Thursday, September 23, 2010
Villa Maria
I forgot to mention that I am leaving for Villa Maria this afternoon! Marina (one of my roommates) lives there and invited me to come and visit in her home town! I am all packed, and we should be leaving in about an hour. It´s usually a 2 hour bus ride, but her good friend is taking us by car... so that means only an hour! I hear Villa Maria is simply gorgeous, so I´m ready to explore it!
Funny things
So I've noticed the past few months that if you don't have exact change, two things will happen. I'm talking about 5 centavos or 10 centavos short at the grocery store or any store for that matter. I've come to notice that if you are short some change.. it doesn't really matter. Let me give you an example.
Today I bought a bag of milk and it came to 5.55 but I only had 5.50 on me. They take the 5.50 and everything is fine, they don't care about a measly 5 centavos. However, if you buy something that comes to .85 and you only have 1.00 they might not give you back the change, instead they'll hand you a small piece of candy. That's happened to me before, and it confused the heck out of me. First off, why did this woman give me candy.. and second off, she's not going to give me the change? It was finally explained to me today, that the small change isn't worth it here and they won't make a stink over it. Because, after all what is 5 centavos worth? Less than a penny I believe? Can you imagine applying this concept to the states? It would never happen. If you are short a penny, they will sit there and stare at you. Ahh.. like the time I wanted to buy helium balloons a few years ago at a QFC. That experience really boiled my blood. I had about $40 dollars on me and I walked into a QFC to buy a bouquet of balloons. When they were ready, I went with them to the check out lane, and it came to about $40.10 (I guess I didn't include all taxes). Anyway, I didn't have the exact change, so the woman CUT one of the balloons out of the bouquet! How absurdly brainless and irrelevant is that? I don't think would happen here :)
I was told that there was a t.v. show here that portrays the real happenings in Argentina. One show featured a man going into the store with a large bag full of little candies. He asked for a pack of ciggarettes (I think, or it could be something else) and said he was going to pay with the bag of candy. The woman was confused and said "Sir, you can't buy anything with candy." And he replied.."Well these are all the candies you've given me over the year instead of giving me my change. So infact, I have the right to buy the ciggarettes."
Today I bought a bag of milk and it came to 5.55 but I only had 5.50 on me. They take the 5.50 and everything is fine, they don't care about a measly 5 centavos. However, if you buy something that comes to .85 and you only have 1.00 they might not give you back the change, instead they'll hand you a small piece of candy. That's happened to me before, and it confused the heck out of me. First off, why did this woman give me candy.. and second off, she's not going to give me the change? It was finally explained to me today, that the small change isn't worth it here and they won't make a stink over it. Because, after all what is 5 centavos worth? Less than a penny I believe? Can you imagine applying this concept to the states? It would never happen. If you are short a penny, they will sit there and stare at you. Ahh.. like the time I wanted to buy helium balloons a few years ago at a QFC. That experience really boiled my blood. I had about $40 dollars on me and I walked into a QFC to buy a bouquet of balloons. When they were ready, I went with them to the check out lane, and it came to about $40.10 (I guess I didn't include all taxes). Anyway, I didn't have the exact change, so the woman CUT one of the balloons out of the bouquet! How absurdly brainless and irrelevant is that? I don't think would happen here :)
I was told that there was a t.v. show here that portrays the real happenings in Argentina. One show featured a man going into the store with a large bag full of little candies. He asked for a pack of ciggarettes (I think, or it could be something else) and said he was going to pay with the bag of candy. The woman was confused and said "Sir, you can't buy anything with candy." And he replied.."Well these are all the candies you've given me over the year instead of giving me my change. So infact, I have the right to buy the ciggarettes."
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