$$$ American Cash $$$

Being the thoughtful, planning type of guy that I am, I went to the bank today (a week in advance) to look into getting American cash for my trip to Africa. Yea, go figure, I need American cash for Africa – does anybody see something wrong with this picture??? Anyways, knowing this is the case, I wanted to plan ahead and get it early so off I went.

Bank #1
“I need to get some American cash. Can you help me with that?”
“Let me check…talk with co-worker…we don’t carry any but you can order it three days in advance and we can get it in for you. You could also go to our branch in Paramatta and get it the same day (never mind which of the 15 branches in Paramatta?) or you could go to the travel agent in Castle Towers (explained which of the 10 to go to).”
“OK, thank you. I’ll check the other options.”
“Do you need it today?”
“Actually no, I just wanted to come in and chat with someone I don’t know and thought I’d ask about the cash while I was at it. I’m a finance kind of a guy and that’s my way of making small talk. I find money a truly fascinating topic of discussion.” Oops. Did I just say that? Actually I held my tongue. No worries
“How much do you need?”
“$300”
“Oh, cause if you order it, we need to order a minimum of $500 Australian dollars in American cash.”
“You mean to say we’re ordering American cash but measuring the amount in Aussie currency?” Ok. Whatever… held my tongue again J


Bank #2
“I’m looking for some American cash. Can you help me?”
“Let me just check. Uh, help!!! (Co-worker comes over and teller shows a stack of American cash to co-worker) there’s a fee for converting to American. Oh! Do you have an account here?”
“No. I have one with your competition down the street but they can’t help me.”
“I was just told we can’t exchange money for non-members.”
“So you mean to say you can’t take the Aussie cash from my pocket and replace it with a similar value of American money, taking a cut for yourself, making profit on someone who doesn’t regularly come here and will help someone else make a profit and with this type of service likely won’t bother coming back here again to make you more money?” – Boy I’m doing well in holding my tongue!!!
“Thank you. I understand that’s the rule so you need to follow it”



Bank #3
“It sure is quiet around her today!”
“Yea, look at the carpark (parking lot). Usually you can’t even get a spot and today you can take your pick.”
A little more small talk cause they’re friendly at this bank – nice surprise…
“So I’m looking for American cash. Is there anything you can do for me on that front?”
“Help! (Co-worker comes to help)”
Thought - Is it just me or is there a trend developing here??? Does no one know anything about exchanging cash for a foreign currency?
2 minutes spent looking dumbfounded at the computer screen…
“I’m sorry, we don’t have any. We could order it in, but that would take three days.”
“Ok, thank you.”
“Have a good weekend”


Bank #4
“How can I help you?”
“I just pushed the buttons on the screen at the door asking me what I want to do here today. It told me where to go based on my request for service regarding currency exchange and it told you the same thing it told me, so you should already know how to help me!!! – kind of like a fortune teller asking you name…” again, didn’t say it. By this time I could hardly contain my laughter…
“I think I know the answer to my question already but I’ll ask it anyways… Is there any hope of getting American cash?”
“We can order it in and it will take 14 days or you can go to the Castle hill branch and they can give it to you over the counter.”
“Fourteen days? Does someone have someone swim it over from the States?” well, at least I found an employee who didn’t have to ask a co-worker… and again, I held my tongue. At this point, I couldn’t contain my laughter anymore and I think she was offended. Oops.
“Ok, thank you.”


And so goes the saga of finding American cash in Australia. The majority of Australian’s I’ve met have been to America; so it’s not as though this is an unusual question. Many Australian’s have also been to various African and Asian countries and many of them accept only American cash.

Interesting that there are countries stuck far enough in the dark ages that they trust American currency more than their own. More interesting that a “3rd I mean 1st world country like Australia would be stuck ever farther in the dark ages and not realize this is happening. After all, what are financial institutions for if not to help with common financial actions?


Back to bank #2
“I’d like to open an account please…”

Just had a thought… What would the service be like if I walked in wearing a suit and tie instead of short and a tank top? I’ve tried that before and it worked wonders. Maybe I’ll have to try it again.

Thankfully, I was able to find the Imodium I was looking for on this trip...