Jipped

This summer, when I told people that I would be spending the semester in Prague, I got a few standard answers. Oh, cool. Where is that again? or Did you know that the beer is cheaper than the water? (They totally were not kidding!) and They drink beer with breakfast there! But I also got some non-beer related comments. Watch out for pickpockets and I hear they really don’t like tourists there. 

I decided that the last comment couldn’t really be true. Because along with getting all of these comments, I also kept hearing about how everyone’s parents, sisters, cousins, colleagues, etc had just been to Prague and they loved it. If everyone had just been, could they really hate tourists? 

For the most part, I have found that shopkeepers and waiters generally appreciate it when I (attempt) to speak in Czech with them. Some restaurants have special menus that they give to tourists, but as far as I know, I don’t think I’ve been given any of these “special” menus. 

Until this morning. I seem to be coming down with my second cold, awesome, and I decided that tea would be a smart idea. There’s a little coffee shop which is down the street from our classroom, so I popped in on my way. I ordered my tea in Czech, and the woman gave me a way smaller size cup than I had ordered, but I was running late and I didn’t know the right word for “large” so I decided to just accept it, even though it bugged me to no end. The total for my tea was 17 Kc, which is easy to pay with coins, but I only had about 13 Kc or a 2000 Kc bill. Why the ATMs in Prague give out 1000 and 2000 Kc bills when no one will take them, I will never understand. But the woman took one look at my bill and said “Ne.” Now I was really pissed. First she jipped me with my tea then she wouldn’t take my money! There was another woman in the store who saw that there was a problem and nicely offered me 5 Kc. I have no idea why she helped me, but I am so grateful that she did. When my friend Rosie ordered her tea, as she is also battling a cold, the woman poured her water and then helped two other people before giving it to her! This made me so mad not only because her whole attitude was incredibly rude, but also, I know that this never would have happened had we both been Czech. 

Guess I should learn the word for “large”…