 97cents CAD.

As for change, in border communities most places will take small coinage (up to quarters) at par without a second glance, but away from the borders, it shouldn't be expected. And pennies are pennies as far as anyone is concerned (banks included up here). I've also used US coins in Canadian vending machines too without problems.

Once you're beyond the border though, expect to use local currency only.

[Arcus]

I hate it when people try to use Canadian quarters in my machines. They jam up every time (The coin accepters have magnets in them to catch Canadian quarters.) I end up pulling them out and throwing them in a jar. Once a year I take them in to the bank in our airport and trade all my foreign coins for US money (got to love having an International airport near.) It never makes up the amount I lost from the jams though.

[Sleepwalker]

Living in Maine, anything canadian under a dollar was accepted by everyone except the larger banks and the more modern vending machines. Here in Texas, I have to fish even the pennies out of the cash drop.