by Sara Baughman (Coralville, IA)EVERY MORNING, I stop in to Mimi’s or Jake’s for a croissant and cappuccino. When I pay, I hold out my hand expecting the change to be placed in my open palm…and each time, they set the Euro coins and bills on the counter or in a change tray. After eight days in Cagli, I still haven’t acclimated to this cultural difference. Plus, I tend to knock loose coins around on the counter before I get a firm grasp and safely place the change in my coin purse. I’m pretty sure Jake may even find a few of my extra slippery Euros in the pen holder he keeps near the cash register – sometimes they just get away from you.
I’ve asked around about the change trays, and the reasons I’ve heard for avoiding placing the change directly into the patrons hand vary:
1. It’s just a more refined way of exchanging money.
2. Germs – this way they don’t have to actually touch your hand
3. They’ve probably done it that way for a long time and just do it out of tradition.
4. When they paid for things in Lira, making change resulted in more bills/coins, and it was hard to manage that much in a person’s hand. The tray lets the patron pick up the money at their leisure.
Since I couldn’t reach any kind of consensus, I turned to the trusty Google machine. While the germs response was most prominent, it seems like one of those cultural trends that simply can’t be pinned down to one reason. Regardless, I’ve heard both positive and negative responses to this new way of exchanging money. For me, the verdict is still out, but I’m hoping to stop instinctively holding out my hand before my final day here in Italy! Who knew exchanging money would be one of the hardest challenges I’ve faced while acclimating to a new culture.
