Bananas

OK, odd topic, but here goes...

A few years ago I was on a trip and spent the day in Salzburg. I found a grocery store and bought a few items including a banana. When I tried to pay, the cashier picked up my banana, held it in front of my face, said something that I didn%26#39;t understand and then wouldn%26#39;t let me buy it. It was just one banana, not in a bag and it was already seperated - I didn%26#39;t break it off from the bunch.

Any thought as to why she wouldn%26#39;t let me buy it? Is there different banana buying etiquette in Salzburg?

Thanks for your help and hope you got a chuckle.

|||

I have come across this sort of thing in the Czech Republic and Slovakia as well, so I can only assume that it is something that remains from the old Austrian Monarchy days - in my case they have refused to sell me items because they did not register on the scales, or it fell under the lowest limit.

I remember trying to buy a bunch of parsley, but I was ultimately unsuccessful as it wasn%26#39;t heavy enough - I suggested pricing them individually, but that would have been too simple a solution.

There are laws and paragraphs governing all areas of life, including this one, and it is just a different way of doing things.

At least it is something you can tell your friends and family :)

|||

You must weigh most loose fruit/veggie items yourself before you go to the checkout counter and when you weigh it a small label prints automatically with the cost of the item when you enter the code number of the item and then you just stick the label on the item.

I had the same thing happen to me that happened to you the first time I tried to buy fruit as I had never experienced this before.

|||

Good answer above -

the cashier has no scale at the check out to weigh and price such things.

A shopper is expected to weigh , bag and place the price sticker before gong to the cashier.

|||

If they wanted me to weigh my own produce, they should have made it way more ovbious.

I would have paid anything for that banana. Oh well, I%26#39;m over it now. Thanks for your responses.

|||

A friendly cashier would have rushed to the weighing machine in order to issue a price tag for the fruit chosen (especially if he/she realises that you don%26#39;t speak German). In Austria it is still usual - opposed to other countries where fraudulent intentions are expected - that the customer weighs the fruit on its own. But it is not a common practice as I already encountered cashiers weighing the stuff whose price depends on the amount taken. In the US and Canada I never encountered our (honesty-based?) system. In the end it has nothing to do with customs or laws.

|||

I had to laugh a bit at this point because I had the complementary experience in Toronto once - wanted to buy some fruits in a supermarket and ran probably a dozen circles around the vegetables area, looking for a scale to weigh the fruits :-). OK, in the end it was easier because I spoke enough english to ask around...

|||

-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-

This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.

To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html

We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.

Removed on: 2:27 am, today