Today I was walking around Athens and made it up to the akropolis, which is about a 30 minute walk from my hotel. When I got up there it was packed full of tourists so I decided to take a few remote photos and grab something to drink. As I was waiting in line I noticed that no receipts were being handed out so I reminded myself that I needed to ask for a receipt since I'm here on a work trip. As I give my order and hand over the cash the guy hands me a receipt without my even asking. It struck me as strange and as I turned around to leave I found out why. This grey haired guy in the photo(dressed just like the rest of the tourists) made eye contact with me, said something I didn't understand, and grabbed my shirt while motioning towards the counter. I figured the guy was hoping I could translate for him.....which was pretty unlikely, or maybe he was going to use my drinks as examples of what he wanted to buy since he was pointing at the drinks in my hand. But then I realized he was speaking Greek.
Then he asks me in English if I got a receipt, if he could see it, and then he took my receipt......what is going on?! I was totally confused. Then he asks how much I paid and starts asking the vendors behind the cash machines for the receipts of other purchases. It was then that I put a couple things together.
1. I was told by my taxi driver last night that most business in Greece is conducted in Cash only.
2. My boss gave me a warning to check my receipts from credit card transactions because we had an engineer return with a receipt for a drink that cost something like $1000 Euros.
I'm pretty sure there were tax and general business issues involved in all of this as well, but as the guy took my receipt for 6 Euros hostage I figured I'd take a picture of him. Glad to see that we tourists are being looked after ;)
Random Thought:
Today, as I walked past the street vendors with their faux designer bags and sunglasses, it struck me that these looked like the same exact group of people that I see in Paris and that I've seen in New York. I'm not saying they are the same people, but that they all seem to be of the same heritage which I believe is Africa. Who is behind this world wide organization that supplies all these street vendors? Where are they getting their goods from, how do they distribute it, etc?
1 comment:
LOL, did you find a man-purse yet?
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