$64. for a Lei

Here is your brain teaser for the day. What do Hawaii and Romania have in common? I can hear those synapses firing for some of you; others are just trying to read on to see if I share the answer. The clue was in the title of this post. In Hawaii, you get a lei at the airport if you are lucky. In Romania you get a lei in your wallet. Lei is the currency of Romania. What the hell has that to do with the title of the post you ask? A week ago, we had these two guests who where leaving here for Romania. They were concerned about not having any currency when they arrived with the train arriving late in the evening. In my box of currency from many nations that we have left over from trips, I had a 20,000 Romanian Lei bill and offered to sell it to them for American dollars. Ron was about to leave for the US; this gave him starter cash. In the back of my mind, I knew that Romania had changed from the old lei to the new lei. At my stage of life, I don't think about new leis or old leis, but had thought best to Google it with visuals. All of the pictures showed this bill was a new lei, so I sold it with good faith for $64. Last night, the guest called to say they had a great time in Romania, but guess what, his lei would not get him a lay or anything else. I apologized, reiterated that I checked it online and the pictures for a good lei matched the lei I had laying around. He remembered I had done that, but still he was told his 20,000 leis would not get a good lay or a bad meal. I offered to have him sent a check by my CA bank and apologized yet again. All he has to do is send me his address and I would like the lei back to at least make into a bookmark if it is just going to lay around again. Personally, I still think it is a good lei, but if you ever want me to be your currency broker from now on, all deals are final!

Pin It Now!