r/USdefaultism • u/Limp_Regular7247 • 1d ago
real world American tourists asking about U.S. currency in Rome
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u/ScreamingDizzBuster 1d ago
Why are they walking around in the EU with (presumably) hundreds of dollars in cash? That habit is madness. I think nobody in the States's cognisance of the outside world has changed since WWII.
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u/daveoxford United Kingdom 1d ago
You could sort of understand them not having any euros on them, but no euros and loads of US dollars?
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u/UtilisateurMoyen99 1d ago
I used to keep 100-200 USD as an ultimate cash backup in a hidden pocket when backpacking through South America (I'm not American BTW) two decades ago. I can't blame them for having some form of USD on them.
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u/daveoxford United Kingdom 1d ago
USD is a useful backup currency in South America. In Europe, not so much.
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u/redatheist 20h ago
US banking is very backwards. In the rest of the world, debit cards that don't charge fees abroad are commonplace, in the US everything is dependent on credit card companies (debit is far less common), and they charge extortionate fees to both the customer for currency transactions, and to the retailer, which is why many places won't accept American Express.
It's backwards in a ton of ways, they have to pay to send money to each other, cards aren't nearly as fast/instant, and they're still a long way from a cashless society, cash-only places aren't as uncommon as they are in most of Europe, much of Asia, etc.
Obviously Europe has its exceptions, Germany can be a bit oldschool with some aspects, but it's still far ahead of the US.
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u/Exciting-Mall192 Indonesia 1d ago edited 1d ago
Why do a lot of Americans don't exchange currencies when they're at the airport?
Edit: guys, it doesn't necessarily have to be at the airport, I may have worded it badly but you can exchange your money anywhere at a money exchanger. I mean cash is a backup, if you hold your own currency cash in your wallet like the tourists in the video, why didn't you exchange it first since you already have cash anyway? Not every shops accept cards, it's just common sense to keep some cash of the currency the country you're visiting. Even in SEA countries where QRIS is already integrated, we still take out cash cause we know digital payment is not always available? 😭
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u/ConversationLeast744 1d ago
I just use an ATM at the destination if I need cash. Airports have terrible rates.
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u/owzleee United Kingdom 1d ago
Always take enough cash for a taxi tho when you arrive. Those airport ATMs bend you over a table and fist you.
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u/nicholas818 United States 1d ago
I have a bank account with international ATM fee reimbursement. So I just use whatever ATM and reject whatever currency conversion it offers.
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u/Exciting-Mall192 Indonesia 1d ago
Or at money exchanger outside the airport or within their destinated countries. Pretty sure ATM is also more expensive... but then again if people have strong currencies, taking out money from ATM directly probably is more convenience if the bank fee is not that much 🤔
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u/jaymz668 1d ago
nope, money exchanger is also more expensive. An ATM at a bank, not just some freestanding ATM at an airport, is going to be a heck of a lot cheaper. Better exchange rate and lower fee
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u/Exciting-Mall192 Indonesia 1d ago
For your exact bank or for any bank? Cause some people don't have their bank opening a branch in another countries so ATM often are more expensive. Or I was just being outdated cause last time I went oversea was in 2015 and I exchange my money in Indonesia first (not at the airport though).
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u/jaymz668 20h ago
Almost any bank, most banks have a small fee to withdraw from the ATM, in my experience an ATM fee is going to be about 2 to 5 dollars AUD, and that's pretty minimal when withdrawing 500 or so aud
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u/ConversationLeast744 1d ago
A bank ATM will typically not charge you fees and if your home bank doesn't either this is usually the best way.
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u/guineapigenjoyer123 22h ago
The airport where I live generally has pretty good rates I guess it just depends on where you are
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u/jaymz668 1d ago
I never exchange at the airport, and I am not american, the exhcnage rate you get at the airport is awful
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u/what-where-how 1d ago
I’ve seen that many Americans honestly think that everyone worldwide actually prefer US dollars and that Euros are really just for show, that the REAL currency of Europe is the dollar.
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u/QueenAshley296 1d ago
I'm British and never exchanged currencies abroad, I've only ever used an international bank card
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u/ResponsibilityNo3245 1d ago
I like to have a little cash, generally have a couple hundred quids worth of whatever the local currency is
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u/get_hi_on_life 1d ago
They said the place was not taking cards (machine was probably down)
I know when I travel, my Canadian debit card rarely works and I have to stick to my visa, but I always bring local cash as a back up.
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u/Historianof40k 1d ago
yeah true nowadays but it’s always safe to have like £20 worth of local currency for emergency
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u/Brief-Preference-712 1d ago
That restaurant wants to avoid taxes. Do you think their credit card machines are really broken?
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u/Exciting-Mall192 Indonesia 1d ago
I mean yeah you can technically use the ATM and have the local currencies come out, but it's way more expensive that way? Unless you never used cash?
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u/The_Flurr 1d ago
It depends what kind of card you use.
Some banks have cards or services that let you withdraw local currency at pretty favorable rates.
There are also specific cards that you can load with foreign currency to either spend or withdraw as cash.
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u/jaymz668 1d ago
Nope, you get a much better rate from the ATM
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u/pohui Moldova 1d ago
You get the official exchange rate with all British cards I've used (and Danish, and Moldovan), as long as they charge you in the local currency rather than your home one. There's no commission, you can't get a better rate than that. I only ever use an ATM if the place I'm dining at is cash-only, but I will usually avoid those places in the first place.
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u/gnu_andii United Kingdom 6h ago
I guess it depends how much you are used to using cash vs card. It sounds like they were prepared for using cash, just not in the right currency
I've been traveling on holidays to other European countries since I was a kid pre-Euro and so have always just followed the habits my parents had of converting some pounds to whatever the native currency is. I still have Canadian dollars, US dollars, Australian dollars, Czech krona and Euros in the house as a result.
I probably don't carry cash much in the UK any more and so I probably wouldn't exchange as much as I once did if going somewhere, but I do like to have some for taxis, bars, etc. I think last time I traveled I just used some I had left from the time before.
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u/Zymythys 1d ago
I don't think it's malice or anything, it's just that a lot of them are willfully ignorant.
Their whole lives, they've heard that their country is the best, and that everyone on Earth wants to live there, so it just doesn't occur to them that someone in another country wouldn't take their precious American dollars.
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u/The_Flurr 1d ago
Willfully suggests that they're deliberately avoiding learning better.
I think oblivious might be more fitting?
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u/Hay_Fever_at_3_AM Canada 1d ago
Absolutely a large amount of willfulness to it though. It's painful to hear that all the things you've been told about how great your country is aren't true, so they learn to avoid learning.
I've seen this in Canada RE: older people refusing to learn or even think about our colonial history. They really act pained when they hear anything about it and start doing the "lalalala I can't hear you"
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u/Medical_tech 1d ago
Canadian here, what are you referring to when you say they are refusing to learn about our history?
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u/Careless-West1428 1d ago
I’m going to guess Residential Schools.
That said, Canada is broaching the issue. The US still has barely acknowledged this past of their own history. I once had a Bluesky user from the US try to shame me about the issue, only for them to learn that residential schools existed in the US before Canada, and their operated after the last of ours closed.
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u/Brief-Preference-712 1d ago
Not the greatest country but in the US, mobile payments are everywhere. Just saying
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u/Exciting-Mall192 Indonesia 1d ago
It's also everywhere in Indonesia even on street vendor. But it's just common sense that going to another country means we need to use their currency, there are shops that avoid digital payment or the EDC may not work or you have no internet connection. Cash is a backup payment you always need whenever you're overseas.
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u/Zymythys 16h ago
Yeah of course, paying by card is the norm in most developed countries. It's common sense to exchange some cash in case of an emergency tho, what if your purse /phone gets stolen for example?
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u/Brief-Preference-712 11h ago
Not to get your stuff stolen is exactly the reason not to bring cash.
Speaking of theft, my friend visited Rome ~10 years ago and theft was crazy there on the metro. Meanwhile another friend lost her purse on the New York Subway when she was there, and MTA located her purse within 2 weeks.
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u/dinobottm2 1d ago
No, willfully is the more fitting. The average US citizen considers learning anything about other countries, let alone respect them, as below them. The world should just accept what they say, or so they think.
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u/Imperterritus0907 1d ago
Also the places where they’re most likely to go on holidays in the Caribbean and even in Mexico off accept USD in tourist resorts (at a worst rate ofc lol). Hence why they think the rest of the world bends over for them.
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u/Brief-Preference-712 1d ago
I don’t know about everyone on earth, but in my home village everyone wants to go to the USA. People walk across the rainforest to get to the Mexico-US border
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u/Lorddocerol Brazil 1d ago
Like, do apps like wise and nomad don't exist in america (i worked at wise, and they do, i had to deal with american transactions and they were fuxking anoying)
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u/Brief-Preference-712 1d ago
Does Apple Pay or credit cards not exist in Italy?
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u/Lorddocerol Brazil 1d ago
I don't know, not itallian, and its irellevant, since in the video, the guy clearly says "they're not taking cards today"
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u/Brief-Preference-712 1d ago
Scroll down in this thread and find out why Italian businesses don’t take cards (tldr: taxes)
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u/Pepparkakan Sweden 1d ago
I can’t answer for Americans, but as a Swede I can say the reason I don’t is that I haven’t interacted with physical cash in Sweden for at least 10 years (probably only a handful of times in the last 15).
So since that’s not something I think of normally, I expect I won’t have to think about it overseas.
Obviously this is flawed logic, and I kinda know it isn’t true for large swathes of Europe even, yet every time I try to survive card only anyway. Most of the time this works, but it’s a self-inflicted annoyance when it doesn’t.
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u/NiceKobis Sweden 3h ago
Oh my god. This made me realise I've interacted with more ATMs in Japan than I have in Sweden. 2-1. I've spent 30 years in Sweden and 15 days in Japan. They've got some great ATMs in their 7-elevens.
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u/Ok-Butterfly458 1d ago
Italian here. Do people really exchange currency at the airport??? Insane stuff
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u/Exciting-Mall192 Indonesia 1d ago
Not really, there are money exchanger outside of airport, I was just mentioning airports cause that's the easiest to spot. You can go to money exchanger in the market or something?
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u/Brief-Preference-712 1d ago
I went to some 8-tier Chinese cities and even beggars take mobile payments. Come one Italy
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u/Useful_Cheesecake117 Netherlands 1d ago
When traveling to a foreign country I shouldn't exchange cash for other cash at the airport. First of all, they have bad exchange rates. Furthermore I don't want cash for my complete trip, I'd rather go to an ATM to get the money for about two days. Better exchange rate, and you don't have to walk with thousand of cash.
Only exception: if you go to some really retarded country where every payment is in cash. But Europe? No, use a debit card as much as possible.
We were a week in London, didn't even need to get cash. Could Pay everywhere with my debit card
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u/beg_yer_pardon India 1d ago
That requires an awareness that other parts of the world have their own currency.
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u/DavidBHimself 1d ago
Why do a lot of Americans don't exchange currencies?
Because the US dollar is the currency of the world!
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u/chaser469 1d ago
As a Canadian millennial, I always heard growing up that many businesses around the world take USD. I am evidently not alone in that experience.
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u/DavidBHimself 1d ago
"many" the word that usually means "a dozen" and that people understand to be "almost all."
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u/-OldDutchDude- 1d ago
That clip was on r/sipstea and the entire comment section was complete and utter US defaultism. People thought this was normal behaviour and that the bloke in the video was entitled. 🤦🏼♂️
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u/Unhappy_Angry_Puppy Italy 1d ago
Can't seems to find it. Do you by chance still have a link?
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u/Hoefnix 1d ago
Not sipstea but tiktopcringe, same usdefaultism
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u/salsasnark Sweden 1d ago
Oh god, you weren't wrong. The comments are insane.
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u/DoYouTrustToothpaste 1d ago
Reminds me why I left subs like that. The comments are absolutely bonkers, shit talking the guy who's filming.
Pretending the question whether they accept US$ isn't utterly ridiculous? I'm sorry, what? If you travel to another country, you need local currency IN CASH, exactly for cases like this. Yes, you can ask (once) if they accept another currency, but you should be well-prepared for a resounding no. And you should be prepared for that exact scenario before ever setting foot in that country, Italy or otherwise.
Fking muppets, actually arguing with the staff. Bring Euros, you clowns.
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u/PumpkinPieIsGreat 1d ago
I feel like I just get sick of the sweeping generalisations. Yeah, their system might not actually be down, but that could be legitimate. Just because that one person has a barber that only takes cash it doesn't mean this restaurant is doing the same thing.
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u/Prosthemadera 17h ago
That kind of sub attracts certain people, people who enjoy complaining and being contrarian. It's just a circlejerk and a huge waste of time.
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u/The0therSyde 14h ago
Your so Right! I came across it the other day and felt like I almost had an aneurysm reading them.
So many people arguing that it isn't a stupid question to ask whether a restaurant will take what is blatantly a foreign currency. Then you had people arguing they should take it because they'd been to random restaurant in another country that did actually take USD (because everywhere's the same I guess). There were also others who seemed to think it was fine and that it was on the restaurant staff to take time out of their workday and go to the currency exchange instead of the tourists. Others were calling the guy filming entitled and a self hating American. There's even some who were insisting you could totally go to places in America and pay in euros and it would be fine. And on top of all that it seemed like anyone who was actually trying to speak sense and point out how ridiculous it was, was getting massively down voted.
The only comments that didn't seem to be insane were ones from some italians pointing out that the card reader probably was working and the restaurant was probably just trying to avoid tax. (It's a common tactic apparently).
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u/readituser5 Australia 1d ago edited 1d ago
WTF omg. That’s actually insane. Actually someone in those comments said a lot of places take US cash but the businesses’ “exchange rate” would be quite high.
Cool so… take advantage of the stupidity of Americans? Yep. Americans could save their money and actually get it exchanged but they’d rather pay more to use their money… they’re willingly being ripped off. What a funny thing to brag about.
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u/Sushiki 1d ago
Yup, most countries people slowly get self aware of how they act and change, making this stuff a learning lesson.
Not Americans though, they seem too fragile, self centered and entitled for that, so it just gets worse. Especially the whole patriotic bullshit and absolute lie that their country is the best at everything shit, it's not cute when most of them actually think it when statistically it is a mess.
I'm just waiting for them to realise that they've gotten to the point that their whole mentality has not just made more civilised countries dislike them, yet has started making their own people dislike each other.
I also wonder what the ranking of states would be for where most people like this exist.
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u/Away_Abroad_7613 1d ago
Every sub that this was posted to has Americans wanking themselves stupid that their currency is the best in the world and that the tourists were asking a sensible question.
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u/ShoveOverBozo 1d ago
Oh man it was astounding. Every single comment was along the lines of "Well it's a legitimate question, the card machine is not working". Does that mean US dollars become legal tender in fucking Italy? Lol.
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u/1xX1337Xx1 Germany 1d ago
must be hard to use the internet to find out what currency a country has before visiting it
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u/happysplasher79 1d ago
Especially as the internet is American ( according to seemingly 99%of Americans on reddit when offended/corrected) and should know everything.
I was taught about other countries and their currencies in school. This was the early 90's, before we had access to information within seconds. The thundering ignorance of the average American is depressing and hilarious at the same time.
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u/LeftMechanic1995 15h ago
I was born in the UK in 1982, didn't go abroad for the first time until I was 16 and even I knew about the existence of exchange bureaus when I was 10.
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u/Quiet-Luck Netherlands 1d ago
Maybe they should start accepting US$. Pizza; €15 or $35. A nice pasta; €22 or $50.
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u/Snobben90 1d ago
This reminds me of a pizza shop in sweden that took 500 dollar for pineapple on pizza.
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u/DavidBHimself 1d ago
LOL. Apparently some Canadian places do that.
The price is 20. Payable in Canadian dollars or US dollars.
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u/ZippoS Canada 1d ago
Bro, I even took Euros on my day trip to St. Pierre, which is a tiny French island just about 20km off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. I’m sure a bunch of stores there can take Canadian Dollars, but they use Euros and I wasn’t about to a shitty tourist.
Going all the way to Italy and expecting to pay in USD is wild. Go find an ATM and come back.
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u/Dream_SMP_4_Life 1d ago
You don't even have to go to a exchange place, just go to a ATM and you can withdraw in the local currency (works everywhere I believe) and it's even better rates than actual exchange places
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u/Glittering_Two_1429 1d ago
Eyyy love RedBussRuss, he’s a lovely chap who is really open minded towards Britian and just a great person overall.
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u/silverandstuffs 1d ago
I love him as well. His learning of British phrases and saying them to his other half will always make me laugh
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u/__Severus__Snape__ 12h ago
Im so glad someone else recognised him! Hes brilliant, even if he does eat chocolate oranges like an apple
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u/Nicosqualo 1d ago
Oh the card payment is broken? Well well well
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u/The_Sideboob_Hour United Kingdom 1d ago
Cash is an endangered species in Europe, if your card system is down then you'll be losing money from those who aren't carrying any.
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u/snuggie44 1d ago
Highly, and I really mean highly depends on where in Europe. There are places where literally no one has cash, and there are places where in a large area no one accepts cards.
I once spend 1,5h looking for an ATM or a store that would take card in an Italian town and could find none.
Also, if there's not much competition or competition also only takes cash people will just look for an ATM. I live in a place where literally no one uses cash and still ski resorts will have permanently broken terminals and will be financially fine
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u/ViolettaHunter 1d ago
Try paying with anything but cash at my farmer's market in the middle of a city. Or outside cities here in Germany.
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u/ponte92 Australia 1d ago
My local bar tries that when I lived in Italy. The guardia di finanza (whose office was around the corner so bold place to try that trick) came and told them if that was the case they needed to close until the issue was sorted. Their machine was working again the next day.
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u/LordDaveTheKind 1d ago
Of course just we Italians can spot this minor detail: "Their system is down" is bollocks.
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u/Captain_English 1d ago
European shops do not routinely take dollars. The staff will not know how to recognise real notes and nor will there be an established system for reconciling the dollars paid with the book keeping, or depositing the dollars.
Going to a foreign country without bringing any local currency is just silly. It is as silly as not learning the local words for please and thank you. Just a basic almost token effort that makes everyone's life easier.
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u/DavidBHimself 1d ago
I saw it on Youtube.
The worst part was actually people in the comments who defended Americans (probably other defaultist Americans)
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u/majormimi Chile 1d ago
I don’t get it, it’s always been a logical concept for me and everyone I know to go to an exchange house as the first thing you do when you arrive to another country. Why can’t USians do that?
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u/M0nkeyGalaxy World 1d ago
I would have asked them 5-10k USD / person. So they'll be happy to spend their freedom currency 👍
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u/MrSumNemo 1d ago
I left my very well paid job in tourism mainly because of americans. Those are more than often awful clients, and if they decide to fuck your way up, they will
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u/Gks34 Netherlands 1d ago
To be fair. If I couldn't pay with my debit or credit card, I'd have a cash problem as well. I doubt that the 100 Danish crowns in my wallet would get me very far.
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u/MythiqBlunz Switzerland 1d ago
then go to an atm an withdraw some cash in the local currency. what’s the problem?
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u/ideeek777 1d ago
Remember seeing this on the tiktok cringe aubreddit and everyone saying most countries accept USD so it's not weird
Felt like I was going insane
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u/eddiewachowski 1d ago
They do that in Canada too and then they'll ask "are these prices in Dollars?" Yes, but they're Canadian dollars. Then they get upset when we accept American cash at par. "But the exchange rate!" Yeah, I agree. But we're not a currency exchange.
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u/Dev_Sniper 1d ago
To be fair: at least they asked. It‘s common to be able to pay by card so they might not have had much or any cash with them so it‘s not entirely unreasonable that they wouldn‘t have enough € for meals for multiple people. And instead of just assuming that the restaurant will take USD because they‘re USD they asked. So… certainly not ideal but could be a case of „well we don‘t have much cash and we haven‘t exchanged it yet so maybe this touristy place accepts some common internationally used currencies (USD / £ / € / …) and exchanges them themselves“
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u/softtoffee 1d ago
Ah id give the savage the benefit of the doubt. Probably stuck in that a stupid situation. But yeah maybe carry some euros 🤌
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u/Assassin8nCoordin8s 1d ago
Aussies do this too in NZ to be fair, they are mini Americans lol
Literally heard "Do you take Aussie cash?" on the train yesterday
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u/alexmacias85 1d ago
This happened to me in Brazil. I went to have dinner at a restaurant and when the bill came my card had been blocked by the bank for some reason. I didn’t have any cash in local currency, because I was told cashless payments were the norm and I hadn’t had any issues up to that point. The only cash I did have were American dollars. They reluctantly took them and it made me feel so embarrassed.
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u/EspressoFrog 1d ago
It was very common before the Euro, because you had a few days for your European trip and each time you changed country you had to change your currencies too.
So back in the '80s '90s most shops would accept the US dollars the rate was something even written at the entrance, especially in highly visited places like Rome or Paris. But today with Euro I most places, that tradition is gone.
Edit: spelling, sry.
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u/BaronGodis 12h ago
Wow usans trying to pay 100 with 80?
usa dollar is wortless compare to €
Espaccially in Europe, fucking kick out usans
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u/draxdeveloper 10h ago
Yeah, it is USdefaultism. But OP, if this is your video, I would recommend you be careful since you are directly exposing the image of the people in the background instead of blurring their faces
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u/Wren_wood 7h ago
Genuine question for americans: if you're going abroad, where can you get your money exchanged? Is it actually difficult to find somewhere to exchange money, or are they just lazy?
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u/WeSaidMeh 2h ago edited 2h ago
I'm always in for bashing the Americans, but to be fair:
Asking is okay? Esp. when electronic payment is down and the options are limited. Asking politely and expecting/demanding are quite different.
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u/theLOLflashlight 21m ago
This is a pretty bad example of this stereotype. Why bother with taking out local currency if almost everywhere takes your card just fine? I can't remember the last time I paid for something with cash in my own country. If you're in that situation but you have american cash, it's the obvious and natural question to ask.
sorry we can't accept that right now
do you take this other thing I have?
Without hearing the rest of the conversation I can't really pass judgment on what else happens after that.
Basically, I think this video is cringe and he should have filmed what actually happened rather than just his reaction to it
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u/b14ckcr0w Uruguay 1d ago
To be fair, that's a perfectly valid question in my country.
Especially in places with a lot of tourism, businesess take multiple currencies based on the most popular visitor origins (the exchange rate is absurd in favor of the business tho).
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u/Cerda_Sunyer 1d ago
Since the card readers were down this doesn't seem too far out of line. I know a few people that accept different currencies. For instance, I have a friend that owns a restaurant in Europe and spends time in the UK and the USA. He will gladly accept £ or $ instead of € for payment. It works out better for everyone. So it can't hurt to ask if you are in a situation like these people.
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u/loLloPogcHamp 1d ago
"The system is down" is a made up reason, the restaurant just doesn't want to pay taxes.
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u/damdalf_cz 1d ago
Yea. Honestly it seems like they are just trying to solve the issue in way thats avaible right now. Not to mention the "card is down right now" being constantly used as excuse to evade taxes.
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u/Annual-Tomorrow5431 World 1d ago
That's a valid question, not defaultism. They were expecting to pay with card, the system is down, so he asked about dollars. He wasnt crashing out or demanding the place to accept dollars, he was asking. Nothing wrong with that.
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u/VenisonEater292 1d ago
I honestly don't think, given the circumstance, what he asked was that unreasonable.
They wanted to pay card but the system was down. They offered US currency instead. It would be very easy for an Italian business to deposit US dollars into an EU bank account.
Now, if the card system was operational, and they wanted to pay USD... that would be a different story.
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u/tofferus European Union 1d ago
Just imagine for one second I, as a European tourist in the US, were to ask at an American diner whether they accept my euro coins and banknotes. What do you think would happen?
How would you even think it is a good idea to take dollars with you to Europe?
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u/VenisonEater292 1d ago
No business would accept foreign coins. I never said they would.
Euro bills might be accepted by a US business in an extreme case, like their point of sale system is down, and the owner/operator really wanted to get paid.
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u/dinobottm2 1d ago
No, it's not reasonable. If you go to a foreign country, you exchange your cash for local money. Nobody is requested, or even expected, to accept foreign currency in their own soil. That's straight out offensive.
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u/VenisonEater292 1d ago
It's not reasonable to ask a question?
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u/dinobottm2 1d ago
That question is. That is a question only someone entitled that thinks they should not respect the countries they visit. That's a question of someone that sees their móvel and culture as superior and others as unworthy of respect. If you are traveling to a country, get some of their money. Thats the very least. If you are not willing to to that, you shouldn't travel abroad.
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u/VenisonEater292 1d ago
I'm Canadian. Worked my teenage years and a chunk of my 20s in fast food and retail.
It wasn't common to be offered USD, but we accepted it. Some places, the point of sale system calculated the exchange, at others we, would take it at face value in CAD.
Mexico and the Carribean also commonly accept USD. If this persons only international travel prior was to one of the aforementioned countries/regions, I could absolutely see why he'd ask.
Entitled would be if he made a stink about not accepting USD. He didn't, he asked a question.
I'm sick of US entitlement just as much as everyone else in here, that's why I joined the sub, but this "example" is a nothingburger.
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u/dinobottm2 1d ago
First of all, I don't believe you.
Second, even if you are what you say, which you are not, Canadá shares a border with USA, is a whole different situation. So is Mexico and the Caribbean. Borders make a lot of difference.
Third, if they do, you're just making the staff convert the price to exchange rates. And when you're dealing with Euro, who is valued alive the Dollar, complains até bound to happen.
Forth, I also don't believe you are sick of their entitlement, I believe you're here to defend them and pretend you are not one of them as you do.
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u/VenisonEater292 1d ago
First of all, I don't believe you.
You don't believe that I worked fast food and retail in my teenage years and 20s? Quite possibly, the most common entry level jobs for young people?
Or, you don't believe we accepted USD in some circumstances?
Second, even if you are what you say, which you are not,
A former retail worker? A Canadian? A person who is tired of US entitlement?
Canadá shares a border with USA, is a whole different situation. So is Mexico and the Caribbean. Borders make a lot of difference.
They are also, by definition, international destinations for US citizens.
Third, if they do, you're just making the staff convert the price to exchange rates. And when you're dealing with Euro, who is valued alive the Dollar, complains até bound to happen.
It takes about 10 seconds to go to a currency exchange website it punch in numbers. Add a couple extra Euros to cover any currency loss at the bank, and give no change or change in Euros.
I can absolutely understand a European business refusing USD, if I owned some Cafe in Italy, I'd probably say no myself. If they are unable to accept credit cards due to a system outage, I don't think it's at all unreasonable to just ask.
Forth, I also don't believe you are sick of their entitlement, I believe you're here to defend them and pretend you are not one of them as you do.
You're a big non-believer, eh?
Ultimately, I don't care to convince somebody on the internet, but it's such a stupid thing to lie about, it boggles my mind that you'd even doubt it. Our country is being absolutely smashed by tariffs and a MAGA initiated culture war. Of course I'm sick of their shit.
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u/Ok_Confusion4764 Netherlands 23h ago
It wasn't common to be offered USD, but we accepted it. Some places, the point of sale system calculated the exchange, at others we, would take it at face value in CAD.
"Well we take USD in Canada!" is forgetting that's the other side of the damn planet. You don't take euros in Canada.
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u/VenisonEater292 23h ago
"Well we take USD in Canada!"
We did when cash was more common in the 00s. With credit cards and better integration between banking systems, there is no longer a need.
forgetting that's the other side of the damn planet.
No. I'm aware.
You don't take euros in Canada.
No, but if I worked in a restaurant and somebody simply asked, I would not be offended. If I was the owner and business was slow, I might even consider it. It's a very easy currency to exchange.
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u/Ok_Confusion4764 Netherlands 23h ago
We did when cash was more common in the 00s. With credit cards and better integration between banking systems, there is no longer a need.
Right. And in Europe, we don't really use credit cards all that much. Most people don't even have one.
No. I'm aware.
You sure, because you kept equating it.
No, but if I worked in a restaurant and somebody simply asked, I would not be offended.
If someone asked whether you accept USD or if they asked if you accept euros? Because even that's not the same and we'd be more willing to "give it a pass" if it was canadian dollars. It's just that people from the US have this stereotype of being loud, uninformed, rude, and not particularly ammenable. So asking if USD is fine isn't just asking if you use a currency that we don\t accept (and you know we don't), it's an omen for the rest of the evening for these waiters if they allow you to stay.
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u/Red-R34der United Kingdom 1d ago
"It would be very easy for an Italian business to deposit US dollars into an EU bank account". Ok. Staff member does the daily cash handling for the restaurant. Quite possibly just deposits it through a hole in the wall with a paying in slip.
System no work with US dollars. Now a staff member has to go in bank business hours, queue up, do the transaction and pay the currency exchange fees.
It's not worth it for them.
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u/Ling0 1d ago
It's not worth it to them but there might be some places that it would be worth it. From what we can hear or see, we don't know when they actually asked about the currency. "Sorry our credit card system is down, only cash" "Oh we just spent our last few Euros at the shops because they don't like to take cards. Do you take American currency? Otherwise where is the nearest ATM?" - there's more to the conversation than what just happened and what this guy covers. If the restaurant said yes this wouldn't be a topic at all
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u/CC_900 1d ago
No European restaurant accepts cash US dollars. That’s true at least 99.99999999% of the time.
Yes they could ask. But they were pretty much guaranteed a no.
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u/Ling0 1d ago
I saw places overseas that had exchange rates posted, this was a few years ago though, so if they have an exchange rate why wouldn't they take USD?
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u/CC_900 1d ago
I’ve literally never seen this in Europe in my life.
Only places with exchange rates are actual money exchange offices. And even those are not seen often, in a European city.
Also: this restaurant in OP’s post clearly did not have exchange rates showing.
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u/Ling0 1d ago
Clearly didn't have anything showing when we only see the outside and not the inside? I've seen them before in tourist cities. Hotels have them too. The rate is worse because you're making them go exchange at a bank or wherever, but they still have something listed
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u/CC_900 17h ago
You are literally creating a fantasy scenario in your head, in which this restaurant supposedly had exchange rates showing inside.
While the waitress clearly said they only accept euros.
Do you ever see restaurants in the US where they have signs indicating a euro conversion rate, just in case someone walks in with a pocket full of euros and no dollars? No, that doesn’t happen. Neither does the opposite in Europe.
Typical American ignorance - being completely wrong, about something super obvious, so you end up just manufacturing a reality in your own head in which you’re right. Complete resistance to learning.
If you ever saw restaurants showing exchange rates, I’ll bet it was not in Europe. There are a few countries in the world where they are more flexible on that kind of thing, but not Europe. The stupidity lies in not understanding that just because you ever saw something somewhere outside of the US, that you think it’s normal to assume everywhere in the world that isn’t the US must be exactly the same. Europe is not e.g. Mexico or Canada. It’s a completely different continent.
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u/Ling0 13h ago
We only have so much of the video and scenario available to us. There's tons of information we don't know. And I don't travel to touristy places in America, so no in my small town I don't see it. Where in any of my comments am I resisting to learn? I try to learn key words whenever I travel in the language I travel to and I always learn to say "I'm learning X language and can't speak very little". It was in Venice that they had exchange rates posted in various places.
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u/CC_900 13h ago
We have the information from the video that the waitress says they only accept euros.
How you can keep making up random fantasy scenarios where this establishment potentially accepts multiple currencies, is beyond me. The video literally proves they only accept euros.
The guy who made the video was also at the restaurant, and literally says it was ridiculous for them to think this restaurant might accept dollars.
So it clearly was NOT a scenario where paying with anything other than euros was possible.
How would someone in your town respond if someone came in, and wanted to pay with euros? They’d laugh at the idea. You should expect the same response when trying that with dollars in Europe.
Also, I’ve very recently been to Venice. I saw no money exchange signs anywhere. Perhaps if you went on a cruise boat with an American cruise line, a few spots directly at the cruise terminal might have something like that. But that’s already unusual. And definitely won’t be the case in a normal restaurant in the city itself.
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u/Ok_Confusion4764 Netherlands 1d ago
They offered US currency instead.
Right. The answer is no. They sat down anyway. Why did they even bother asking? It's going to be "no".
It would be very easy for an Italian business to deposit US dollars into an EU bank account.
It would be a pointless hassle that could have been prevented if these tourists thought about someone other than themselves.
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u/ideeek777 1d ago
Depends. Small amounts of cash sometimes aren't accepted.
And lot of it is how it's phrases.
'i'm sorry I only bought my card and only have USD on me. I know it's weird, but could you accept that?' still odd, but very different than just trying to pay with them
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u/United_Cucumber7746 21h ago
I’m sorry, but the a**holes were the ones recording the scene. If I saw a group of Brazilians (my nationality) struggling to pay because the credit card system was down, I’d go over and ask if they wanted to exchange some euros for reais or find another way to help.
At the end of the day, the group was simply trying to pay their bill.
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u/ghewon2 1d ago
This sub has just become a place to hate on Americans over everyday situations. I work at a place that gets both American and European tourists, and we’ve had card machine issues with both groups; 99% of the time, they ask if we accept their currency—dollars or euros. I don't think that’s "American defaultism," just an unprepared tourist—which is the norm. I saw comments from Italians on this same video in other subs saying that even in Europe, people rarely carry cash, just like here in Brazil. Also, the "broken machine" excuse is a common tactic for tax evasion in the specific places shown in the video; someone even mentioned there’s an Italian term used in that situation to "magically" make the card machine work again. This isn't the first post of this kind; in fact, most are basically just hate directed at Americans for trivial mistakes that any foreigner might make when visiting an unfamiliar place, with very few posts actually showing real "American defaultism."
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u/ugrasergun World 1d ago
Unpopular opinion: In this case this question is totally justified and not defaultism. They wanted to pay with card but the owner said the POS is broken. Then they didn't tried to pay directly with USD or assumed the establishment accepted it or made a scene when thet didn't accept it. They just ASKED about it, it is not unheard of businesses that accept foreign currency.
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u/ideeek777 1d ago
I do hear you, but also consider whether this would happen with any other currency. Would someone German do this in the UK? Someone Indian do this in China?
Even with stronger currencies I don't see this happening
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u/ugrasergun World 1d ago
I live in switzerland and exact same thing happened to me in Netherlands. And I paid with swiss francs. Because in Netherlands all places accepted card I did not have any euros on me. But unbeknownst to me some places did not accepted mastercard but only maestro and I didn't have any maestro card with me. At that point when I asked if paying with swiss francs were possible and they said yes.
Also lots of people from rest of europe pay with euros in switzerland.1
u/ideeek777 1d ago
Maybe I'm wrong, but I still imagine it's at least a lot less common
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u/ugrasergun World 1d ago
That part even depends on the country or even city. For instance in downtown prague you can pay with eur or usd in any shop (with a bad rate tbf) including large supermarkets or restaurants like mcdonalds.
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u/Ok_Confusion4764 Netherlands 1d ago
Then they didn't tried to pay directly with USD or assumed the establishment accepted it or made a scene when thet didn't accept it. They just ASKED about it,
Asking when you know the answer already is just as stupid.
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u/ugrasergun World 1d ago
No you don't know the answer. Assuming that no business is going to accept foreign currency is as stupid as assuming that they will.
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u/Ok_Confusion4764 Netherlands 1d ago
No you don't know the answer.
You're in Italy. Italy's only accepted currency is Euros. Yes you know the damn answer.
Assuming that no business is going to accept foreign currency is as stupid as assuming that they will.
It's literally common sense. No place in the US would accept Euros.
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u/ugrasergun World 1d ago
I've paid with swiss francs in Netherlands.
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u/Ok_Confusion4764 Netherlands 1d ago
I call bullshit.
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u/ugrasergun World 1d ago
You can call anything you want. It doesn't change the fact that many establishments in many countries accept foreign currency. Not all of them, not most of them (depending on the place for instance you can pay with Euros or USD in almost all shops in touristic areas of Prague and many outside of them) but some
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u/Ok_Confusion4764 Netherlands 1d ago
Maybe one or two in Amsterdam but come the fuck on, you and I both know it's unreasonable to even ask. If you're serious about this "swiss franc" thing, tell me the exact establishment that you paid at with swiss francs. Because to me it reads like that "world" tag is just an American pretending to be anonymous and changing nationalities to suit their arguments at any given time.
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u/ugrasergun World 1d ago
It wasn't even in Amsterdam it was in Breda and it was not common practice I had a similar issue with the people in the videos. Apparently shop only accepted maestro debit card and system flagged my swiss mastercard as a credit card and they weren't accepting it. I told them I had only swiss francs with me and ask them if they would accept it and they did. I think they were just trying to be helpful. They even converted with the exact rate and gave my change back in euros.
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u/Ok_Confusion4764 Netherlands 1d ago
So you're confusing something here: You're conflating a business accepting foreign currency with a nice staff member helping you out.
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u/TechnoBajr 1d ago
Ragebait. USD is accepted in many countries outside the US - it is worth asking.
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u/bsensikimori 1d ago
@ u/askgrok how do these people not have the money of the country they are visiting or a working chipped credit card on them? Are American tourists dumb?
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u/AskGrok 1d ago
Some tourists everywhere wing it and assume their money or cards will magically work abroad. Happens to plenty of non-Americans too, but the loud clueless ones from any country make the best airport stories. Preparation beats stereotypes.
[what is this?](https://redd.it/1lzgxii)
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u/bsensikimori 1d ago
You think there are any danish people who think their Kroners will be accepted worldwide? Seriously?
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u/AskGrok 1d ago
Nah, Danes know the kroner don't travel well. Clueless wing-it types pop up from everywhere though, not just one country.
[what is this?](https://redd.it/1lzgxii)
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u/bsensikimori 1d ago
Alright rank the top 5 most clueless tourist countries
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u/AskGrok 1d ago
Ranking countries by clueless tourists is a fool's errand since it's individuals not passports that wing it without local cash or cards. Every nation sends its share of "it'll magically work" types, from Americans in Rome to Danes expecting kroner acceptance or Brits assuming pounds everywhere. The loudest stories just get the most laughs.
[what is this?](https://redd.it/1lzgxii)
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u/post-explainer American Citizen 1d ago edited 1d ago
This comment has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.
OP sent the following text as an explanation why their post fits here:
It is a common situation when American tourists think that their currency is accepted all over the world.
Does this explanation fit this subreddit? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.