"Want a Leu (pronounced Lay) mister?"
This is the chant that greeted us as we walked down the streets of Bucharest. (money changers)
A Leu (Lay) is like our dollar, only worth a few cents, the Bani is a metal coin like our nickel. With this in mind, my friend
and I decided to teach these guy a lesson, because they were cheating people. Two at a time would take a "victim" into an alley under
the pretex of not being seen by the police. One would watch for the police, as the other would count out the correct Romania Leu,
then like magic the other man announced that the police were coming, and the "money man" would put the "count-out" in his jacket
pocket. Next the police magically disappeared, and the "money man" would reach in his jacket and pull a wad of bills, handing
them quickly to their "victim " as the wad of money was different and very short.
"Want a Lay mister?" Is funny enough. Now let's see if these money changers have a sense of humor.
As expected, my friend and I were approached by two "money changers"; they lit up like Roman candles when I said we had
$1500 to exchange. Quickly we were rushed into a quiet alley, "away from the police." (Now keep in mind English is their
second language at best.) So I laid our proposal; we wanted to exchange our $1500 for their "five cent" Bani metal coins. Why,
because we wanted the coins for their scrap metal value. It took a few minutes, but they got the drift who was scamming who.
Later I think I figured out there would be about three-quarters of a million coins. . . . It would seem that the word got
around, because we were never approached again by any money changers.
