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November 26, 2001
The Kö-Ki
For several weeks now I have had several stories that I wanted to share with you , but I could never think of them when I had a chance to put them out here. So here goes.
I work near the best metro stop in the world. The Köbánya Kispest metro/bus/train station (affectionately called "The Kö-Ki" (pronounced like co - key (like the newscaster Kokie Roberts (or however you spell it (this is a lot of parenthesis)))) is near Trefort, and I have to go through it every day commuting to and from work. This place has everything. Here's the short list: 1 pharmacy, 1 grocery store, 2 vegetable and fruit stands, 1 book stand, 2 magazine stands, 3 gyro stands, 3 pizza places, 3 bakeries, 1 butcher shop, 1 donut shop, 1 baked-tube-of-dough-coated-in-sugar-thingie stand, 2 convenience stores, 1 Chinese restaurant, 3 bars, 1 casino, 1 liquor store, 1 store that sells fishing tackle and watches, 2 stores that sell random, assorted stuff, 10 stands that sell clothes, toys, underwear and shoes, 10 or 15 farmers selling assorted bundles of vegetables, 10 or 15 old ladies selling flowers and fresh herbs, 10 gypsies selling underwear and toys, and 1 blind man who "plays" the demo song on his keyboard every morning. I can get almost everything I need while I'm waiting for the metro, it's great.
Speaking of shopping, Hungarians have different ideas for building/opening stores than Americans. In the US, I did most of my shopping at big stores. In Hungary, small stores haven't yet been ravaged by capitalism. Small stores are everywhere. Most shopping takes place in small stores. When I say small, I really mean small. It's pretty common for stores to be less than 10' by 10'. Some are so small you can't go in - you just stand at the door and tell the clerk what you want. I live on a small residential street. It's only about 150 meters long, but there are 2 ABCs (convenience stores here are called ABCs because your ABCs are the basics of education, and these stores sell the basics you need to live) and a vegetable store on it. I can get almost everything I need from these places. They are great because I can get to the store, buy my stuff, and be back in less than 5 minutes.
Hungarians are weird about exact change in small stores. Hungary is almost completely cash-based. Hardly anyone has credit cards. It's almost impossible to get a loan, so if you want to buy a car or house, you need cash. Seriously, people buy these big items with bags of cash! Until recently the biggest bill in Hungary was the 10,000 HUF (Hungarian Forint) bill. This is only worth about $35, so you can imagine the size of the stack of cash needed to buy a 22,000,000 HUF ($80,000) house. Recently, the guvernment introduced a 20,000 HUF bill, but it's still silly. I earn about 60,000 HUF a month, so on the first of the month I go to the Posta (because EVERYTHING happens at the Posta (but that's a story for another time)) and collect my 6 -10,000 HUF bills. Now you'd think that in a cash-based society, stores would be prepared to handle lots of bills and coins. Nope. I can only use those 10,000 HUF bills at the big supermarkets. Small stores simply will not take them. Often, having 10,000HUF is the same as having no money at all because you can buy the same amount - nothing. The other day I wanted to get some stuff for breakfast. So I ran down to the store at about 8:00 am and got 6 eggs and 2 rolls. It cost 178 forint (about 64 cents). I tried to pay for it with a 500 forint bill (worth about $1.80) and the clerk didn't have change! She didn't have $1 worth of change!! What the heck! At first she said that she couldn't take my money, and I coundn't buy anything. I wasn't quite sure what to do, I really wanted those eggs, and it was all the money I had, so I just looked at her with a helpless, confused look on my face, and eventually, sighing loudly and talking really fast under her breath, she went into the back of the store, got her purse and made change for me. Come on people, it's called a cash drawer - get one!
Posted by neal on November 26, 2001 07:26 AM