So in Italy there are basically 3 branches of the police. There’s the regular police, the caribineri (which investigates crimes and I guess are a branch of the Military – so thus would be more like the FBI or CIA) and there’s one special branch that just investigates financial crimes (can’t recall the name)…and Italy sure has a couple of those 😉

Anyways whilst having a coffee today with some colleagues it came up in conversation. I had heard a long time ago that you are required by law to always get a receipt from any business transaction, and today I found out more.
Apparently you as the customer are required by law to ask for the receipt (if they don’t give it), as the business is required to give one.

The customer has to keep the receipt and surrender it on request as long as they are “within 10 or 20 meters of the business”.
Me being the criminal mastermind that I am just said if someone asked me for the receipt and I didn’t have it I would just run the 10 meters, and that businesses should paint some kind of line to mark the safe zone.
I am smart. I’m going to be prime minister someday.

Of course as a foreigner I can claim ignorance…then run home and delete this entry 🙂

I found a new place that sells the International Tribune Herald (basically the NYTimes without all the lifestyle bits). Anyways took it to the Irish for a read and I asked the waitress if she wanted the paper when I was done with it (that was the longest setup sentence ever).
She basically doesn’t want it (I think), but she reads a headline form the front page and it says something about “blah blah blah business reels from blah blah blah crisis” (sic) and logically asks “what is reel”?

me hemming and hawwing (making a funny noise). Ummmmmmmmmmm…you know fishing poles (making stupid hand gestures). It’s not like that at all. It means not going well.

In retrospect I’m not sure what to think about myself as english teacher.
That is the most brilliant explantion I could come up with. Yeah I’m going to teach her english.
Next week we cover “wanking”, “raining cats and dogs”, and possibly “drunk as a skunk”.

Feel free to input your english idioms here. Comments please on any stupid english sayings that don’t translate at all.

Interesting article…we’ll always have Quizno’s.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/business/global/01italy.html?hpw