And they most probably aren’t exchanging fairly. And there’s no particular reason to expect they will. Even if they were an exchange booth, where their job is precisely to handle foreign currencies, the exchange wouldn’t be “fair” either. For instance they would “buy” your dollar for say 0.80 €, but would sell it back to you for 0.90 €. And it won’t be different for the shop owner who accepted your dollars when he’ll want to exchange them. Besides the inconvenience of having to handle two currencies, if for instance he wants some small bills to give you your change, he’ll have to pay more for them than what the bank will give him for the dollars he received.
If you want a fair exchange in a foreign country, hit an ATM which will give you the local currency for a minimal fee. If you want to switch the inconvenience of handling/exchanging foreign currency to someone else, you bet you’re going to pay for it…
Dutch ancestors, clairobscur? 
A lot of the stores where there are a high number of Americans present will also have a sign up saying “today’s exchange rate at —” usually rounded for convenience. Yes, you may be getting a slightly poor rate, but it usually isn’t bad and for small ticket items it will only make a difference of a dollar or two. But, they tell you in advance what to expect.
Think of it this way, stores do business in Cdn currency, but as a convenience, they will convert your USD to Cdn first so you can also engage business. They are under no obligation to do business in USD just because they provided the courtesy of conversion.
I agree
Why? Why do you lock your doors? Because it keeps the “nice” people out. Burglers don’t pay attention.
Now that you know how most big dept stores work, are you encouraged to be an asshole the next time you want to return an item when you’ve lost the receipt?
[/QUOTE]
…so the moral of the story is that Canadian low-level management is as empty-headed as American low-level management.
That’s kinda depressing. 
Never took off? Most places I go, they don’t even believe that the Sackie is real American money.
That analogy would only work if you caved in and opened up every time a burglar pounded on the door and pitched a fit because it’s locked.
A better analogy would be giving a two year old a cookie every time they threw themselves on the ground and pitched a screaming hissy. Then had the audacity to say “well, it’s the easiest way to get her to stop, but she shouldn’t do it.”
Yeah, that’ll learn her. :rolleyes:
[/QUOTE]
Lezlers has already pointed out the lack of logic in your first statement, but I’m still confused about the second. I already know how dept stores work, as well as most corporate retail stores and 90% of restaurants. If you scream loud enough, you’ll get your way. Everyone fears the Call To Corporate so badly that they’ll do practically anything to prevent it, regardless of the fairness or logic of the customer’s complaints. I’ve worked retail, I’ve worked for a lot of corporate restaurants, and I bartend currently; I’m sure your wife and I have a lot of similar war stories to share.
If you’re trying to say that of course I won’t be encouraged to be an asshole, because that’s not how most people think, or some weird thing…guessing here…just because I won’t do it doesn’t mean tons of other people won’t do it, and my point stands that every time an asshole gets his way, their actions are justified and they’ll do it again. If businesses would just stand behind their policies and their employees, all of this bullshit could be prevented.
That’s my point. I’m still trying to figure out yours.
[/QUOTE]
Huh? Ok, locks are policies. Burglers are asshole customers. If I follow your analogy. SO When a burgler comes to your door and is confronted with a lock he doesn’t like you should…unlock it?
I must be missing something here.
If the way department stores work is to cave to assholes on matters like returning things with out receipts, and if I where an asshole, I would be very encouraged.
I MUST be missing something here.
It’s even worse now. I work virtually next door to LAX, which has foreign exchange desks galore. But the catch is, they’re all behind the security gates, and they won’t let you past those unless you’re actually travelling.
A couple of years ago, I was in downtown Los Angeles trying to exchange some Mexican money that I had, and successively failed to do so at the downtown branch of my bank, and a couple of large hotels, where the people at the bank had suggested I go. (The hotel people refused because I wasn’t a guest). Fortunately the amount of money was very small, but still. Apparently the rule to follow is this: if you’re an American going abroad, convert all your money back to dollars before you return home, unless you can afford to lose that money.
Understood. However, if a customer requests USDs in change and you have them on hand, what’s the harm in giving it? The vendor still makes a small profit because he’s rounded the exchange rate in his favor. And the fewer USDs he has to exchange, the less he’ll be assessed in service fees from the bank for converting USDs to CAD at the end of the day. No?
This doesn’t negate the fact that the customer was being argumentative and rude. However, I think the store policy should be elastic enough that if a customer wants USD in change, and there are USD’s available, then the cashier should be given the discretion to allow it. The policy would still be posted as, “Change will be given in CAD.” so that people don’t accuse you of going against policy, but if it’s no skin off your back, why wouldn’t you?
Two problems (at least, maybe more).
-
This customer would have pitched an even greater hissy fit if the guy ahead of her in the lineup had gotten change in US funds, and then she hadn’t because there wasn’t enough in the till. The policy prevents that.
-
I believe standard procedure is to pitch all US paper bills into a single spot (probably under the drawer) in the till, unsorted till the end of the day. There just aren’t enough drawers to have two sorted sets of currency. And US coins will only be accepted at par, not at the posted exchange rate, since most banks won’t change foreign coins. So they just get dumped into the standard slots and treated like Cdn coins. These two facts would make giving change in US funds a significant logistical problem, since it would hold up the line while the cashier fishes around for the right bits of change. In an airport diner, where people are frequently in a rush to get to their flight, this would not be conducive to providing the service customers desire. If you’re in a quiet gift shop near the border, feel free to attempt to negotiate change in US funds. You’ll likely get it, if the requisite change is available. But a fast food joint with customers lined up is a whole different story.
It’s simply easier for the businesses in question to operate with a policy of only giving change in Cdn funds. Aside from a few fuckwits like the OP’s customer, the policy is entirely adequate, and doing more would impose a significant burden on the business. So it would either have to shave even more points off the exchange rate in order to make it worthwhile (probably to the point where they’d just say US$1=Cdn$1), or it would have to increase prices across the board. So, you want change in Cdn funds, or do you want to pay more for your burger?