Cash is not always King by Geoff Ballance

 

An amusing story about what happens when you arrive in Finland, without working credit cards. Written by Geoff Ballance.

Does it ever concern you that we are moving more and more to a cashless society? When my girlfriend (GF) went to Finland this past summer, she landed at the Helsinki airport, collected her luggage and made her way to the train.

Now according to the VR website, you can get to the Helsinki Airport with just one train ticket from anywhere in Finland. From the airport’s railway station, you can easily walk to either of the airport’s terminals without ever needing to go outside. But and this is a big but, the one thing that it not clear, is that while there is a vending machine to get your ticket, the machine only accepts credit cards. Cash is not an option.

Now this should not have been a concern as my GF was loaded with credit cards and cash-Euros that I had personally purchased from a reputable currency exchange house in Vancouver.  Except, being jet-lagged, emotionally wrought- she was traveling to Finland to attend a family funeral- or whatever reason one wants to give, she had forgotten all but two cards.  One, which she had forgotten the PIN and thus got locked out after the maximum allowable attempts.  The other, an American Express, was not accepted.

The official who told her that cash was not accepted at the ticket vending machine just shrugged and said that, sorry, there were no other options.  Well, apparently that was the wrong thing to say.  If I had been there, I would have instinctively stepped back a few paces because I was familiar with the aggressive rant that was about to take place.  There was a good chance of collateral damage.  I guess the poor guy was getting tired of hearing questions that he was unable to politely answer because he finally held his hands up defensively and asked if she had Euros.  “Yes, yes I do, right here.” she said, excited to see a possible solution to the ticket problem.  Reaching into her bag, she proceeded to pull out the black and white currency exchange envelope that I had handed to her shortly before her departure and held it up victoriously.

 “Euros!”  Reaching into the envelope she pulled out a handful of…American dollars???!! What the…I could picture the frowning look of disbelief on my GF's face as she was trying to figure out how the envelope of Euros had magically turned into American dollars.  She barely heard the official mutter an apology as he slinked away.  Well now she was in a pickle-stranded in Helsinki with no (useful) cash and a blocked credit card.

Now, when I heard what happened next, a person really should consider the possibility of the existence of Karma.  I had to look up the definition to make sure I get it right…something like this…noun: kar.ma the sum of a person's actions viewed as deciding their fate in future existences.  My GF volunteers her time to different organisations.  She donates to different charities.  She lets bugs out of the house instead of squishing them.  She even goes easy on me when I screw up (Joo. Rakastan sinua).

Just as she was considering hopping on the train illegally, a man approached, holding a train ticket.  "Here." He said in perfect Canadian English.  "I'm visiting my girlfriend in Helsinki.  I am from Canada and couldn't help but overhear your predicament.”  He refused to accept any dollars for the ticket and quickly vanished into the crowd. 

Before long I received a WhatsApp message from her.  It was a photo of the envelope from the exchange house with American dollars peeking out.  She was safely curled up on a sofa at her cousin Arja’s apartment near the Linnanmäki park and would appreciate an explanation please.  Now it was my turn to frown.  "Oh gawd!" I thought.  I'm losing it… Did I buy American dollars instead of Euros?  I was certain that I asked for Euros.  As I was questioning my sanity, I received another message from her with another photo.  It was a picture of the receipt from the exchange house.  It took a moment to realize what I was looking at.  A wave of relief flooded over me as I focused on one line-Sell EUR!  I did buy Euros…they had mistakenly given me American dollars.

I quickly called the exchange house and explained that I was there a few days ago to buy some Euros but I think I was given American dollars instead.  I wasn't prepared for the response, "Oh it's you.  We were wondering when you were going to call.  We were out $545.00 American dollars that day.  I am so sorry that this has happened." 

The people at the exchange house were very nice and, in the end, made everything work out to our benefit.  They were tripping over themselves apologising for their mistake but, to this day I can't help but quietly share the blame.  I watched someone count out $450 American dollars in front of me, thinking they were Euros.  I can't help but think that I would never make that mistake if they were counting out Finnish Markka in front of me.  Where the heck is the Finnish Markka when you need it?