PZ547
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Few Christmasses ago I went to one of the larger electrical retailers in Sydney to buy two laptops as gifts. As payment, I tendered ---- wait for it
.
.
cash
.
Yes, I had the effrontery, apparently, to attempt to pay in cash. Total was around $2600
You would have thought I were a suspected terrorist. The place went into panic. Check out dill regarded me with utmost suspicion and called for a supervisor. Don't know what sort of alert she sent out, but within a few minutes there were various supervisors surrounding me and another family member (we're white, from generations of white people and we were wearing white-peoples' attire, our faces fully exposed and no suspicious accoutrements, no large bags which could have contained firearms or knives, etc)
Cash. The dreaded cash purchases. In Australian currency no less. No wonder we were surrounded by supervisors and security goons as the credit-card carrying masses clustered around for a looksee
' You'll have to provide identification' I was instructed in security-prison tones
' Why ?'
' Because we can't accept this much cash (less than $3,000 is 'this much'?) without seeing your identification '
Yes, seriously. They wanted at minimum a driver's licence and one other form of identification. And when provided what they claimed they 'must' have, they took their sweet time evaluating it
It was Christmas Eve and I didn't want to have to drive all over this god-forsaken city to buy the laptops elsewhere
also, for all I knew, maybe things had changed recently and they genuinely did need identification before accepting --- gasp, shock horror --- cash
Obviously I have never recommended that particular retailer, nor have I purchased anything else from them
I still don't know --- is it considered 'suspicious activity' these days to pay by cash?
As for JB Hifi --- they're leaving the building and good riddance, considering they employ what I consider to be less than pleasing staff and feel the requirement apparently to employ third-worlders to rummage through customers' personal belongings as if they have all the right in the world while treating the host population as if this nation were officially now a Mumbai slum
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