If this had happened to you...
 

If in the middle of a hot day you try to get a cold drink from a vending machine... <BR>If a coin stays blocked inside the machine, you call the shop owner and he simply says it is not his problem... <BR>If you leave angrily... and returning back you find the shop owner opening the machine and taking the money... <BR>If you get more angry and he calls the police... while he shouts "nice words" as "bloody foreign"... <BR>If you spend 30 minutes trying to explain it to the police, while he continues to shout... <BR>If, in the end, you loose your money, your time and even worst, get insulted... <BR>If this had happened to you, what would have you done...? <BR>[English is not my mother language]

Not to diminish your frustration (but I guess that's what I'm going to do) ... I think that I would reserve being this upset about something waaaaayyyyy more heinous, but that's just my "put it in perspective" attitude.

What about "honesty"...? Does this exist? Did you call the police? Or did you get envolved? At least you should have been apologized and get your money back... Ann

for 50 cents, I'd probably walk away from it.

- Where was that ? <BR> <BR>I'd complain at the nearest tourist office. They usually don't like crooks giving a bad name to the city they work their a**es off to promote ...

Life is too short to get upset of something like that. My inner peace and time is worth more then the money lost in the machine. I would just smile and go buy a cool drink some place back. Negative feelings prevent one from enjoying anything. Not worth it.

Did you speak the same language as these people? Where was it? I'd forget about it, especially if I didn't speak their language and especially if it was in a place where police are known to be corrupt and tourists disappear into nasty jail cells!

I generally agree with others that the whole thing sounds like it was hardly worth the bother. But, since I love to annoy annoying people, I might have done this: Pick out the most expensive thing in the shop, start to buy it, and then say to the shopkeeper, "Oh, never mind. I think I'll go to a shop where the owner believes my problem is his problem."

First, you should have stuck with it when he said it wasn't his problem. It WAS his problem or you could have made it his problem (& why did you return back?). But the critical thing was not to lose your temper. <BR> <BR>Depending on how much time and energy you wanted to devote to this, you could have done things like: <BR> <BR>1. made a major show of writing down the name of the shop, his name, and the address. You may or may not tell him why you are doing this (see what he assumes) -- to put it in a guide book, to tell your cousin the attache in the Embassy, to give to a lawyer, etc. Whatever seems to unsettle him the most. <BR> <BR>2. sat in front of the machine all day and tell everyone who comes by that it's broken and the proprietor doesn't give refunds. <BR> <BR>3. asked the police to make him give you a refund, quietly, calmly, repeatedly, without adding any other issues. <BR> <BR> <BR>

People like Jack die young.

People like Grim Reaper die STUPID, (which is a pitty for him, not for us...) and shop owner like that die rich, thanks to stupids... <BR>Seriously there is no much you could do... but you shouldn't turn your back just because it was a little amount of money!

You know, Francis. You are right. I take back what I said before. <BR> <BR>On second thought, Jack should have taken a taxi ($15) to the American Embassy to report this. He should have cooled his heels in the lobby until he found a sympathetic bureacrat. If that didn't get him his coin, he should have filed a lawsuit in this foreign country (filing fee required), and then returned when it was time to plead his case to the judge. <BR> <BR>Get real. If someone rips you off for a measly coin, let it go. What goes around, comes around.

Pat the poor fellow on the back and tell him you realize his mother, wife, children and dog are very sick, and please, please will he take a few more coins to pay for their medicines. Then count out the equivalent of five cents and drop it at his feet. Smiling sympathetically all the while, of course.

herself, I couldn't agree more. Very well said!

Hi Jack! <BR> <BR>Take revenge. Never go to Italy again.

it wasn't italy... it was another civilized country! don't fish i wouldn't say. this can happen everywhere!

Hi Jack <BR>This kind of thing has happened to me often, being ripped off and not speaking the language seem to go hand in hand. My theory is that if you can't speak the lingo or don't have a good relative/buddy to help you out that might know the language, then walk away from it. Unfortunately travelling into places where you don't know the language opens you up to these sorts of things. There are a lot of places where this kind of behaviour is just accepted as the norm whereas generally in most westernised countries you could get assistance from the authorities. If this kind of thing is going to nag away at you then stick to the places that you can argue in your mother tongue but having said that I've even come accross merchants that just couldn't give a stuff in the USA. <BR> <BR>Then again you could always go back to the shop and blow up the vending machine thereby getting your moneys worth...