Posted on 01/08/2007 7:34:56 PM PST by DocFarmer
Pizza Patrón's Peculiar Pecuniary Peso-Paying Predicament
Written by Doc Farmer
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
ChronWatch.com
As most of my regular readers know, I'm not averse to world travel. Been there, done that, seen the movie and bought the thawb and ghutra. I've worked in many a country. When I'm in those countries, I have made it a point to be respectful of the laws and customs for whatever particular locale in which I'm residing.
When I'm in Tokyo, I bow respectfully to my co-workers but still avoid the sushi (or, as I like to call it, bait). When I'm in England, I don't diss football (their version), I don't joke about foods with names like Spotted Dick and Toad in the Hole (though I do snicker privately), and I don't drive on the right side of the road as opposed to the left. When I'm in Saudi Arabia, I don't walk down the street in the daytime during Ramadan drinking a beer and eating a pork chop with some hot chick in a bikini on my arm.
It's what my parents taught me long ago. The name, apparently lost in today's modern world, was once called "common courtesy."
One part of that courtesy was accepting the fact that I had to use local currency when I was outside the good'ol U. S. of A. So, I'd make it a point to find a local Bureaux de Change or Cambio (when you travel, you learn to look for those words real quick, along with the initials WC [different service there]) to turn my greenbacks into redbacks, bluebacks, orangebacks, and several other equally colorful backs of local value. I kinda liked the fact that the bills were different sizes, but that was more of a novelty factor than a true aide in paying whatever tab I had to settle. If I used an ATM, I'd get the cash in local legal tender, and the funds would come out of my account in dollars (following a healthy exchange cut taken by the bank(s), of course). It didn't take me long to learn the coinage, and since I can count to 100, and I'm not totally bereft of numerary skills, I am able to pay the taxi driver, the grocery store clerk, the waiter and the porno shop owner with equal flair and accuracy.
That courtesy, however, only seems to work one way. The "ugly American" concept is one where we expect all other countries to bow to us. Yet, it seems that we "uglies" are the ones who must constantly put up with the discourteous and indeed impudent actions of people not of this nation.
Don't believe me?
Well, here (as the British would say) is the thin edge of the wedge. Or, perhaps, the slice.
In Dallas, Texas (which, at last check, was still in the United States of America), a regional pizza chain known as Pizza Patrón ( http://www.pizzapatron.com/ ) has, according to a story in the Dallas Morning News ( http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/010607dnbuspesos.31047f5.html ), announced that it is going to start doling out its wares to customers who pay not with the legal tender of this great land, but with the (ig)noble Peso of our (not-so-neighborly) neighbors south of the Border.
That's right. The noble American Pizza (yes, yes, I know the Italians technically invented it -- we just made it BETTER!) can now be purchased in an American Pizza chain, not with American Dollars, but with Pesos.
I can't tell you how many times I've caught hell in several restaurants, laundromats, and arcades for inadvertently handing them a Canadian coin intermixed with the American stuff. Which meant that somebody else had fobbed off the offending filthy lucre on me without my notice, leaving me a day late and several American cents short.
Now, an American-based Pizza chain which apparently caters to a high number of non-American patrons within American borders will accept foreign currency?
We already have to bend over and grab the ankles for illegal aliens of every nationality. We have to open the orifice while legislators insert ballots in dozens of languages. Hell, the government doesn't even grease up the signs that say "Hablamos Espanola" anymore prior to obtruding them up the wrong end of our digestive tracts.
So now, we've got to personally insert multiple foreign currencies aka "Papillion"?
Sorry, but if a furr'ner wants to do trade or commerce in this country, s/he should go to a bank, exchange the foreign currency for American, and THEN go out and buy a [insert favorite expletive here for deletion] pizza!
I'm not even sure if such a process is technically legal. If I'm not mistaken (and I've worked in banking -- local and international -- for many years), the only currency recognized for the payment of debts and obligations within the United States is the U.S. Dollar. The only area where that rule doesn't apply is in the Duty Free zones of an air or sea port, and even then the stores there stick you something fierce for the exchange rate. For Pizza Patrón to do something like this, would it not have to apply as a currency exchange facility? Furthermore, would that not entail Pizza Patrón coming under banking regulations as well as pizza regulations? (Yes, I'm certain that there are pizza regulations -- God knows, everything else in this country is regulated in some fashion...)
If Pizza Patrón is indeed planning to perform a currency exchange, it has to advertise the buy/sell rates plus any further fees (flat or percentage) in order for the consumer to understand just how badly it is screwing the customer for the privilege. I believe Pizza Patrón would also have some rather interesting accounting activities it will have to go through in order to ensure it is paying the correct levels of sales/restaurant/federal/state/local/thumb tax. It also has to ensure it separates the different currencies in such-and-such a manner so as to not accidentally give the wrong change or mess things up for the customer or bank. In addition, the banks who serve Pizza Patrón have to be able to handle currency exchange (not all banks do this).
Would Pizza Patrón go to so much trouble for its AMERICAN-paying customers? Methinks the answer is nay.
I'm also interested why Pizza Patrón is accepting pesos in an American restaurant for an Italian-based product. Shouldn't it be taking payment in Lira? Unless it is selling a Taco Pizza to the customer, of course...
Look, free enterprise and free trade doesn't mean that a company can fly in the face of the law, or even in the face of its customer base in the nation where it is based. When I'm in Tokyo, I pay for a Big Mac in Yen. When I'm in the UK, I pay in Pounds and Pence. When I'm in Riyadh, I pay in Riyals and Hallallahs. I don't pay in dollars.
So why should Tourists, Legal Immigrants and Illegal Aliens pay for American Products in an American Restaurant in an American City with Mexican Pesos? Or any other currency beyond the U.S. Dollar, for that matter?
~~~~~oo0oo~~~~~
Note to All Red-Blooded Real-American Pizza-Eaters: If you'd like to tell the folks at Pizza Patrón just what you think of its Pizza-For-Pesos program, its restaurants, or even the burro it rode in on, you can reach them in the following ways:
Pizza Patrón Website -- Click Here ( http://www.pizzapatron.com/ )
Contact Form and Info -- Click Here ( http://www.pizzapatron.com/contact_info.cfm )
Call Pizza Patrón at: 972-613-8000
Fax Pizza Patrón at: 972-613-8014
Write Pizza Patrón at:
Pizza Patrón Inc. 10999 Petal Street Suite 200 Dallas, TX 75238
~~~~~oo0oo~~~~~
Note to ICE: Since you're done raiding Swift Meat Packing locations for illegals, how 'bout a quick visit to your local Pizza Patrón? If you need help finding its many, many locations, just try this link. By the way, do I get a finder's fee?
About the Writer: Doc Farmer is a columnist, security consultant, humorist, and parttime curmudgeon living in America's heartland. He is also moderator on ChronWatch's Forum. Doc receives e-mail at docfarmer9999@yahoo.co.uk
This Article Was First Published In ChronWatch At: http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=26039
Some stores of Texas' largest grocery chain, HEB, accept pesos, too. It's not like Pizza Patron is the first retail establishment to do this.
How come nobody's screaming about the other stores in TX which do this?
Here's my question: If someone paid in counterfeit pesos, would it be illegal? Would there be any recourse since the only legal tender in the United States is dollars?
I think it would be considered fraud, just as if you bartered fake diamonds for something.
Just checked HEB's website. They don't say a thing about accepting pesos as a corporate entity. Do you have evidence of specific stores that do this?
When I traveled, I saw money vendors all over. You get off the plane and there are guys trying to get your American dollar. Most shops will take American dollars. Just make sure you are getting a good rate.
Proof, please? I shop at two HEBs and a Central Market and have never seen anyone try to pay with pesos.
Do counterfeiting laws apply if one tries to pass the Bush Peso?
--IF they are collecting payment in pesos, what is the appropriate sales tax to be collected?--
His 'sale' and taxes is recorded in dollars. He merely accepts pesos and may or may not make a profit on the exchange rate. It happens every second all over the world.
I go into a jewelry shop in Mexico City and the prices are in pesos. Ask the vendor for a quote in US dollars, then figure his exchange rate vs. what the bank around the corner will give and then figure out whether it is worth the effort to go to the bank or just let the guy make a few pesos on the exchange.
It gets worse! I just found out that banks will accept pesos!
I have no objection whatsoever to you voicing your objection to this practice. I'm just voicing my disagreement with your objection!
Now that is good alliteration.
If they are violating a law, which I doubt, they should be notified of the fact and then prosecuted if they do not stop the practice.
If public expectation disagrees, then the public is free to voice their opposition, shop elsewhere, demonstrate or organize boycotts. If you disagree strongly enough, organize a campaign to change the law appropriately.
However, until it is legally impermissible this company has every right to just ignore your outrage if they decide to. Nobody has a right not to be offended, which I thought was a concept the PC people had come up with.
I hope you all realize that many stores in towns like Laredo, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Harlingen take pesos. It makes for good business for them.
The Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas had some report on it, and IIRC, it was in the Dallas Morning News, and Time had a cover story on it.
I used to drive to the HEB in Del Rio from the hill country to get a product manufactured by Nestle in Mexico, which my local HEB wouldn't special order for me..That was several years ago, and IIRC, they accepted pesos, and everyone was bilingual back then.
Xena, If you have been at the HEB website, then use the store locator, and call the HEB in Eagle Pass to see if they take pesos.
I started to post some HEB phone numbers, but recalled that sometimes that gets posts deleted.
BTW, I realize, I've seen those sales tax kiosks at the outlet malls in San Marcos, too. I asked my friend who works at the Mall what they were for, and she told me.
BTW, I heard the owner on the radio: he's Lebanese, something like Anthony (or maybe Antonio) Saud ("Sowad"?).
--Uh, Banks are financial institutions, and if they're duly authorised for ForEx currency trading, this is entirely legal. Last I heard, a pizza joint ain't a financial institution. Neither is a grocery store, a Wal-Mart, etc.--
Right. Please state the US law that prevents a store from accepting foreign currency for payment.
I would boycott them as well. Any "private buisness" that wishes to cater to Mexicans is free to do so, and I am free to take my American dollars elsewhere.
Since they're so concerned about "hispanic customers" and "pesos", they'll get their wish. No American should spend a cent on them, and eventually, they'll have to move their operations to Mexico.
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