Why do Russians put change in a dish?

[Laura Kline]

I would guess it has something to do with avoiding
arguments about the change. The seller puts the change on
the counter in plain view, and the customer can dispute it
before touching it. If he were to touch it first, he could
steal some of the money, then accuse the seller of not
giving him proper change.

Laura

On Sun, 19 Sep 2004 08:46:20 -0500
 Olga Livshin <o-livshin at northwestern.edu> wrote:
> I believe that is also sometimes done (but discouraged)
> in the US. In
> many supermarkets, change drops into a small dish. As
> part of training
> for a clothing store, the manager usually tells the
> employees not to put
> down the change on the counter, but to give it to the
> customer. I was
> told by one manager that this is done so as to impart
> equality to the
> transaction, rather than do this vertically (drop the
> cash on the counter
> and make the customer pick it up). Perhaps it has to do
> with the fact
> that in clothing stores, a semblance of an equal,
> supportive relationship
> is established as the employees help customers pick out
> the clothes. I am
> not sure if store managers in Slavic countries know about
> this/want to
> introduce this to their stores.
>
> Olga
>
> ==============Original message text===============
> On Sun, 19 Sep 2004 8:23:09 am CDT Miriam Margala wrote:
>
> I'm not sure about this being unique - I've seen it in
> both Czech and
> Slovak Reps, in Hungary and elsewhere in my travels
> through Europe. And
> I never thought about it as that strange - they put your
> change on a
> dish and by the time you get it from the dish, another
> customer is served.
>
> Smith, Hunter wrote:
>
> >This is, I think, a rather trivial but interesting
> question.
> >
> >Do any of the Russian anthropologists/sociologists or
> historians know
> why in most Russian stores and kiosks, the payment and,
> subsequently, the
> change is put on a small plate rather than being
> exchanged directly from
> the customer to the merchant's hands (or vice versa in
> the case of change)?
> >
> >No one I have asked so far has come up with a
> satisfactory answer. Am I
> wrong in thinking that this is a uniquely Russian or
> Slavic practice? I
> suspect it is and I suspect there is probably some
> interesting
> explanation for it.
> >
> >Hunter Smith
> >
> >
> >
>
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Use your web browser to search the archives, control
> your subscription
>   options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web
> Interface at:
>
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ===========End of original message text===========
>
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Use your web browser to search the archives, control
> your subscription
>   options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web
> Interface at:
>                     http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Laura Kline
Lecturer in Russian
Wayne State University
443 Manoogian Hall
906 W. Warren
Detroit, MI  48202
(313) 577-2666
www.shalamov.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------