Silly question about getting change in Paris
 

This may sound like a trivial concern, but I had so much trouble getting/keeping coins, i.e., 1 and 2 Euro coins, and small bills during my first trip to Paris. Yet everybody seemed to want correct change (and even if they didn't, it's nice to have). I nearly got into an argument with a woman at Cluny over the 5 Euro entrance fee because I only had a 10 Euro note. She looked utterly disgusted with me, which I found rather amusing. If my French had been better I would have asked the obvious question: If everyone else is giving you exact change then why is is so hard for you to give me 5 Euros back? In any event, nearly every bank had signs posted stating that they didn't provide change. Will Exchange bureaus provide change without actually exchanging money? Am I missing some obvious solution?

Thanks!

Kate

Yes you're missing the word for change in the English sense - change in French does not mean coins. Banks that post a 'no Change' sign are saying that they don't exchange money - like dollars for euros - the French word for small change is 'monnaie' like in avez-you monnaie, or do you have change. If you go into a bank and ask for monnaie showing a large note you may get what you want. Why the Cluny lady wouldn't take ten euros may have more to do with the plethora of fake 10- and 20-euro notes floating about whereas 5 euros are less likely to be forged, perhaps even though 1 euro coins have also been fakes. But most likely it's just a haughty attitude that i've found with government-beaucrats who seem to be bothered in doing their job. I went into a RATP info office and started to ask a question, in French, and the young lady started screaming at me in French "You don't say bonjour when you come in? - really scolding me - at home i'd have been on the phone to her supervisor - me a tourist did not even know that not to say the fake 'bonjour madame' would set her off - i've seen many other rude clerks in government offices. C'est la vie!

I think your lack of the conventional greeting is excusable, since you were not familiar with the custom.

I think the RATP clerk's response was out of line. Much better to nicely inform you that a fake <i>bonjour</i> is expected.

Yes, Indygirl2, I noticed this last trip that it was difficult to get change, as in the example you gave, although I didn't meet with any hostility about it. If nobody has any change, where is it all going? And I, too, was not giving huge bills for a tiny purchases; kind of a curious phenomenon, n'est-ce pas?

This is an age old problem, at least as old as my 30 years of traveling in Europe. No merchant, government or commercial, will give you change in the American sense. I don't know why -- be it laziness, stupidity, curness, or arrogance -- but I don't ask for change anymore.

I can't recall any reluctance when asking &quot;vous avez de la monnaie?&quot; and holding out even notes as small as a five. I have done this more than once, at the end of a meal, for example... I pay the bill with a credit card, but feel like leaving something for the server - - if I have only a five euro note, and a 20 cent piece in my pocket, I don't hesitate to ask to get the five broken.

I <i>have</i> seen the clever act of bringing me back 2 two's and 2 fifty-cent coins - - kinda seduces you into leaving a two, rather than the 2 fifty-cent coins!

Best wishes,

Rex

I just returned from 12 days in Paris and never once encountered a problem with money. The odd time, I would be asked if I had anything smaller but thats an acceptable concern of any shop-keeper ; and it was certainly not done rudely and the transaction was made, if reluctantly. I always tried to make sure I had smaller bills but sometimes thats not possible especially since the ATMs spit out 50 E. notes if you are withdrawing any reasonable (vs small) amount.

Kay: ditto - been traveling to Paris since 1969 every year and stayed days often - rarely have had this happen. Perhaps there is now a shortage of small Euro coins for some reason. For me the problem is always getting too many small coins in change.

I can't recall ever having such an encounter in Paris either. If this was one isolated incident, I wouldn't worry about it. Maybe she was disgusted at you for some other reason ;)

I love Paris and never had such a problem. But knowing your manners in French gets you very, very far. Always start a conversation with Bonjour.

I've never had this as a major problem, either -- and really have never had a museum clerk refuse to give change of 5 euros. It is a common problem, though, as others said, if you start out with 50 euro notes from ATMs, you can't start out buying a newspaper with that. I just try to save my change when possible (and after I while, I get too much of it), and reserve the 50 euro notes for restaurants or stores where you are buying enough that it is reasonable to give them 50 euro.

I don't know if banks will do that, as I don't really think they want to be in the business of providing change to non-customers. They are running a business there, and it's not providing change for tourists. I've been in the bank of France for business and you have to be buzzed in and then wait in lines -- I suppose they might do that, but it's a strange request. I can't imagine someone waiting in line for the tellers at my bank just to get small change when they weren't a customer. I have not had great luck getting change from vendors, either, they usually will only give you something if you buy there, and then won't change extra notes just for your convenience. They need change too for their business

From time to time there are shortages of change (coins, anyway) in countries in the euro zone. Especially, for some reason, the 1 and 2 eurocent coins (which may be eliminated). Which is partly due to the fact that many Europeans have cupfuls of small change at home they don't like carting around with them. (We have a soup bowl full of 1 and 2 eurocent pieces, a mug of larger coins and a coffee cup of 1 and 2 euro coins on our kitchen windowsill.)
I think your Cluny lady was grumpy for an unrelated reason or maybe she was just an all-purpose sourpuss. You didn't give her an unduly large bill.
(FWIW, I find shopkeepers in Brussels are more willing to change large notes than their counterparts in Paris. At one little shop near our old Brussels flat, people routinely used 200 euro notes to buy a pack of cigarettes and the staff never blinked.)
In general, I've found the best place to break a large note is a larger, chain supermarket...at a Monoprix, for example or that supermarket on the rue Cler.

It is not just in Europe I've encountered this is Mexico as well. I simply *always* keep it in mind, and break large bills with small purchases at busy places like at a Monoprix, the post office, a department store.

BTilke, how 'bout I just buy your bowls of Euro coins. Problem solved.

BTilke, sounds like CoinStar needs to branch out to Europe.

Or maybe Europe needs a bunch of vending machines in 'exact change only' mode. That will make you keep a pocket full of change handy.

I never understood the concept behind the 2-Eurocent coin.

Kate, your post made me laugh and think of our last trip in 2003...We never saw much in the way of &quot;small change&quot; in Paris or Rome.

And in Rome, the subway REQUIRED exact change in the ticket automats, and the cost? .76 Euro. At 6 a.m. on our way to the airport we couldn't find the tickets we'd bought at a newsstand, and ended up trying to use what change we had in the machines...only to have them EAT IT (now we know where the exact change goes).

You can imagine what kind of luck we had finding more change at that hour, so we ended up grabbing a cab.

I do believe there is a shortage of small change there...and will be reading the responses to see just how one gets ahold of the stuff.

:)

Jules

Jules: your Rome metro travails are so similar to mine - a Sunday in a remote part of town where, on a Sunday, nothing was open and i had to buy a metro ticket but the machine said exact change - well i put in 80 euro cents - the machine required 76 like you said - figuring it would eat my 4 euro cents and give me the ticket - no it just returned the money - i thought what a stupid system and the change machine there was of course empty. there was a guy in a booth talking on a phone and he couldn't be bothered for several minutes and finally said to go to a cafe down the street - this worked but i felt like i had to buy a beer to ask for change and by this time i needed it.

Thanks for that &quot;silly question&quot; Indygirl2, and all the replies, it has probably saved us a few problems on our planned trip.

LOL - the only problem I ever had with change in Paris was trying to find the exact .40&euro; needed for the bathrooms on the street! :D

I have only had problems providing coins for the restrooms. I dropped some change into the bowl in a restroom at a famous tourist site in Paris and the attendant looked at it and handed me about two small squares of toilet paper. I guess you get what you pay for. I immediately, scrounged up some more change.....