Trevek I guess we all sometimes comply to this really stupid lack of sense - it is in the shop's interest to give you change and not your problem. In these cases I sometimes wait for them giving mie the exact change. Another thing is that they all are trying to make morons of clients by having prices like: 19.99 10.98. That is how they loose the small penny.
Great point there, Olaf! Round it up to 10PLN and you just need to hand across a note. Besides, dycha notes are very useful when giving change off of a 50.
One thing which pleasantly surprises me is that plastic is more widely accepted in Poland than it is in Germany! Even 'Cashback' is being introduced (slowly - powoli, not langsam).
I always found it funny how the plastic system in Poland was more advanced than in UK (giving PIN in little machine etc) but cashback hadn't been introduced. Obviously using plastic and having no cashback reduces the need for small change.
I still have to sign for card payments here at random places - even at Carrefour, using my Polish chip and pin card. One of the managers moaned that he was fed up with the system because it didn't seem to be consistent one day working, one day not. Sometimes they even stop accepting certain forms, I spent a month having to go to the other end of town as half the shops lost the Mastercard facilities with no warning.
The change situation can be infuriating at times. We started a change box for all the golds, thinking we'd save up for some decent xmas drinks... but now we get requests from the girls at the local shop after one ended up in tears when some oik in suit started verbally abusing her for not having enough change to give him the 1gr he was owed (hubby handed to him with a few choice words)... turned out the boss refuses to buy change from the bank as they've hiked the price up - she'd rather let the locals have the occasional free beer. And it's refreshing being able to hand over as many small coins as you want, instead of having to worry about whether someone will quote the 'Moneys Act' limitations on change permissible to pay for goods (as we used to have to when people would try to pay a 30 quid fare in 1p coins - the limit a person legally has to accept in 20p's worth of 1's and 2's in England).
demonsqueaker I still have to sign for card payments here at random places - even at Carrefour, using my Polish chip and pin card. One of the managers moaned that he was fed up with the system because it didn't seem to be consistent one day working, one day not. Sometimes they even stop accepting certain forms, I spent a month having to go to the other end of town as half the shops lost the Mastercard facilities with no warning.
Oh I know what! Let's all get microchipped and walk around with a barcode in our foreheads. No more moaning, lack of change, getting lost, losing your wallet or credit card...and find your kidnapped baby faster than it takes to say '666 New World Order'.
Yesterday I found out some Lithuanian store in London. I've bought a dark traditional bread. I cost £1.99 Of course - they haven't got 1p of change. Right now thy're in my debt.
It was sooo touching. For the moment I feel like in home. :-)
As I see it, it is common couretsy to give the cashier the exact change. If asked, at least look into your wallet, not just say flatly that you don't have the change, like a complete boor.
Also, it is very rude to buy something for 1 zl. and try to pay with one hundred zl. bill. If I indeed have to do it, I usualy apologise and ask the shopgirl, beforehand, if it will be much of a trouble.
This is a phenomena from from the commie time. There were no competition between the grocery stores, i.e. people bought items where they were available. No competition means you don't need to be nice to your customers. They can't go to another shop if they're not happy.
I was signing receipts in Poland for at least 2 years after chip and pin came in in the UK.
It depends on which bank issued your card. Not only if you have VISA or Mastercard or whatever. Especially if it's a foreign bank who issued the VISA/Mastercard. It's really strange. But sometimes you have to sign even if you have PIN-code.
And if you pay with your card on the A4 motorway - you are not protected at all! No PIN, no signature. And they always need to take away your card from your sight - totally unacceptable!
The exact change thing is a bit of a pain that takes getting used to after living in the US and Canada and Japan, but it's really not that bad. I basically just make sure I keep a float myself. I keep a small bowl of change on my bedside table and make sure I have a small handful of grosze and a couple of 1 and 2 zł. coins, and make sure I keep tens and twenties in my wallet at all times.
A little courtesy goes a long way. I usually ask if someone can break a hundred or a fifty when I buy something and then keep the resulting small bills as long as I can. The kiosks in front of my building that sell tram and train tickets always have a ton of change, and don't mind changing 100s. It's pretty well become an automatic process at this point.
My girlfriend, who doesn't speak much Polish, just does what the old ladies do, and sticks out her hand full of small coins and lets the cashiers pluck out the change they need. :)
Stupid prices like 4.99 etc. cause it - I am polite, but it's not my problem if they don't have the change (why actually - they should go to a bank and get some change) because they invent such stupid pricing.
I have exactly the same problem in katowice, I noticed it within days of moving here. I once tried to buy a beer in a bar for 7zl and gave him 10zl, he mumbled something in Polish and asked if I could pay by card? I was told by Polish friends that the Poles love to get money more than anything else. So the manager will probably pop in ever hour or so and grab all the cash to put in the bank and leave the poor cashier with f*** all. In the UK I always paid by cash but here I just use my card and NEVER leave a tip. No matter how long their face gets. Until they learn here to respect the customers, and that communism ended a long time ago.....then nothing will ever change here. If people in the UK treated customers like that they would be fired in a few hours.
You can always go back to your country full of refugees if you don't like Poland. Shops are not banks which have infinite amount of coins. Stick to it or leave.
Shops are not banks which have infinite amount of coins.
Actually banks in Poland don't have much in the way of coins which is why the small shops don't either. In many countries there is a practice of having what's known as a 'float' in the till each morning at the start of the day. The float is a supply of coins which enables you to give your customers change - an incredible idea isn't it? The coins are supplied by the bank. Yes, that's right. I know it's radical but you tootle along to the bank a couple of times a week and change some notes for coins in order to keep your float topped up. It works surprisingly well ;)
This is true. I've often seen shops start the day with an empty till. They haven't figured out yet that they might have to give change.
My local food shop when I lived in Dolny Mokotow used to take the till drawer full of coins into the back room several times a day and return it empty. They didn't think there was anything strange about that at all.
You can always go back to your beautiful UK and ireland where bus fares are like 2.85 (never round amounts) and you won't be refunded by the driver if you overpay but in the head office ONLY. And they are never clamied back because cost of going there exceeds single claim.
English theft in a daylight (Angielskie Złodziejstwo w bialy dzień)
And notice how that other English idiot took the time to check how many times in a day they were taking the till drawer into the back room for empying it.
My local food shop when I lived in Dolny Mokotow used to take the till drawer full of coins into the back room several times a day and return it empty.
