Business on an IOU...part of Italian life ~ Romancing Italy
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Jul 28, 2009

Business on an IOU...part of Italian life


A first in my lifetime and only in a place where the "people factor" is still one of the most important things in the community, can it occur. What is it?

Purchasing items on an IOU.

I didn't have the cash for 3 yards of the pretty material you see above and the roll of bias binding. I am also notorious for forgetting my pin numbers for my ATM cards. Knowing all this beforehand, the lovely and very amicable owner of the little corner material store still went ahead and cut the material insisting I take the items with me.

I laugh when I think of her telling me I have a very honest face and she trusts me. Not because I don't think I'm honest, but because I know this will never happen in the America I lived in. I'd like to think perhaps in the small towns scattered across the States life might be like this. Does anyone know?

One thing for sure, she just won herself one more regular customer.
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3 comments:

  1. That's wonderful, and, like you say, it's probably unlikely to happen in the USA. I've never experienced it in the UK either, but have experienced it twice in Australia - two separate businesses let me take the goods and leave without paying on the promise that I would come back later and pay. I read somewhere that Australians are too trusting and many have been the victims of scams on the Internet. It's a shame that so much of the world seems to have lost basic trust in other human beings.
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  2. Hi Roz, isn't it a wonderful feeling when someone puts their trust in you? The thought instantly crossed my mind that this practice would be unhealthy for her business with the wrong people... and even people with "trustworthy" faces can end up being horribly bad people, as history shows us. I am glad to know that there are places that still have this human factor in it and I am glad to be in one of them. So glad you left your comment Roz.
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  3. What a nice story. Actually I've had it happen, and I don't live in a small town at all. I live in Columbus, the capital of Ohio. I was at a meat market, didn't realize they didn't take plastic. Had my bag of lunch meats and cheeses all packaged up. I never carry a check book, and didn't have enough cash. They wrote an IOU. I thought that was very cool. I went back and paid them and let them know how much I appreciated it.

    Popping in on all my friends today to ask a favor, could you swing by to see what I'm talking about.

    Thanks in advance
    Sandy
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Whisper sweet somethings

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