many things in Hungary run on the honor system, of sorts. trains, busses, trams, you carry around your card, or validate it by slipping it into a punch machine if it’s a one-ride ticket. occasionally someone checks – granted, if you don’t have something you’re facing a rather hefty fine.
low rent grocery stores lock up their shopping carts. to procure one, slip a hundred forint coin into a slot, this pushes out the chain. reverse the process when done to get your money back.
today I ran into a man with a solution to the shopping cart monetary requirement.
often, people just trade coin for cart outside, rather than having to go through the whole locking unlocking routine. an older gentleman came towards me today, so I mimed ‘would you like my cart’ but he shook his head no, smirked, and proffered a washer. after watching as I relocked my cart and removed my hundred forints, he stuck this perfectly sized washer into the slot and was off.