h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A work colleague told me that her daughter had a bit of a problem on holiday.
Before she set off to Croatia she went to the foreign exchange counter in the Post Office and asked them to change Sterling (GBP) into Croatian currency.
The lady behind the counter did the calculation based on the currency conversion rate, put the money into an envelope and handed it over in return for the pounds.
On holiday the young woman got her money envelope out to pay for her first journey on public transport to be told, "That's Czech money. We don't take that here."
In a panic she phoned home and my friend told her to calm down and that they would get money to her. They told her to put all of the money back in the envelope and not to touch it.
Cutting a long story short when she got home safely she went back to the post office and they changed the money back without query and gave her the number of the complaints office.
She phoned up and negotiated a £50 compensation payment for all of the running around she had to do to and for the money transfer.

In Cornwall some 12 years ago the banks there were very suspicious of our Danish Kr. notes They had to look it up ...

Years ago when I was at primary school there was a craze for collecting cards that were in packs of chewing gum. One set that was very popular with young boys (as it was all about the American Civil War with lots of pictures of fighting and horrible atrocities that fascinate the young male of the species).

The also included a mock up of a confederate bank note. Generally they were 1 dollar notes but occasionally they had higher denominations. It was said, at the time, that someone had gone into a shoe shop in Oxford Street (Famous London shopping street) and used one of the $1000 dollar notes in purchasing a pair of shoes and walked out with the change in real money.

We all dreamed of doing the same thing.

Poor girl, it must have caused a lot of stress.

Yes, she didn't have the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy with her with the reassuring Don't Panic on the back... so she panicked.