1881 Vienna menu

[Frank Abate]

Barry P said:

>>
NEWSPAPER BAGS--These things are all over the city.  In NYC, they're the
newspaper boxes where you get your VILLAGE VOICE.  Here, they're plastic
bags.  You're kindly requested to take just one newspaper, and to leave the
proper amount in a metal box.  I don't know if there's a special name for
this.
<<

On a different but related note, I am struck by the relatively recent
practice in the US (elsewhere, too?) of small convenience stores and
restaurants having a penny tray at the cash register, where one can leave or
take a penny or two to make exact change.  Some of these say on them "Give a
penny, take a penny", but I don't know if there is one term to apply to this
practice.  I did not notice this practice in my youth or early adulthood
(I'm 51), but it seems quite widespread now (though not in large chain
stores).

As to the increasing unimportance of the penny, I add that a 30ish person I
was speaking with last week said that she throws away pennies she finds in
her pocket at the end of the day.  This surprised me, but some others of the
same age range said they do this, too.

Frank Abate