Given the “I’ll forget it ever happened for X/3 Euros”, I’d wonder if that really is a law – or at best someone’s deliberately twisted interpretation of it. I don’t lnow the status of your local law enforcement, but a trip to you local library and/or local police/prosecutor might be a cheaper way out of this quandary.
I’ve seen a lot of laws enforced that weren’t laws at all. In the 1970s, in my town in the Boston suburbs, the police somehow developed the firm belief that it was illegal to drive barefoot and delighted in ticketing the local teenagers tickets for it in the summer. I looked it up: there was no such law, but I was told (I don’t know if it’s true) that the DA (prosecutor) would threaten you with a “reckless operation” charge or somesuch if you challenged the ticket. Eventually, an out of town kid (free from the local mythology) got a ticket driving home from a nearby beach and after the judge threw the case out, our police stopped writing tickets for barefoot driving. (I’m told a few hardliners still harrassed teens with tickets for “reckless operation”, but those were dropped by the DA if challenged)
It happens in every place, in every time. Most people would rather not challenge it – and the more The Powers That Be think they might be wrong, the more they try to scare you out of a real action that might lead to an investigation. How many people, do you suppose, actually pay the full fine for not recording a car that drove on the premises, but wasn’t washed? I’d bet that everyone takes the “discount”.
Once you are known as someone who will quietly pay the bribe they can threaten to fine you for all sorts of nonexistent violations of their own invention.
Hm…perhaps. Though I’m not seeing how taking down car info at carwashes helps the government make money… (Not that I see much use for the police either.)
No, latin alphabet works just fine. The greek license plates only use the 14 letters that are common in both alphabets. (A,B,E,Z,H,I,K,M,N,O,P,T,Y,X)
It is a measure against tax evasion. Tax evasion is like a national sport and for good reason.
Let me explain how taxes work here. Suppose a typical car wash costs 15 euros. The sales tax is 19%, so the money I am actually pocketing is 15 / 1.19 = 12.61 euros.
But there is also a tax on revenue. It is 10% for sales and 25% for services. Since a car wash is a service, 25% of the 12.61 euros is deducted. So the real money in my pocket is 9.46 euros, the rest is taxes. But if I do not issue a receipt, the whole 15 euros goes to my pocket!
This frigging book is supposed to force us issue receipts for every car washed. In reality it is just a source of fines.
What our overlords can’t understand is that if taxes weren’t so ridiculusly high then people might actually pay them. :rolleyes:
I dont think you answered the question about recording these things in a notebook, one page at a time, and sending that paper to the girl in the office.
Or what about just keeping the entire log book down where the cars are. Waterproof paper is not expensive, if that’s the issue.
I’m sure there’s something I’m missing, but the solutions here all seem way too complex for the problem.
Perhaps, like a few others here, I’m missing something, but why can’t you get a big whiteboard with dry erase markers, and write the plate #s on that, nice and big, so that the officegirl can see them? You could even write several plate #s on it at a time, so that the girl wouldn’t necessarily have to be there constantly. Seems easier and more robust than a puter–just a big whiteboard on an easel or somesuch.
Perhaps an instant messaging service (like AIM) on a cell phone? I don’t know if they charge per message, but the person could IM the office girl with all of the plate numbers.
Thanks everyone! The system is up and running. I installed a wireless access point on the network’s switch and a wireless PCMCIA card on the laptop.
Mangetout, sorry but neither of those programs worked well for me
Trilogy was too security-oriented and required several steps to commence the communication. Easycomm was easier to use but works only with computers that have the same IP class, so if I wanted to make it work I would have to redesign my whole network.
Eventually I found PopMessenger which has no problem with IP classes (I’ve set it to multicast) and has IRC style chat.
Are you ever going to explain why the simple solutions would not work for your situation? Or are you just going to leave us hanging? Are complex wireless networks common at most carwashes in Greece?
If your laptop is running Windows NT or 2000 or XP, there’s a built-in messenger service and client that works fine over a LAN. I think you can just do:
NET SEND <remote computer IP address or name> “Message”
And it will pop up a message on the other computer.
-The cars have to be recorded on the book ASAP. So, taking pics with a camera or writing the cars on a piece of paper and then transfering those numbers on the book at the end of the day is out of the question.
-Keeping the book near the car wash: The problem is that you don’t have to just record the car license plates, but also entry and exit date, services received, receipt number and amount of money paid.
-Taking pages out of the book and keeping them near the car wash: DOH! Remember, this book is notarized by the tax authority. You have to treat it with respect like a Bible else you get fined.
-The whiteboard has to be quite big because the distance between the car wash and the office is about 50 yards. And it won’t be visible from inside the office so the gal will still have to go out.
Here is an inexpensive, durable, keyboard+lcd that functions exactly as you requested. I’ve seen them in use and they do work as advertised. Let me know if you’d like any more info.
Just as another side note, even some much older and probably inexpensive DB software (say MSaccess97) could be used to make a simple graphical interface database with a few checkboxes/pulldowns for common services and boxes for entering lic plates. Time and date stamping would be automatic and could easily dump each transaction to a receipt printer across the network. A few simple background calculations could also help by creating some reporting tools that might simplify your bookkeeping.
