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Post by marianne48 on Nov 5, 2020 1:53:45 GMT
The answer's probably obvious to everyone but me, but please be merciful.
I remember watching an episode of Poirot from years ago. In the episode, Hastings is alone in Poirot's office; Poirot's secretary, Miss Lemon, is out for the day. A tradesman comes by to collect on a bill; Hastings can't find the checks, so he just pays him off with some cash. When Miss Lemon returns, she chews him out for messing up her organized system: "Don't you know when you pay cash, they always remember you?"
I can understand her being upset because her accounts were now out of order, but I don't know what she meant by her comment. Paying bills with checks (or today, credit cards or online) is a way of tracking payment. Paying with cash is a way
of paying someone under the table, or risky because it's harder to track a record of a payment. And why wouldn't she want the payment to be remembered
by those billing her?
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Post by theravenking on Nov 6, 2020 9:55:58 GMT
The answer's probably obvious to everyone but me, but please be merciful. I remember watching an episode of Poirot from years ago. In the episode, Hastings is alone in Poirot's office; Poirot's secretary, Miss Lemon, is out for the day. A tradesman comes by to collect on a bill; Hastings can't find the checks, so he just pays him off with some cash. When Miss Lemon returns, she chews him out for messing up her organized system: "Don't you know when you pay cash, they always remember you?" I can understand her being upset because her accounts were now out of order, but I don't know what she meant by her comment. Paying bills with checks (or today, credit cards or online) is a way of tracking payment. Paying with cash is a way of paying someone under the table, or risky because it's harder to track a record of a payment. And why wouldn't she want the payment to be remembered by those billing her? I remember this episode and I remember having the same reaction to it as you. I didn't get it.
One possible explanation I could think of: While I don't know the sum which Hastings had to pay, but could it be that it was a large sum and he had to use pound notes of a high value? The British pound was very strong in the 1930's, so possibly if someone paid higher sums in cash, the people receiving the payment remembered this and perhaps would insist on cash payment the next time as well. Since cheque was probably the norm and often you couldn't tell whether the cheque was genuine or whether the client was broke and as a tradesman you would have to wait for your money.
So perhaps her issue was not being tracked by the government, but that she didn't want to be taken advantage of by merchants. Or perhaps she didn't want people to know that they kept larger sums of cash at the office for a fear of break-ins?
It's not an entirely satisfying explanation, but it's the best I could come up with for now.
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loofapotato
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Post by loofapotato on Nov 9, 2020 3:29:26 GMT
The answer's probably obvious to everyone but me, but please be merciful. I remember watching an episode of Poirot from years ago. In the episode, Hastings is alone in Poirot's office; Poirot's secretary, Miss Lemon, is out for the day. A tradesman comes by to collect on a bill; Hastings can't find the checks, so he just pays him off with some cash. When Miss Lemon returns, she chews him out for messing up her organized system: "Don't you know when you pay cash, they always remember you?" I can understand her being upset because her accounts were now out of order, but I don't know what she meant by her comment. Paying bills with checks (or today, credit cards or online) is a way of tracking payment. Paying with cash is a way of paying someone under the table, or risky because it's harder to track a record of a payment. And why wouldn't she want the payment to be remembered by those billing her? Its because it takes time to process a check. Anywhere from 1-4 days. Maybe a bit longer in early 20th century. Depending on who will be cashing the check; they could be holding it for a week or two before cashing/depositing it and cleared. Thus giving the person who wrote the check more time to replenish their account with a very low balance and not bouncing it. Paying by cash gives an expectant impression of always immediate payment. Given that Poirot is not rich and has many out of pocket expenses, trying to stretch as long as possible or vying for more time is always prudent. |
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Post by marianne48 on Nov 9, 2020 6:45:46 GMT
Thank you!
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Post by mikef6 on Dec 3, 2020 22:20:41 GMT
Maybe she meant that paying cash - which means the merchant gets his money right away - means the people will be back frequently trying to sell you something.
The problem consists to this day except if you buy ANYTHING online you are bombarded with ads for the same product you just bought which is silly. If you just purchased a washer and dryer, why would you want to buy another one right away? But the ads pile on for washer/dryer combos.
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